July 2019 Minutes
Witham on the Hill Parish Council
Minutes of the Meeting of Witham on the Hill Parish Council (Min 19-03) 15th July 2019 at 7.00 p.m. in St Andrew’s Parish Hall
Present:
Councillors: Charles Henriques, Andrew Greenwood, J Kirkwood,
Residents: None
Others: Bernard Champness – Clerk, District Cllr - Chris Benn
Not present: Cllr S Pennant-Jones
Open Forum
There were no residents present and the meeting was opened at 19.00
25. Apologies for absence, acceptance of Apologies
25.1 Apologies were received from Cllr Lynne O’Hara (personal)
25.2 Resolved|: that the apologies be accepted. County Councillor Bob Adams had also sent his apologies.
26. Declaration of Interest – To receive Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary and Other Interests, as set out in Chapter 7 of the Localism Act 2011 and the nature of those interests relating to any Agenda item
26.1 Cllr Kirkwood declared an interest in Item 31.1 as the applicant was her neighbour.
27. Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on the 3rd June 2019 (19-02)
27.1 Resolved: That the minutes of the 3rd June 2019 were signed by the Chair as a correct record.
28. Matters to report on the minutes of the 9th May and 3rd June – restricted to items not listed elsewhere in the agenda
28.1 It was reported that there had been another accident within the previous 48 hours at the A6121 crossroads with a car ending up in the ditch. It was agreed that Cllr Henriques would email Cllr Adams to follow up an earlier suggestion that a meeting be arranged on site with a member of the Lincolnshire Road Safety partnership to discuss measures to make the road safer.
28.2 The bridleway from Bottom Street through the Sands woods is now overgrown as the vegetation has not been cut back. Cllr Kirkwood said that she would contact SKDC.
28.3 The Clerk explained that the website was now up to date. It was agreed that other than the Six Bells, reference to businesses on the website could be removed. Members of other organisations within the village who were on the committees needed to be updated and Cllr Greenwood would find out if they wanted their telephone numbers put on the website.
28.4 A large amount of soil excavated during the installation of the new play equipment has been left behind the Bywells. Some of it had been removed by residents but there was still more to move. It was hoped that residents would take any soil they needed, otherwise arrangements will need to be considered for its removal.
29. To receive a report from the County and District Councillors on matters relating to Witham on the Hill.
29.1 Cllr Adams had sent his apologies but no report.
29.2 Cllr Benn said that he had no specific news that related to Witham on the Hill but he had taken a look at the planning applications that related to the village and none appeared to be contentious.
The planning regime was likely to change once the new Local Plan was formally adopted, which would impact on applications that were considered to be infilling. He asked if we had a Neighbourhood Plan as he thought one could be useful. He was asked if there was any specific mention of Witham on the Hill as a preferred area for such development. He was not sure, but it was the general view that the proposed Local Plan did not mention the village specifically.
Cllr Benn was advised of the accident at the crossroads and he suggested Cllr Adams should be contacted.
30. Clerks Report and correspondence received
30.1 A report of the correspondence received by the Clerk was circulated. There wasn’t anything that needed further consideration.
30.2 An email has been received from Mrs Plummer with a number of questions which were:
- Is anyone going to paint the old play equipment on the Green? It was agreed that we would put something on the website looking for volunteers as well as in the Three Towers parish magazine.
- The stile on footpath beyond the Little House was in need of repair. Cllr Kirkwood said that she was happy to follow this up with SKDC.
- The noticeboard in front of the village hall was looking rather shabby and she wanted to know if there were any plans to repair or replace it. It was pointed out that Toft had a new noticeboard and the clerk was asked to investigate the cost of a new noticeboard.
- The grass cutting throughout village was haphazard. There seemed to be no logic of when grass was cut. The Clerk pointed out that the main problem was that some grassed areas were cut by the District Council and other parts were cut by the County Council. The Clerk was asked if he could obtain cutting plans for the village.
31. Planning applications – to approve the following planning applications received.
31.1 S19/1113 pollard weeping willow tree to 8ft in height at The Holt, Bottom Street. Response: by 17th July 2019. A resident had written with concerns about the work which was read out to the Councillors. The application was considered, and resolved there were concerns that the tree being cut back to 8 feet in height would be detrimental to the appearance and since the planning application question 6.1 was ticked ‘yes’ then the applicant should have filed an arboriculture report or advice, in support. Until such report was available it was felt no further comment could be made.
31.2 S19/1167 – reduce height of Whitebeam tree (T1) by 1m and reduce lateral branches by 1m to balance shape at Longacre, Main Street. Response by 19th July 2019. Resolved: no objections.
32. To confirm Expenditure
[ ]denotes those payments paid between meetings, which have been approved by the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the Parish Council or at a previous meeting but not listed Payments made by Direct Debit - £
22 1 There were no payments to be made this month.
- The Clerk was able to provide bank statements that he had received in relation to the cheque account and deposit account.
- He was asked about being able to claim VAT back and it was explained that as we had never done this before he had to get various account numbers from HMRC before a claim could be made.
- The Clerk also explained that he had been chasing Zurich as he had not received notice that we were covered by insurance or what the premium was that had to be paid. He was asked to pursue the matter urgently to ensure cover was in place.
- Cllr Greenwood said that he had the bank mandate form which needed to be signed by two existing signatories. Both Cllrs Henriques and Kirkwood signed the form. Cllr Greenwood said that he would take this into the Stamford branch on Wednesday 17th July.
33. Any other business – Reminder – by law no decision can be made under this item only information exchanged.
33.1 There being no other business the meeting was formally closed at 19.52
34. The date of the next Parish Council meeting – to be held on Monday 16th September 2019 at 7.00 p.m. at St Andrew’s Parish Hall, Witham on the Hill.