Minutes & Agendas

HELPRINGHAM PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday 10th August 2022

PRESENT

Councillors Geoff Hotchkin (Chairman), George Frizzell, Robert Spencer, Mark Robinson, Malcolm Ternouth, Parish Clerk Julie Dixon and District Councillor Sally Tarry.

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 County Councillor Andrew Key, District Councillor Stewart Ogden and Councillor’s William Watts and Julie Frizzell.

3.0        SIGNING OF THE MINUTES

It was resolved to adopt the minutes of the meeting of 13th July 2022 as a true and correct record.

4.0       MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

There were no matters arising from the minutes.

 5.0       DECLARATIONS OF PECUNIARY INTEREST & DISPENSATIONS 

There were no declarations of pecuniary interest .

6.0       REPORT FROM DISTRICT COUNCILLOR

District Councillor Sally Tarry thanked the village as a whole for the cooperation shown to the Refuse Collectors during the hot weather by ensuring bins have been placed out early.

The community champions award is still open for anyone wishing to nominate their community champion.

Cllr Geoff Hotchkin brought up an issue with the recent Electoral forms that have been sent to every household; in the fact that everyone is expected to complete this “on line” and the fact that older people do not have on line facilities. The same issue was raised by Cllr Mark Robinson over the £150.00 Council Tax rebate, that older people do not have internet banking and it is frustrating to them that there is not an option of receiving a cheque. District Cllr Tarry sympathised with these issues and will report them back to NKDC.

7.0         PLANNING APPLICATIONS 

              7.1 : Application reference 22/0358/FUL

Proposal: Revised/Amended plans for the change of use of existing building to create one dwelling

              Location: The Maltings Station Road, Helpringham.

This item was discussed and it was resolved to support the application.

8.0         FINANCE

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

8.2 The Clerk advised that the Scottish Power Direct Debit has risen to £42.00 per month, after speaking with the company, they advised that the PC is in credit by £60.00; asking why the DD has risen when there is a substantial credit on the account was unable to be answered. The Clerk will be following the matter up and also looking into the water DD.

8.3 The following payments were approved.

8.4 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, 2 memorials are ongoing and 3 memorials are now closed.

9.2 The base for the bench at the pond has now been completed and Cllr Frizzell would like volunteers to help place the bench onto the new base and fix down.The bench on the Green was due to be delivered and fitted by the manufacturer today, however after liaising with Cllr Frizzell did not arrive.

As ever, the cemetery and the village as a whole are looking extremely tidy, thanks to CJP Garden Services.

10.0       CHURCH CLOCK AND PARISH COUNCIL WEBSITE

 Report by Cllr George Frizzell

10.1 The timing of the Church Clock is to time, however the Chimes are still not working to time. Cllr George Frizzell has spoken to Smith’s of Derby who service the clock and with the next service due in September / October it seems prudent to have this inspected during the service.

10.2 The website is up to date running well, however it is thought that more links should be placed on the PC Facebook page as more people tend to look at that than the website.

11.0       HIGHWAYS.

11.1 Notification has been received of a road closure from 22/08/2022 to 23/08/2022 to link the footway between School Lane and B1394 High Street.

11.2 Notification has been received of a road closure on 10/10/2022 to 12/10/2022 on Station Road between B1394 and a point 300m West for a new connection by Anglian Water. The road will be open for access only.

11.3 The Station Road footpath which the Parish Council was reliably informed would be completed in September, we hope is still to go ahead, however as yet, there have been no official notifications of road closures etc, we would hope that this confirmation will be forthcoming very shortly to give villagers notice.

11.4 Cllr Geoff Hotchkin reported that signage on the Highways around the Parish are not particularly satisfactory with the fact that old gritting signs are still up and Road Closed signs are too close to where the closure is going to be, not giving people a chance to turn around. The 30mph sign on the Screddington road is obscured.

12.0       MATTERS AFFECTING THE VILLAGE / CORRESPONDENCE

12.1  A letter of Thanks has been received from the SLK owners club for the rally held on the Green and it was resolved to accept the request for the event to be held next year on or around the 1st July 2023.

12.2  Cllr Mark Robinson advised that the wall and railing fence of the Old Cemetery on the High Street opposite the Church is in a terrible state of disrepair that will involve major work. Cllr Robinson is going to speak with the Heritage officer in the first instance to ascertain if there are restrictions as to what can be built or materials used.

12.3 Cllr Mark Robinson advised that he has taken a decorator to view the Parish Notice board who will sand down and re paint the noticeboard and replace the internal corkboards. It was resolved to allow this with a price cap of £300.00.

12.4 The new members code of conduct as issued by NKDC and endorsed by LALC was discussed at some length and it was resolved to accept this as a replacement for the Code of Conduct already in place for Helpringham Parish Council.

12.5 Speed reduction still remains a hot topic within the Parish Council, Village gates were discussed once again and although not all Councillors like the idea of them , the majority verdict was to obtain up to date pricing for the gates and third party insurance and then have further discussion at the September meeting.

12.6 Facebook messenger correspondence has been received from two members of the Parish and both have been responded to.

13.0     The next meeting will take place on Wednesday 14th September 2022 in Helpringham Village Memorial Hall commencing at 7:30pm.

The meeting closed at 9:00pm.