2024 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

FISKERTON PARISH COUNCIL

Chairman: Cllr Adrian Walker          Clerk: Mrs Michelle Vail

E: clerk@fiskerton-lincs.org.uk  Tel: 07707 807894

Minutes of the Meeting of Fiskerton Parish Council held on Thursday 12th November 2024 at 7:00pm in Fiskerton Village Hall

1. Open Session
   1. Nothing raised
2. Apologies for absence
   1. Present – Cllrs Walker, Darcell, McGeachie, Matthews, Brereton, Fleetwood, Palmer and 1 member of the public
   2. Apologies – Cllrs Hill, Whitt, Bridgewood and the clerk
3. To receive any declarations of interest
   1. Nothing declared
4. Approve notes of meeting of 19th September 2024 as a true record
   1. There were no comments, Resolved as a true record.
5. To receive observations of the District and County Councillors:
   1. Cllr Fleetwood – Street lights have been repaired and are all working, pothole repairs coming next week.
   2. Cllr Palmer – District council had 2 motions to go to home office, clarification of battery storage units and support shortfall in policing. WLDC budget has £230,000 deficit due to changes to NI.
   3. Cllr Darcel – At Langworth PC meeting it was reported the EA are slow to pay bills to IDB and therefore the IDB can claim payment from WLDC as they are the rates collection authority.
6. Chairman’s report
   1. Nothing to report

ALLOTMENTS:

7. Report from Allotment Inspectors: consider and resolve on the following as required:
   1. 3 New allotment holders have started, new tenancy agreement proposed by Cllr Matthews, Resolved to adopt the new tenancy agreement and to send it out to all allotment holders.
   2. A member of the public reported items have been taken from her allotment, copies of the pictures and videos were requested so a proper investigation could be conducted.
   3. Waiting list is down to approx. 4 from 11.
   4. Resolved Cllr Matthews to attend Allotment training courses in 2025
   5. An allotment holder has offered to gift a rotavator to the Parish Council, more investigation required into storage, maintenance and training before accepting the item.

8. VILLAGE GATEWAY PROJECT:
   1. The batteries will be recharged and reinstalled into the mobile SID.

ACCOUNTS

9. Receive the circulated schedule of payments/receipts for Sept/Oct 2024.
   1. Received
10. Note schedule of regular payments for November 2024
    1. Received, Resolved to pay the Village Hall hire invoice for August even though the meeting was cancelled after 30minutes.
11. To approve any non-regular accounts not listed above:
    1. Christmas tree at £200.00 + VAT
    2. Lamp post poppies £40
    3. Communication, FOI and Canva training for Cllr Waker
    4. Resolved to approve all above items
12. Budget and precept setting
    1. The draft budget had been circulated which proposed a 13% reduction from the previous year. Resolved to reduce the VAT reserve by 50% down to £2000 and to submit a precept estimate of £19100.

FLOODING:

13. Receive any update on flood recovery plans following Storm Babet
    1. The chairman emphasised the importance of being prepared for future incidents.
14. Environment Agency visit to Fiskerton slips
    1. Progress visit to the riverbank repair site carried out on 17 Oct, hosted by the EA. Repairs are progressing, there has been some re-design of the repair at the eastern slip due to not wanting to inadvertently uncover archaeology items. The EA were very much against trees being planted on the riverbank due to root damage and access for repairs. A staircase up to the crown of the riverbank was discussed which the EA would investigate. Lincolnshire had 15 slippages during storm Babet of which only 8 are being fixed, Fiskerton being number 8. The forecast completion date is prior to Christmas.

EMERGENCY PLAN:

15. Progress report on Emergency Plan: wider input required
    1. Plan has been circulated, waiting for councillors to review and feedback. No response received yet from Primetake or Short Ferry.
    2. Need to agree what incidents we aim to prepare for.

PLANNING: to consider and agree actions as required: 

16. Neighbourhood Plan – update, Regulation 14 consultation.
    1. Reg 14 consultation completed, approx 35 replies, need to arrange a session to read and respond to the comments received.
17. Progress on offer for Paddock
    1. Reply received from Savills rejecting the purchase offer we submitted, Resolved to reply to Savills to enquire if the site is available to purchase and for them to provide an indicative price which they would accept.
18. WL/2024/00816: Roof conversion with a rear covered balcony and roof lights to front elevation: Willow Lodge, Ferry Road, Fiskerton, LN3 4HU
    1. Resolved to submit a response of ‘No objections at this time’.
19. Planning application WL/2024/00446:  Corn Close: authorise Councillor to attend WLDC Planning Committee should this be referred to the Committee (Note: no decision has yet been made to refer it, but it is likely.  Future Committee meetings are currently scheduled for 4th December, 8th January, 5th February and are typically every 4 weeks thereafter)
    1. Resolved to approve Cllr Walker to attend the planning committee meeting.
20. Note Anglian Water feedback to concerns expressed that current sewage works cannot support the proposed Corn Close development.
    1. To note receipt of reply from Anglian Water that in their opinion the Fiskerton Sewage works has sufficient capacity for the proposed development.
    2. Cllr Darcel left the meeting at this point (20:40Hrs).

CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED:

To note:

21. Police stats for Sept 2024
22. Next Police Parish Council Engagement Session - 14th January 2024, 6 – 8pm, Teams,  – appoint attendee
    1. Cllr Palmer emphasised the importance of reporting all incidents, Action: Clerk to include in next village newsletter.
    2. Cllr Matthews volunteered to attend the engagement session on 14th Jan.

NEW ITEMS: to consider and agree actions as required:

23. ROSPA Play Area inspection Report 2024
    1. Agreed to review the report and determine priorities for repairs.
24. Adopt draft Vexatious Communications Policy
    1. Action: Clerk to review generic policy to tailor it to the needs of Fiskerton
25. Consider grass cutting specification
    1. Action: Clerk to add cutting the path within the allotments which joins the entrance to the rear paddocks and to ensure the Crescent isn’t on our quote as ACIS cur the Crescent.
26. Tree Protection Orders
    1. To note that a resident has informed the council that the trees on the Crescent are under a TPO and some of them have been cut down. Action: Clerk to contact WLDC to inform them of a potential breach of a TPO.

UPDATE REPORTS: to consider and agree actions as required:

27. Communications Policy
    1. Ongoing
28. Constitution documents for Village Hall: car park agreement, play area agreement, update from joint meeting with VHMC with an independent Chairperson.
    1. 9 People attended the meeting, a majority of 6 accepted the Langleys reports as being correct, the independent chairperson also concluded that from the available documents that the Langleys report is correct. It was unanimously agreed though that the current constitution is outdated and needs bringing up to date. The review should equally involve both the PC and the VHMC. Action: Clerk to include on the December agenda to nominate 2 Cllrs to sit on a joint working group to draft an updated document.
29. Repairs/replacement play equipment, grants
    1. Agreed to carry out repairs before looking at new items.
30. Action log – to consider items which have an update
    1. Defered

MEETINGS:

31. Approve 2025 meeting dates as follows:
    1. 9 Jan
    2. 20 Feb
    3. 3 Apr
    4. 8 May Annual Meeting of the Parish Council
    5. 22 May Annual Parish meeting
    6. 19 Jun
    7. 31 Jul
    8. 11 Sep
    9. 23 Oct
    10. 4 Dec

All dates agree Action: Clerk to book meeting room for 2025 dates

32. Matters for inclusion on next agenda:
33. Date of next meeting:  12th December 2024, 7 – 9pm, Fiskerton Village Hall
34. Resolve to move into Closed Session as the following items contains information of a personal, sensitive and/or confidential nature:
35. Allotment matters – to consider matters discussed at site visit
    1. Cllr Matthews has been in contact with the holder of plot 2A and her social workers. A plan of action is in place to improve the level of support the plot holder receives from the care system to aid her in working the allotment
    2. The care workers claim to have photo / video evidence to support accusations of tampering with plot 2A’s plot, copies of this have been requested to allow a full investigation to be carried out.
    3. All future communications will be routed via the care workers; a follow-on meeting will be arranged.
36. Consider and resolve on staffing matters
    1. The chairman confirmed that Mrs Vaill, the Clerk/RFO has submitted her resignation due to health issues.
    2. The chairman has discussed a situation with Mrs Vail where she remains as the clerk on reduced hours but resigns from the RFO role, this has been accepted by Mrs Vail.
    3. It was Resolved that Cllr Walker and Cllr Brereton will jointly carry out the duties of RFO until a replacement can be recruited.
    4. It was Resolved for Cllr Walker to advertise the RFO vacancy via LALC, our website and social media.

Cllr Adrian Walker, Chairman to Fiskerton Parish Council                  Dated 12.11.24