May 2022 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
Minutes of the Belton and Manthorpe Parish Council Meeting held on 27th May 2022 at 7.30pm in the Old School House, Belton.
Present Cllrs S. Syddall, (Chair) Cllrs S Thompson, R. Hallam, E. Farley, J Ashford, A Charity.
In attendance Chris. Morgan (Clerk and Proper Officer). –
Chairman’s Remarks. The Chair, Cllr Syddall, welcomed everyone to the meeting. He then addressed the meeting stating that 2021/2022 had been a relatively quiet year as far as the Parish Council was concerned. He remembered former Cllr Jon Bishop, who had died in the year and how he had brought valuable experience to the P.C. he was knowledgeable and always measured in his responses and replies and he will be missed by all of us. Planning applications throughout the year had been the main area of work for the Councilors, but there had been no contentious issues as far as the P.C. were concerned. The Chair spoke about the continued good relationships with the National Trust, and especially Ian Cooper. Cllr Syddall felt the process for consultation which had developed during the year was a lot better than the previous Liaison Comm Meetings that were held, and he thanked Ian Cooper (who was not able to make the meeting tonight, for his work and information that he had given when attending the P.C. Meetings during the year. There had been an extra meeting in October to Co Opt a Councilor onto the P.C. to represent the Rosedale ward, and he thanked the incumbent Adrian Charity, for volunteering for this role. There is the ongoing issue of speed, of vehicles, through the villages of Belton and Manthorpe and it was hoped that the Speed Watch initiative could have some impact on this. During the year there had been consultations re Regulations for Burial Grounds and as a P.C. we need to be mindful of this as if approved and applicable to the Manthorpe Burial Ground this would mean reducing the plot numbers and then the obvious consequence of less income. There had also been consultations as to whether Grantham should have its own Town Council, this matter is ongoing, but could mean if some of the proposals are accepted that part of the Manthorpe (Rosedale Ward) could be taken into a Grantham Parish.
1) Apologies for Absence – County Cllr Ray Wootten
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 9th February 2022 – It was RESOLVED to adopt the minutes as a true record, proposed by ST seconded by EF and the minutes, were, duly signed by the Chairman and Clerk. – Matters arising – All covered by agenda items.
4) Update from National Trust – Mr. Ian Cooper the Belton House General Manager, was not able to attend the meeting and he had sent his apologies. He had had a personal meeting the Chair Cllr Syddall, in the previous week, and Cllr Syddall updated the meeting on his discussions. - There are a number of projects that the NT are embarking on this year, mainly around accessibility matters, these include the Car Park and the Stable Yard where cobbles will be removed, to improve access for those with mobility issues and parents with push chairs etc. A resin gravel will be used for this. Five Gates Lane had been resurfaced and work would be carried out at the Belmont Tower Car Park, there would be more protection around the trees there. The Christmas Lights event would be held again this year. It was felt by those present that the planning and processes for last year had been a big improvement on previous years and it is hoped that the event in 2022 would not cause any issues to local residents, there would be ongoing consultation with NT to ensure this. The Mansion Roof programme is a multi-million-pound project and work will take some time to complete this. Belton House is now classed as a @Treasure House@ by the NT it is one of only 11 in the Country. A couple of issues were raised by those present i.e. Hedge near the Old School Hose encroaching onto the pavement and also from the River Bridge to the T Junction vegetation was preventing a clear access. Cllr Syddall stated that he would speak direct to Ian Cooper re these matters.
5) Finance. –CM had circulated a Financial report prior to the meeting, along with the spread sheet outlining Income and Expenditure there were no queries from councilor’s, and it was RESOLVED, to accept the report and agree to the payments that had been made. Prop. AC seconded ST.
6) Visibility of Road Signs – ST inf the meeting that she had been approached by a number of local residents to complain about the visibility of road signs and that a number were covered by vegetation and not visible. The worse ones were approaching Belton from Barkston, the Give Way sign, the 30mph sign and the Belton village sign. It was mentioned that this issue is apparent throughout the area and it appears that LCC are not maintaining the hedgerows and vegetation to an acceptable standard. It was also mentioned that there are a number of manhole covers on the footpath near to Waterloo Cottages on the main A607 that were in a poor state of repair and a trip hazard. Clerk to report to LCC.
7) Constable Field Manthorpe -CM gave a verbal update that had been received from David Carter at Charles Dyson – Basically local solicitors have been engaged to try and trace the covenant that was believed to be on the land, and to find out exactly what the covenant states.
8) Planning Applications: There had been only a few Planning Applications since the last meeting, all of which had been circulated by CM and there was a separate paper outlining these. There was nothing contentious in any of the applications
9) Meeting with the Chief Constable CM informed the meeting that the local Chief Superintendent had not been able to make the pre-arranged meeting – A new date had been arranged for 8th June, this time the location was to be The Old School House Belton.
10) Community Governance Review CM updated the meeting re this – All the relevant info is on the SKDC web site. There had been a 6.4% response rate to the consultation and the vast majority of the replies were in favour of Grantham forming a Town Council of its own. Further work and consultation needs to be completed.
11) Any Urgent Business - Councilor Vacancy. CM advised those present that under The Local Government Act 1972, if a Councilor does not attend a meeting in six consecutive months, that the Council must declare the vacancy. Cllr Jacky Smith has not attended a meeting in six consecutive months so the Council have no option but to declare the vacancy. RESOLVED - There is a vacancy on the Parish Council caused by the failure of Mrs Jacky Smith to attend meetings for a consecutive period of six months. CM to commence the process, of advertising the vacancy.
There being no other business the meeting closed at 8.16pm
12) Date and Time of Next Meeting- Wednesday 17th August 2022, at 7.30pm at The Manthorpe Church Hall