Minutes & Agendas

HELPRINGHAM PARISH COUNCIL

Approved minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday 15th December 2021

PRESENT

Councillors Geoff Hotchkin, Robert Spencer, George Frizzell, Julie Frizzell and Malcolm Ternouth.  Parish Clerk Julie Dixon.

PUBLIC SPEAKING TIME

Prior to the commencement of the meeting Mr Andrew Gill joined for the public forum to  discuss issues relating to the management of speed and parking around Helpringham primary school and surrounding areas. Mr Gill being a parent and a school governor is concerned, and appealed to the Parish Council for help in the matter, however, it was explained that this was already an agenda item at 12.1 and the Parish Council have been trying to find answers to these problems for quite some time.

In brief:

It was explained that due to the Covid -19 pandemic and lack of volunteers, speed awareness had to be cancelled.

County Councillor Andrew Key has been very proactive in helping the Parish Council with this issue, however, an email received by Councillor Key and the Parish Clerk concludes with the paragraph:

All of these points have been discussed at length with the school and they have expressed a wish that the situation remains as it is. Following the site visits, I agree with the school – the current restrictions work really well for the school and is well managed by the school, any further restrictions or change would have an adverse effect on the school and are not currently necessary.

When asked by the Councillors, what would Mr Gill like to see happen, he expressed an interest in speed repeater signs and entrance gates to the village to raise more awareness of the entry into a village. These subjects will be on the agenda for the January meeting and it was requested whether the school could find out an approximate cost for the signs.

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 Councillor Mark Robinson, Councillor Will Watts, District Councillor Stewart Ogden, District Councillor Sally Tarry and County Councillor Andrew Key. It was resolved to accept the reasons for absence

3.0        SIGNING OF THE MINUTES

It was resolved to adopt the minutes of the meeting of 10th November 2021 as a true and correct record.

 4.0       MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

There were two matters arising from the minutes,

1. it is not known whether the branch suspended in a tree close the footpath to the rear of Orchard Close has been removed.
2. Facebook posts for the parish council reached an amazing following after Councillors’ Julie and George Frizzell posted pictures of the works that have been carried out around the village this year, highlighting the proactive approach of the Parish Council behind the scenes.

 5.0       DECLARATIONS OF PECUNIARY INTEREST & DISPENSATIONS 

Councillor Robert Spencer declared an interest in item 7.1

6.0       REPORT FROM DISTRICT COUNCILLORS

       There were no district councillors present to give a report.

7.0        PLANNING APPLICATIONS 

              7.1 Application reference: 21/1652/VARCON,

               Proposal : To vary conditions of approved plans

               Location: Land off George Street Helpringham

              The application was discussed at length. 

The addition of 3 dormer windows on the 2nd floor effectively creates another level of accommodation, materially increasing floor area. It also raises the question of intrusive views into neighbouring properties.

The Parish Councillors are not building experts, but have suspicions this house has been built higher than the approved plans. There is no application to vary this condition so request NKDC check the height.

Additionally we understand that Plot 7 does not conform with approved plans concerning drainage. There is also, no application to vary this.

Given the above the Parish Council opposes this application

              7.2 Application reference: 21/1860/VARCON,

              Proposal: To vary the conditions of approved plans.

              Location: Land at Vicarage Lane Helpringham

The application was discussed in detail and it was decided that the Parish Council do not have enough information to understand the variation of conditions to be able to comment. Therefore will be asking NKDC for more details.

7.3 Application reference: 21/1813/FUL

Proposal: Erection of four detached dwellings including hard and soft landscaping.

Location: 25 Station Road, Helpringham NG34 0RB

This application was received after the publishing of the Agenda but requires a response prior to the next meeting.

The application 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 discussion of transfer of money to the contingency fund has been postponed to the next meeting when finance matters will be discussed in detail.

8.3  It was resolved to accept the revised grass cutting tender for the year 2022/2024 and extend the contract from 1 to 2 years.  The new tender will be published and tenders are to be received by the Clerk by NO LATER than 7th January 2022.

8.4 It was resolved to purchase a total of three new benches for the village. Two are to be the same as the bench that is currently in position outside of 15 High Street; one to be placed in the Hale Road cemetery to replace an existing broken bench and one to be placed at the new conservation area by the pond. A third bench, which is to be a WW1 /WW2 memorial bench will be placed on the green.

8.5 The following payments were approved at the meeting.

9.0         CEMETERY MATTERS

Councillor George Frizzell reported that there have not been any interments during the last month. There is a slight mole problem within the cemetery but this will be rectified.

10.0       CHURCH CLOCK AND PARISH COUNCIL WEBSITE

The Church clock is running to time.

10.1 Correspondence between the Church and the Parish Council is ongoing relating to the church clock and the clock hammer. This subject will be ongoing and discussed again at the next meeting.

The website is all up to date and running well. Councillor George Frizzell is working closely with Swaton Parish Council and BT openreach on the subject of Fibre to the property (FTTP) for Helpringham including the fens.

11.0       HIGHWAYS.

The Parish Council will be seeking a start date for the Station Road footbath refurbishment.

12.0       MATTERS AFFECTING THE VILLAGE / CORRESPONDENCE

12.1 This matter was discussed at great length during the public forum and will be ongoing.

12.2 Councillor Malcolm Ternouth confirmed that he collected the old bench from 15 High Street and disposed of it.

12.3 Councillor Malcolm Ternouth has carried out a substantial amount of research for the ‘Queens Jubilee tree’ It was resolved to accept the purchase and planting of an established oak tree at a total cost of £120.00. Further discussion was had regarding a gap in the hedge line opposite Vicarage Lane where it was resolved to also plant a new tree.  The planting will take place between Christmas and New Year.

12.4  The Parish Council were contacted by ‘eforests’ regarding the possibility of free tree planting, however upon investigation and discussion it was resolved that this scheme is too complex for a small Parish Council.

12.5.The Parish Council were contacted by an organisation called ‘finding fitness’ with a regard to running fitness classes for children during the school holidays, however it was felt that this project is more for schools than Parish Councils.

13.0       MATTERS OF URGENCY /ANY OTHER BUSINESS

              There was no matters of urgency or any other business.

14.         DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will take place on Wednesday  12th January 2022 in Helpringham Village Memorial Hall at 19:30 Hours. Meeting Closed at 9:20pm.