Minutes & Agendas

HELPRINGHAM PARISH COUNCIL

Approved Minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday 12 October 2022

PRESENT

Councillors Geoff Hotchkin (Chairman), George Frizzell, Julie Frizzell, Robert Spencer, Malcolm Ternouth, William Watts and Parish Clerk Julie Dixon.

PUBLIC SPEAKING TIME

There were no members of the public present.

1.0        WELCOME REMARKS BY CHAIRMAN

The Chairman welcomed the Councillors to the meeting and thanked them for their attendance.

2.0        APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from District Councillors’ Stewart Ogden and County Councillor Andrew Key.

3.0        SIGNING OF THE MINUTES

It was resolved to adopt the minutes of the meeting of 21st September 2022 as a true and correct record.

 4.0       MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

There were two matters arising from the minutes, one being that HRH Queen Elizabeth ii, should have read HM not HRH and the second was that the letter ‘C’ in Cemetery was in red. Apologies from the Clerk for both mistakes.

 5.0       DECLARATIONS OF PECUNIARY INTEREST & DISPENSATIONS 

There were no declarations of pecuniary interest.

6.0        REPORT FROM DISTRICT COUNCILLORS

There were no District Councillors present.

7.0         PLANNING APPLICATIONS 

 There were no applications to discuss.

8.0         FINANCE

8.1 The financial report and bank reconciliation presented by the Clerk were accepted.

8.2 The following payments were approved.

 8.3 There were no further financial matters to discuss.

9.0         CEMETERY MATTERS AND CONSERVATION AREA

Cllr George Frizzell gave the Cemetery and Conservation area report;

9.1 There has been 1 interment in the old part of the Cemetery and 1 memorial to be erected.

10.0       CHURCH CLOCK AND PARISH COUNCIL WEBSITE

Report by Cllr George Frizzell

10.1 The Church Clock was serviced by Smiths of Derby on 28/09/2022. It is now running true to time.

10.2 Smiths of Derby were able to confirm that it is just the winding mechanism of the clock that is covered by the Parish Council, all other parts belong to the Church.

10.3 The website is up to date running well.

11.0       HIGHWAYS.

11.1 Notification has been received of a road closure from 22/10/2022 at 19:30 and reopening at  18:00 on the 23/10/2022 for bridge maintenance work at George Street/South Fen Road (Between 200m and 650m South of Shepherds Lane).

11.2 Notification has been received of a road closure from 02/11/2022 to 18/11/2022 on Helpringham Road (between Scredington Road & a point 200m North of Burton Road). Burton Road will be closed at the junction with Helpringham Road for resurfacing work.

11.3 The long awaited and campaigned for new footpath on Station Road is ongoing and looking very good.

12.0       MATTERS AFFECTING THE VILLAGE / CORRESPONDENCE

12.1  Cllrs Geoff Hotchkin, George Frizzell and Julie Frizzell met with Graeme Butler from the road safety partnership today (12th October) to discuss proposed positioning for speed indicators within the village. It was decided that the best place to  erect them would be, The corner of East Street, High Gate and Station Road. The exact locations have yet to be finalised.

After discussion, five Cllrs voted for three devices with one voting for two; Therefore it was Resolved to go ahead with the purchase of three devices. The County Council will erect the posts for the devices to sit on at a cost of £300.00 each. Once these have been erected the Parish Council will purchase three solar devices at a cost of approximately £2500.00 each.

12.2  

12.2 (i) A parishioners question at the last meeting was, ‘Why was there an increase in the precept when the Parish Council had funds of £26,000 in the bank at the time.

Based on advice from LALC regarding the funding of elections 2023 and inflation predictions based on (at that time 5%) the Parish Council agreed that to secure the financial future of operations a modest increase in the precept should be requested.

12.2 (ii) Given that the question of a footpath on School Lane was raised with Highways when the new development took place and this was refused, it is unlikely that this would now be agreed; however the Parish Council will revisit the possibility by asking Highways to carry out a feasibility study.

12.3 Councillor George Frizzell advised that all households that submitted requests for FTTP by email to  helpringhamswatonbroadband@gmail.com  by the deadline of  6th October 2022, have been passed to BT Openreach.  Please look out for an email to activate the voucher for your property for when this becomes available.

12.4 Consultation for the proposed new Lincolnshire Reservoir has begun today 12th October 2022 and runs until 21st December 2022. There will be a ‘meet the team’ meeting held in the Memorial Hall on Monday 7th November from 5pm until 7pm for anyone wishing to raise any questions and concerns.

12.5 Negotiations regarding ‘Footpath 10’ which is located in fields on Station Road is ongoing with the landowners requests for the footpaths to be relocated to the edge of the fields being taken into consideration.

13.0       The next meeting will take place on Wednesday 9th November 2022 in Helpringham Memorial Hall commencing at 7:30pm.

The meeting closed at 8:45pm.