August 2021 Minutes
Draft Minutes/Notes of the Belton and Manthorpe Parish Council Meeting held on 25th August 2021 at 7.30pm in the Old School Rooms Belton.
Present Cllrs S. Syddall, (Chair) S Thompson, J. Ashford, R. Hallam, J. Smith County Cllr Ray Wootten Cllr Ian Stokes
In attendance Chris. Morgan (Clerk and Proper Officer). – Mrs Eve Farley, Mrs E Mansell, Mr Ian Cooper,
Chairman’s Remarks. The Chair, Cllr Syddall, welcomed everyone to the meeting. He then addressed the meeting stating that all should reflect on the work that the late Cllr Jon Bishop had given the Parish Council. His knowledge and expertise had been a big help to the Parish Council and heartfelt condolences were sent to his wife Steph and the family.
Since the last meeting things had been fairly quite from a P.C. perspective and nothing contentious had arisen. There were a number of new faces at the meeting so all there did introduce themselves.
1) Apologies for Absence – None from Councilors –
2) Declarations of Interest – Nothing declared by anyone, and there were no matters on the agenda where any councilors present had any pecuniary interest to declare.
3) Minutes of the last meeting held 25th May 2021 – It was RESOLVED to adopt the minutes as a true record, proposed by JA seconded S.T. and the minutes, were, duly signed by the Chairman and Clerk. – Matters arising – Nothing which was not on the agenda and would be discussed.
4) Co Option of Councilor – The vacancy for the Belton Ward had had the relevant publicity. No election had been requested by the residents of the Ward and the Parish Council were now able to Co-opt to the position. Two residents had shown an interest in this, Adrian Charity and Eve Farley. Both had submitted written reports that had been circulated to the Councilors. The Clerk had spoken to Mr Charity re the vacancy and Mr Charity understood that the P.C. had in the past had Belton residents represent the Belton Ward and Manthorpe residents represent the Rosedale Ward. In the circumstances Mr Charity stated that he would not oppose any Belton resident for this vacancy, and that he was still interested in joining the P.C. and wished to be considered for the Rosedale vacancy. Eve Farley (Belton resident) was at the meeting and expressed her interest in being co opted to the P.C. As there were no other candidates for this vacancy Eve Farley was duly co opted to the vacancy. The Chair then welcomed Eve Farley to the Council and she completed the Declaration of Acceptance.
5) Belton Liaison Comm – The Chair welcomed Ian Cooper (National Trust, Belton House), to the meeting and thanked him for taking the time to attend. The Chair then outlined the history behind the BLC and felt that this had out grown the usefulness. Ian Cooper did state that he (or a deputy) would be happy to attend future P.C. meetings to be able to update the P.C. on matters appropriate for the NT and the PC. I.C. then went on to update the meeting on a number of local issues
a) Liongates, this entrance is to be re-opened, there had been a slight delay due to contractors but it was hoped that the Liongates would be reopened next week. This would give full public access, and the situation would be reviewed in 12 – 18mths with a full public consultation on the issues. CCTV and additional measures were to be introduced to try and tackle the anti-social behavior that his staff and volunteers had, had to endure in the past. SS thanks IC and felt that this was a very positive move.
b) Biomass at Belton. IC updated the meeting and informed those present that SKDC Environment officer has recently attended and was happy at the processes that were in place in relation to this. The OFGEM Emissions Certificate had be issued to the National Trust re the Biomass showing that all the relevant emission guidelines were being adhered to.
c) Woodland Trust – IC updated the meeting re the work the WT and the NT were doing together, this included the planned future work at Belmont Tower and Londonthorpe car parks, and the ongoing discussions re traffic calming measures on Fivegates Lane.
d) Winter Light Show IC informed the meeting that this would go ahead again this year in Nov/Dec There were plans for an extended trail and he was hopeful that this would not impact on Belton village or those who lived close by. It was expected that there could be 85k attend the event (last year it was 73k) The post code for the event had been changed and it was hoped that this would help with those attending getting to the correct entrance, this had not been straight forward, but was now resolved. Additional signage would also be put in place. IC then invited any questions from those present, there were none. SS thanked IC for attending the meeting and the positive updates he had given. IC then left the meeting.
6) 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. Clerk had also circulated the spread sheet with the recent income and expenditure.
7) 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.
8) Website Management. CM had previously circulated a written report re this and spoke about the background to this. LALC were introducing Pete Langford to the team to assist Parish Councils to keep their P.C. websites completely up to date and fully accessible. The proposed cost was £15 (+vat) per month. A brief discussion took place and it was RESOLVED unanimously to take up this contract with LALC and to be reviewed in 12mths.
9) Belton Telephone Box. – SS outlined the history to this matter and the fact that BT were looking to get a local organization to adopt the phone box. A full discussion took place by all present. RESOLVED – it was not appropriate for the P.C. to adopt the phone box but it would hopefully be adopted by another local organization. The P.C. would keep a watching brief on this.
10) Charity Donations -ST initially spoke to this suggesting that the PC made a donation to the late Cllr Jon Bishop’s Charity. SS stated that the P.C. would not be able to donate to the Charity but invited members to make a personal donation if they wished, and this was agreed by all present.
11) In Touch Magazine -ST had been approached by a number of Belton residents asking why local information was not in the In Touch Magazine – A brief discussion took place and it was RESOLVED the Clerk would precis the minutes when approved and forward for the inclusion in the magazine. Although there was no guarantee that anything submitted would be accepted, but the relevant information would be submitted.
12) Vehicle Obstruction Manthorpe -CM updated the meeting on this. CM had tried in numerous ways to communicate with the complainant, but none had been replied to. The issue was still outstanding and had been reported to the Police who deal with parking issues such as this Cll R Wootton suggested contacting the Lincs Police Safer Together team who may be able to assist. CM to follow this up.
13) AOB – URGENT only ST who wanted to thank CM (Clerk) for the research and information that had been circulated re the Belton Phone box, which had enabled the Councilors to address this issue and resolve it.
Dates of next meeting –To be held on Wednesday 24th November 2021 at 7. 30pm – Location to be confirmed nearer the date.