February 2023 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 15th February 2023 at the Church Hall, St John’s Church, Manthorpe
Present Cllrs. S Syddall, E Farley, S Thompson, R. Hallam, J. Ashford, A Charity, M Simpson
In attendance Chris. Morgan (Clerk and Proper Officer). County Councilor Ray Wootten–
1) Chairman’s Remarks. The elected Chair– Cllr Simon Syddall addressed the meeting and welcomed the new Councilor – Mary Simpson to the meeting and to her new post as Councilor. Things had been quiet and uneventful since the last meeting, so there was very little to say at this stage.
2) Apologies for Absence None – All present
3) 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.
4) Minutes of the last meeting held 23 November 2023 – 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.
5) Update from National Trust – Mr. Ian Cooper the Belton House General Manager, was expected at the meeting but had not yet arrived. The Chair had met with I.C. recently and gave a verbal update of ongoing issues at Belton House. It was at this point that Ian Cooper arrived and spoke to the meeting re the proposed plans for Entry/Exit to Belton House. IC spoke to the meeting at length explaining the rationale around the choices and the fact that an options/feasibility study had been carried out by an Independent contractor and the favoured option was to enter via Lion Gates and leave via Belton village in a one way system The matter was fully discussed with all present with IC taking questions and making the appropriate answers. The Chair thanked IC for the presentation, his openness, transparency and information given, re this matter. IC then spoke briefly about the plans for the Stables Courtyard and the Old School House. He did say that the first issue re the entry/exit was the priority and that the work on the latter two matters would be fully updated to the P.C. once the first issue had been completed. Regarding the Old School, he was aware of the Liaison Committee and undertook to engage with the Village, to identify options. Planning permission had already been submitted for the Entry/Exit and response was SKDC was awaited. IC left the meeting at 20.35. Cllr Wootten did say that he was aware that this matter had been “called in” by another SKDC Councilor for it to be discussed at the full planning meeting. RW then asked those present what their views were about the entry/exit proposals. There was a unanimous agreement by all present that they had no objections to the proposals.
6) Finance – CM had circulated the Finance Report and the spreadsheet outlining all income and expenditure. He asked if there were any questions – there were none RESOLVED Finance report accepted and agreed all the expenditure as outlined. Proposed ST seconded AC – unanimously agreed.
7) Community Governance Review -CM gave a verbal update on this informing the meeting that those properties on the Rosedale Ward had been consulted again as to whether they should remain in the Belton and Manthorpe P.C. area or move into a new proposed Grantham Town Council area. RW then updated the meeting to say that the boundaries for the proposed new Grantham Town Council would be the Old Borough of Grantham area with 25 Councilors. So, in effect this meant that the Rosedale Ward would remain with Belton and Manthorpe P.C.
8) Constable Field – SS fully outlined the current position re this and went through the tenders that had been received, and the recommendations of David Carter (Charles Dysons the selling agents). A lengthy discussion then took place with all there being involved. At the conclusion of the discussions/debate it was proposed and seconded that the P.C. accept the tender from Michael Willet. This was put to the vote 3 in favour, 1 against, 2 abstentions. RESOLVED to accept the offer from Michael Willet. CM to notify David Carter and commence the process re the sale. Solicitors to be asked re any restrictions as to use into the sale agreement. This matter was delegated to the Chair and Clerk to progress.
9) Planning Applications Since the Last meeting. A paper had been circulated re this, mostly the planning applications had been around tree maintenance and there had been no objections raised re any matters.
10) Any Urgent Business. CM spoke to those present re the forth coming elections for Parish Councilors in May. He was attending a briefing at SKDC offices on 6th March 2023 where he would receive the relevant nomination packs, he would then distribute as appropriate and collect and submit them when completed for those Councilors wishing to stand again.
11) Date and Time of Future Meetings. –Wednesday 17th May 2023 7pm at Belton this to include the Annual Parish Meeting and the AGM. Wednesday 16th August 2023 7.30pm at Manthorpe. Wednesday 15th November 7.30pm at Belton.
There being no other business the meeting closed at 21.20hrs.