2020 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

Belton and Manthorpe Parish Council

Chairman - Councillor Katy Gibson. 32, Low Road, Manthorpe, NG31 8NQ.

Tel 01476 563958

Clerk - Chris. Morgan, 10 Manchester Way, Grantham NG31 8RR

Tel. 07758762811

Draft Minutes of the Belton and Manthorpe Parish Council Meeting held on 19th February 2020 at the Manthorpe Playgroup Hall at 7.30pm

Present Cllrs S. Syddall,( Chair) S Thompson, C Thornton, J. Ashford, J.Bishop, R.Hallam County Cllr Ray Wotten Cllr I. Stokes

In attendance Chris. Morgan (Clerk and Proper Officer).

.

1) Chairman’s Remarks. Cllr Syddall opened the meeting and welcomed everyone present, Cllr Syddall went on to say that this last quarter had not been as successful as previous quarters, from the Parish Council Perspective, it was especially disappointing re the granting of the planning to demolish 20 Low Road, Manthorpe, this was more so as a number of local councilors had supported the Parish Council, but the Planning Committee appeared to have ignored all the representations made, from SKDC Councilors, Parish Councilors and local residents.

2) Apologies for Absence – Apologies Cllr. Mark Morris.

3) Declarations of Interest – Cllr Syddall, spoke about Agenda items involving the National Trust and the fact that as he was a National Trust tenant, he would stand down as chair for this item and not take any involvement in the debate/discussion.

4) Minutes of the last meeting held 27th November 2019 – It was Resolved to adopt the minutes as a true record, proposed by C.T. seconded S.T. and the minutes were duly signed by the Chairman and Clerk.

5) Belton Liaison Comm. At This point Cllr Syddall stood down as Chair and Cllr Bishop, took over by resolution of the meeting, A discussion took place re the NT failing to supply the Minutes of the last Belton Liaison Comm. meeting, despite a number of requests. Cll Syddall stated that he had sent a number of emails to Ian Cooper (NT) asking for another BL Comm. meeting but that he had not received any reply or acknowledgement to the emails. As such the next meeting had not been planned. C.T. spoke about the Christmas event being held at Belton House and his disappointment that NT had not done as promised re light and noise pollution, and in fact this pollution was unacceptable in his view there had also been a detrimental effect on wildlife. A lengthy discussion took place, with all those in attendance taking part, the consensus was that relationships between NT and Belton residents was now quite poor and the worse it had been for a number of years. There had been numerous complaints from Belton Villagers concerning the biomass boiler, the Christmas lights event, parking on Main Street and parking on and state of the grass, outside the Bede Houses (see later item).

Resolved – That the present Chair Cllr Bishop would write a formal letter of complaint to the National Trust. JB then stood down as Chair and taken over by the elected Chair Cllr Syddall.

6) De Brief re 20 Low Road. – Cllr Syddall opened this item by stating that this should not be a post mortem, on the subject, the decision had been made, which although was very disappointing, there was nothing further the P.C. could do on this subject. CT agreed also stating that the P.C. needed to learn from the experience, and that the P.C. should now be looking at properties in the area that were at risk and not listed. If appropriate listings could be applied for. Manthorpe is a heritage village and it is hoped that any developers would act responsibly. Those Councilors who attended the Public Speaking meeting re 20 Low Road, felt that SKDC planning were “just going through the motions” and that the deal was “done and dusted” Cllr Stokes did say that the inspection of the site prior to the meeting would have been with the planning officers but not the developer. It is hoped that once development starts at the property the developer does take notice of the restriction re deliveries etc and disruption to local residents is kept to a minimum. RESOLVED by the meeting that Cllr Bishop along with Cll Thornton and if possible Cllr Morris would seek to have a meeting with the SKDC Planning/Conservation officer to develop relationships that would be beneficial to all.

7) Planning Applications since last meeting. – A paper had been circulated by the Clerk prior to the meeting outlining all the planning applications received since the last meeting. There were no applications of real contention. Cllr Thornton did ask that when the applications are circulated if all the Councilors could respond by replying “to all” with any comment including “no objections” so that it would be helpful to the Clerk when drafting any comments on the applications to SKDC.

8) Manthorpe village – JB stated that the street light had been repaired but as yet the street sign outside the Old School House was still broken and needed to be sorted. Cllr Wootten stated that he felt this was a financial/budgetary issue.

9) Reactive Speed camera. C.T. gave an update on the reactive speed camera, and of data that had been received. All the relevant data is available to all the councilors via “Dropbox.” The camera had been in Belton and would be moved to Manthorpe in the next week or so. During the events at Christmas at Belton House there had been an increase of an additional 3000 vehicles per week going through the village of Belton. Cllr Thornton considered moving the siting of the camera on the northern approach to Manthorpe, but queried if this would be a benefit, with the Highways camera (currently not working) already in that location. RESOLVED to check with Highways, if the camera was being re-activated.

10) Community Speed Watch – CM reported and updated those present on this initiative. The work continues in partnership with the Barkston and Syston Parish Council. The “Watch Your Speed” signs had been erected as previously discussed. The training of the volunteers would take place on Monday 24th February at the Belton School Room. Resolved – To progress this initiative with Barkston and Syston P.C. and once the training had been completed to purchase the equipment. Everything to be on a 50/50 basis.

11) Dog Fouling Belton Village –Cllrs Syddall and Thompson spoke about this and the fact that the matter was getting worse. The areas most affected were Main Street, near the Village Hall and the Coach House. There are the relevant Local Authority signs displayed advising people that they commit an offence if they allow their dogs to foul in the area and not clean it up. Resolved As this is a matter for SKDC the Clerk would contact the Neighbourhoods Team to see if Enforcement Officers could be utilized in the area. Also to examine the feasibility of producing a “flyer” advising all residents of the isssues, and possible outcomes. Further discussion took place re the churning up of the grassed area in front of the Bede Houses and the general damage to the grass. This was seen as unacceptable behavior by a minority of residents in the area Clerk to write to NT (Rachel Walker) to inform them of the complaints that had been received.

12) Accounts. CM updated the meeting re the accounts and circulated the Income/Expenditure since the last meeting. Movement on the accounts had been minimal, (see below) Resolved Accounts accepted by the members, and approval given to pay any fees/invoices re the C.S.W initiative on a 50/50 basis with Barkston and Syston P.C. Action CM to pay the invoices as and when required.

There has been no unexpected expenditure since the last Meeting, please see below details of income and expenditure since the last meeting

The Belton and Manthorpe Finance Policy, is part of the “model polices” that have been adopted from LALC and approved by the Council.

There are no outstanding payments at the moment, The CSW initiative is ongoing and there will be the expenditure for this re-equipment, PPE etc, therefore request authority to make these payments as and when necessary – Cost are being divided 50/50 with Barkston and Syston P.C. as previously agreed

The Belton and Manthorpe Finance Policy, is part of the “model polices” that have been adopted from LALC and approved by the Council

13) Review of last meeting – 27th November 2019 Cllr Syddall reviewed the Minutes of the last meeting with all present, Cllr Wootten stated that he would follow up the issue re large vehicles using Barkston Heath Lane inappropriately with LCC. Highways. Cllr Wootten also stated that he had a meeting on 3rd March at Belton House re the Woodland Trust project re the work on Five Gates lane and surrounding areas. He requested that the P.C. email their views to him prior to that meeting and that he would feed back to the P.C. after that meeting. Resolved Cllrs Syddall and Thornton to pass the necessary information/views, by email to Cllr Wootten.

14) Correspondence –CM updated the meeting on correspondence received since the last meeting, the vast majority was via email which had been forwarded to the Cllrs, and CM had updated Cllr Thompson personally, as appropriate. He informed the meeting of an approach from EnvironmentSK asking to be considered for any grounds maintenance work that was needed by the P.C. Clerk had obtained the relevant quotes from EnvironmentSK and the present contractors. – The present contractors quote was considerably lower and the Councilors were happy with their standard of work Resolved to retain the present contractors. Clerk also reported that a condition of the Grant from BHF for the defibrillator was to continue a training programme. Approaches had been made for additional training and Clerk would follow this up.

15) Date and Time of Future Meetings.

Dates of future meetings agreed as:

Wednesday 29th May 2020 Belton, Old School House, at 7pm to include the Annual Parish Meeting and the

Annual Parish Council Meeting.