September 2019 Minutes
Deeping St James Parish Council
The Institute, 38 Church Street, Deeping St James, Peterborough PE6 8HD
E-mail: clerk.dsjpc@btconnect.com
Tel: 01778 343266
//parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/deepingstjames
Parish Clerk: Julie Fortnum
The minutes of the meeting of Deeping St James Parish Council held on Thursday 26 September 2019 at 7.30 pm at The Institute.
Present: Parish Councillors Blessett, Boreham, Dilks (District), Fox, Gilbert, Hall, Halls, Hardy, Hosking, Kornfeld, Shinkins-Hoppe, Stevens (left at 7.55pm) and Thomas (District).
The Parish Clerk took the minutes.
Open Forum
A representative from Deeping United Football Club spoke about the success of the club (intention to set up 3 teams and now running 18) and in support of the grant application for financial assistance to purchase a defibrillator which would be available for all users of the playing fields not just the football club. They also stated that after a recent incident there was a need to purchase a stretcher too.
County Councillor Dobson who had sent his apologies had provided a report which the Clerk had circulated to all Members prior to the meeting. The Clerk was asked to contact Councillor Dobson to clarify that the original accident that he had been informed about was on Church Street and that further accidents had taken place on Bridge Street and Eastgate since then. District Councillor Stevens had also provided a report which had been circulated and covered a number of things connected with the Deepings Lakes - the good work undertaken by the volunteers, the artwork recently completed by members of the Deepings Youth Group (in association with SKDC), the recent fly-tipping and the help from the Rotary Club of The Deepings (along with financial support from two District Councillors) in clearing this away. District Councillor Dilks advised that he had attended the District Council meeting earlier today where Councillor Kelham Cooke had been elected Leader of the Council with Councillor Dobson as Deputy Leader. Climate change had been discussed at the meeting and an expert was to be hired by SKDC to undertake work relating to the climate emergency and reducing the Council’s carbon emissions. Also discussed was the Belvoir Hunt and whether the District Council should allow it to go ahead. Councillor Stevens clarified that what was discussed is whether the District Council should allow the hunt to meet on District Council land at St Peters Hill.
Councillor Stevens left the meeting.
District Councillor Dilks concluded by advising that at the meeting the cabinet member for Growth, Councillor Goral, had announced the preferred location for the new leisure centre which is on the playing fields located on Linchfield Road/Spalding Road. It was noted that this land was owned by Lincolnshire County Council and Deeping St James Parish Council. Councillor Dilks requested that the Clerk forward the wish-list that had been put together by the Parish and Town Council to District Councillor Goral.
60.20 To receive apologies for absence.
Apologies had been received and were accepted from Councillors Bowell and Green. County Councillor Dobson had also sent his apologies.
61.20 To receive notifications of interest and consider requests for dispensations, if any.
Item 65.20.1 – Councillor Hosking
62.20 To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 29 August 2019.
As these had not been circulated to all Parish Councillors it was agreed to postpone the approval of theses minutes until the next meeting which was scheduled to be held on Thursday 31 October 2019
63.20 Clerks Report
The Senior Highways Officer, County Councillor Davies and County Councillor Dobson have been contacted to request a site visit at Station about extending the 30MPH speed limit and Church Street about improving road safety. Councillor Davies has replied advising that the ward Councillor should pursue this on behalf of the Parish Council.
The Clerk has contacted an IT services provider for further guidance on email addresses secure shared drives and purchasing/leasing a device and the information provided is to be considered under agenda item 71.20
The Company providing the Staysafe lone worker App have been contacted and advised that the Parish Council will not be renewing the contract.
The meeting at the Deepings School which was to be attended by representatives from County Council, District Council, Parish Council and the Academy on 9 September 2019 to consider the playing fields and their use was postponed. A meeting took place between representatives from the County and District Council on that day instead and new date will be set for the meeting including representatives from the Parish Council and the Academy.
The suggested names of former Doctors to be put to the developer for consideration were forwarded to South Kesteven District Council.
However as the guidance states that only the names of deceased individuals can be used and taking into account that the land was formerly owned by Deeping St James United Charities the names put forward were the names of charity Benefactors – Swan, Streton, Sharpe, Brewton and Perkins.
Problems continue with the School boundary fence being damaged from the skatepark and youths entering the playing field leaving litter including broken glass which in turn causes issues for the football and rugby clubs hiring the pitches over the weekends when Parish Council and School staff are not in work to attend to the issue. The School intend to invite representatives from the School, Parish Council,
District Council and Leisure Centre contractors 1Life to a meeting to consider how to deal with this.
The Probation Service community payback team were due to attend on Tuesday 17 September 2019 (first of the monthly visits) however despite their Supervisor visiting a number of pick- up stops no-one was collected so no-one attended.
Several communications have been received about small pieces of land within the residential areas of the parish that are not being maintained by anyone. These are patches that have been planted by the developers and never adopted by the District or County Council and are now causing access litter and dog fouling issues. They have been added to the list of jobs for that Community payback team to tackle or failing that the parish council’s maintenance staff.
The ICCM had been contacted to see if there has been sufficient interest in the Cemetery Compliance and Management course scheduled to take place at The Institute on 25 October 2019
A Senior Highways Officer has confirmed that an order has been placed for a further 3 metres of tarmac to be laid at the entrance (opposite Crowson Way) to Woody Heights Skatepark.
Maintenance Staff continue to report/clean up broken glass and damage to trees at both Woody Heights and Jubilee Park and local residents have advised that they have reported an incident of mopeds using the skatepark and youths damaging a boundary brick wall to the Police via 101.
64.20 To consider financial matters
1. To approve accounts for payment – it was proposed seconded and Resolved to approve accounts valuing £12,930.34 for payment
2. To consider the grant application received from Deeping United Football Club – It was proposed seconded and Resolved to provide a grant of £500 towards the purchase of a defibrillator. The Clerk was asked to contact the Club advising them to complete a mfurther grant application for a contribution towards the purchase of a stretcher
65.20 To consider planning matters
1. To receive the minutes and consider recommendations from the planning committee held on Thursday 19 September 2019 – Councillor Blessett introduced the
minutes from which there were 2 recommendations
- S19/1488 demolition of a garage and erection of a single dwelling at land to the rear of 81 Church Street, Deeping St James
The parish council objected to the previous application S17/0752 on the grounds of inappropriate back land development in the conservation area along with the shared access on a sharp, blind bend posing a considerable traffic hazard.
The Parish Council’s objection to this recent application would remain that of inappropriate back land development in the conservation area, but the potential traffic hazard situation has, in the meantime, increased. The former unused commercial site diametrically opposite (Broadgate House) is now being redeveloped with six residential dwellings. The access point will be close to the Waterton Arms, exiting left.
The additional traffic flow will exacerbate the known problems on a sharp blind bend where there have been numerous minor accidents. Resolved
- S19/1222 reserved matters application for four dwellings and garage in pursuant to S19/0256 at 21 Broadgate Lane, Deeping St James
The Parish Council object to this development as the construction of 4 dwellings on this small site would be an overdevelopment. Car parking for 4 dwellings could force problems on this cramped site both with difficulty for residents parking on the site and leading to unwanted and dangerous on street parking. Resolved
After visiting the resident who had requested that work was carried out to the Cedar tree with a tree preservation order on it which is situated in the Cemetery Councillor Blessett recommended that the Parish Council seek the advice of a Tree Surgeon/Arboriculturalist to obtain advice on what work was required. Resolved
The planning and transport committee had considered the budget requirements for 2020/21 especially in respect of 3 bus shelters (the purchase or relocation of) and agreed a budget of £6000 to cover this assuming some grant funding would be available. However since the meeting Lincolnshire County Council had advised that they were unable to confirm what, if any budget would be available via grants in 2020/21 so with this in mind Councillor Blessett recommended that the budget should be increased to £12000. This was seconded and Resolved
Councillor Dilks advised that at the District Council planning committee held on 11 September 2019 along with him Deeping St James Parish Councillors Stevens and Hosking and Market Deeping Town Councillor Adam Brookes spoke to express concerns regarding the conditions applying to application S19/0443 erection of 76 dwellings off Linchfield Road which had led to the two changes in the conditions - the east/west cycle way would be upgraded from 2m to 3 m wide and 3 dwellings would have frontages constructed of local stone rather than being rendered. In Councillor Dilks opinion this reinforced the importance of Parish Councillors speaking at District planning committees.
66.20 To receive and agree the Council’s response to correspondence received since the last meeting.
Rradar Services
Under AXA insurance policy legal advice at no extra cost is available to the Parish Council.
Noted
PKF Littlejohn LLP
Notification of the completion of the limited assurance review for the year ended 31 March 2019
Noted
67.20 To receive and consider minutes and recommendations of committees, reports from advisory committees, members reports from external bodies, members reports of meetings, seminars, training and events attended on the Council’s behalf:
1. Illegal encampments meeting held on Monday 27 August 2019 attended by Councillors Bowell, Halls, Hardy and Shinkins-Hoppe. The minutes of this meeting had been circulated top all Councillors and were noted
2. DSJ gazebo at the Deeping Duck Race held on Sunday 1 September 2019 attended by a number of Parish Councillors
3. Events committee meeting held on Thursday 5 September 2019
In the absence of Councillor Stevens Councillor Gilbert referred to minutes 15.20, 16.20 and 19.20 which included recommendations to council. After further consideration it was Resolved not to purchase of a buzzer game to use in the Gazebo at community events. It was also Resolved that the Parish Council would not recommence the monthly surgeries at the Community Library or any other location however Councillor Boreham, Dilks, Fox and Kornfeld volunteered to form a working party to consider community engagement via social media. It was Resolved that the rather than holding a specific recycling awareness event the subject should be addressed at the Annual Parish Meeting in April 2020 which should have an eco-friendly Theme.
4. Youth committee meeting held on Thursday12 September 2019 – As there were no recommendations to Council these minutes were noted.
5. Cemetery committee meeting held on Thursday 12 September 2019 - Councillor Thomas introduced the minutes of this meeting from which there was one recommendation from minute 19.20 which was that a budget should be agreed and a job description/person specification compiled to employ an additional member of part-time staff (Cemetery Keeper) from April 2020 rather than continue to an external contractor to maintain the Cemeteries. Resolved. The Cemetery committee would meet again at 7.00pm on Thursday 17 October 2019 to progress this resolution. Councillor Boreham requested that minute 18.20 should be amended to include that it had been agreed to add the words ‘student in the parish’ to point d of the burial and memorial fees list.
6. Market Deeping Town Council Civic Service held on Sunday 15 September 2019 attended by Councillors Bowell and Shinkins-Hoppe
7. Police public meeting held at the Open Door Church on Tuesday 17 September 2019 – noted
8. Allotments, footpaths and open spaces committee meeting held on Thursday 19 September 2019 – the minutes of this meeting had been circulated from which there were no recommendations.
9. LALC freedom of information and data protection training in Bourne on Tuesday 24 September 2019 attended by Councillor Thomas who confirmed it was a very useful course and supported the recommendations put forward by the IT provider under item 71.20
10. Neighbourhood Policing panel meeting held at the Open Door Church at 7pm on Tuesday 24 September 2019 attended by Councillors Halls and Hardy. The minutes of this meeting would be circulated as soon as they were available
68.20 To consider whether the Parish Council wishes to take over the plots of land that have been offered as a gift from SKDC.
It was agreed to delegate this item to the allotment footpaths and open spaces committee to hold site visits and report back on the maintenance liabilities and improvement potential of the areas of land on offer prior to a decision being made.
69.20 To considered a co-ordinated litter campaign with Market Deeping Town Council
In the absence of Councillor Stevens who had requested that this item be considered it was agreed to defer this item to next month’s council meeting.
70.20 Noticeboard audit – maintenance and volunteers to update
Councillor Bowel had provided a paper advising of cleaning and repairs that were required on the 7 noticeboards which a Parish Council Maintenance Worker had completed and recommended that Parish Councillors should be requested to volunteer to keep the noticeboards up to date and that 2 further noticeboards should be purchased – one to be located at the entrance to Low Locks on Eastgate and in the other on Station Road.
It was Resolved that the 202/21 budget should include an amount to purchase an additional noticeboard to be installed at the entrance to Low Locks on Eastgate which Councillor Boreham volunteered to keep up to date. It was also agreed that Councillor Hardy would update the noticeboard at the allotments, Councillor Kornfeld the one on Crowson Way (Linchfield School) and Councillor Bowell the two on Jubilee Park (Thackers Way and Crowson Way)
71.20 To consider the information provided from an external IT provider regarding setting up a parish council email address, a secure shared drive, purchasing/leasing a device and security around using your own device.
It was proposed seconded and Resolved, in principal, to progress with the recommendations provided by the IT provider
72.20 Parish pump – items for information or inclusion on future agendas.
Following the neighbourhood policing panel meeting on Tuesday 24 September where the minutes from an earlier meeting had suggested that the Town and Parish Council were to be contacted to ask if they would cover the cost of some cycle lights to be provided to youngsters as part of a road safety campaign Councillor Hardy requested that an agenda item be included on the next planning and transport committee agenda to consider this.
The meeting closed at 9.55pm