February 2021 Minutes
Belton And Manthorpe Parish Council
Chairman - Councilor Simon Syddall, 5-6 Washdyke Lane, Belton Ng32 2lt
Clerk - Chris. Morgan, 10 Manchester Way, Grantham Ng31 8rr
Tel. 07758762811
Draft Minutes/Notes of the Belton and Manthorpe Parish Council Meeting held on 18th February 2021 by means of a Zoom, video conference due to Covid 19 restrictions at 7.30pm
Present Cllrs S. Syddall, (Chair) S Thompson, C Thornton, J. Ashford, J. Bishop, R. Hallam, County Cllr Ray Wootten
In attendance Chris. Morgan (Clerk and Proper Officer). - Although this was a video conference, the details of the meeting had been published for members of the public to join if they wish, an Adrian Charity (Member of the Public) had requested the log in details and did in fact attend the meeting
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- Chairman’s Remarks. Cllr Syddall opened the meeting and welcomed everyone present, stating that it was pleasing to see that everyone had coped with the technology. It looked like this type of meeting may be required for some time to come, and although it was not ideal it is what we have to do. For the benefit of Mr Charity everyone introduced themselves
- Apologies for Absence – Cllr Mark Morris – apologies accepted
- Declarations of Interest – Nothing declared by anyone, this was to be a reduced Agenda meeting due to Covid 19, and there were no matters on the Agenda where any councillors present had any pecuniary interest to declare
- Minutes of the last meeting held 26th November 2020 – It was RESOLVED to adopt the minutes as a true record, proposed by J.A seconded R.H. and the minutes, would be, duly signed by the Chairman and Clerk. – Matters arising – Nothing that wasn’t on the Agenda and would be discussed
- Belton Liaison Comm – A discussion took place by all present re the failure of National Trust to hold any meetings, and it was noted the disappointment of the Parish Council and local residents of the lack of engagement by the National Trust. It was felt that it is important to have a line of communication between the N.T. and the P.C. especially as there are a number of outstanding issues e.g. the Biomass Boiler and the Christmas Lighting Festival. RESOLVED S.S. to contact the local manager Ian Cooper, to discuss this disappointment and to try and get a meeting arranged between NT and Belton councillors.
- Obstruction of Well Steps, Manthorpe. Cllr Bishop spoke to this stating that a complaint had been received about a vehicle being parked on the Public Footpath – Well Steps – preventing full and unobstructed use of that area. This area is often used by the Play Group/Nursery, who use the area as an educational and activity area for the children and the car being parked there was hindering this activity. Cllr Bishop did explain what his understanding of the situation was, RESOLVED – Clerk to write to the vehicle owner to ask him not to park there. The actual poor condition of the Footpath, was briefly discussed. This is owned by L.C.C. and Cllr R. W. agreed to follow this up.
- Finance. CM had circulated a Financial report prior to the meeting, there were no queries from councillors, and it was RESOLVED, to accept the report and agree to the payments that had been made. Proposed by S.S. seconded by S.T. and all in agreement. A Zoom account had now been purchased, and payment was on a monthly basis.
- Planning Applications since the last meeting. CM had circulated a report on all the planning applications since the last meeting. The vast majority were straight forward and had required no comment or objection. There was a recent Planning Application from 10 High Rd. Manthorpe, and a discussion took place re this application. This is a Grade 2 Listed Building and it appears that the incorrect application had been submitted as the Listing was not mentioned in the application. Comment was also made re the suspected recent work at the front of the property to replace the wooden windows with UPVC. RESOLVED C.M. to submit the P.C. comments to the S.K.D.C. Planning Dept.
- Work at Manor Farm House Manthorpe CM updated the meeting re the recent communication with SKDC Planning Enforcement re this matter. SKDC had attended suitable advice had been given to the owner re the relevant consent issues, and the Conservation officer was aware and advice had been given. Mr A Charity (member of the public) who is the occupier of the property, was present and was invited to address the meeting by the Chair. Mr Charity gave the background to the issues and outlined what work had been carried out. He also stated that he was in contact with the Conservation and Heritage Officers at SKDC and was following their advice, The Chair thanked Mr Charity for attending the meeting to update on the work and issues at the property.
- Any Other URGENT Business. CM addressed the meeting re recent Communication with the newly appointed Development Manager for SKDC Planning a Jeff Upton, who had been invited to attend this evening, but was unable to do so. A telephone appointment had been made with Mr Upton, but this had to be cancelled in view of personal issues. However, CM had spoken to Mr Upton’s manager – Philip Moore, who is the Special Project Manager responsible for Strategic Planning matters and Mr Moore had agreed to have a Zoom Meeting with the Chair and other Councilors to address the P.C. concerns. It was agreed that Cllr Bishop and Cllr Thornton would join the Chair for this meeting. RESOLVED CM to progress a date/time for the meeting and facilitate the Zoom meeting. CM also advised the meeting that he had received a telephone call from Cllr Morris stating his intention to resign from the P.C. for personal reasons. CM also updated the meeting re Cllr Morris apologies for this evening. The Chair wanted it put on record his great appreciation for the work Cllr Morris had completed during his time as a Cllr and that he would be sorely missed by all his colleagues. CM outlined the procedure re the resignation and the process to get a replacement. This process would be followed as soon as the Chair had received the resignation in writing from Cllr Morris. Both J.B. and C.T. spoke about road surface issues in Manthorpe and Belton – Cllr R.W responded that he would try and follow these up, but a recent Government announcement meant that £12million pound had just been cut from LCC Highways budget, and that LCC were needing to go to their reserves to try to maintain the relevant work and services
All business being concluded the meeting closed at 20.53hrs. –.
Dates of next meeting –To be held on Thursday 27th May 2021, which will also include the AGM and the Annual Parish Meeting, so this would commence at 7pm dependant on the Covid 19 restrictions, could be another Video Conference or if allowed an actual meeting