2025 Minutes

Belton And Manthorpe Parish Council

 

Chairman - Councilor Adrian Charity, 26, Low Road, Manthorpe. NG31 8NQ

Clerk - Chris. Morgan, 10 Manchester Way, Grantham Ng31 8rr

Tel. 07758762811 

 

Draft Minutes of the Belton and Manthorpe Parish Council Meeting held on 18th November  2025 at 7.30pm in the The Church Hall, St John’s Church Manthorpe

 

Present Cllrs A Charity, (Chair) J Ashford, S Thompson S Siddall, Rona Hallam, Robert Mansel

In attendance Chris. Morgan (Clerk and Proper Officer). Mark Morris (Burial Ground Manager) Gerogina McCrea (Alison Homes) + one member of the public

 

1)Chairman’s Remarks.  The Chair, Cllr Charity, welcomed everyone to the meeting, and confirmed that the meeting was quorate. He went on to say that since the last meeting things had been reasonably quite, with only one or two Planning Applications received with no objections from the P.C.

2)Apologies for Absence – Ian Cooper Cllr Paul Martin )LCC)

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 5th August 2025 – It was RESOLVED to adopt the minutes as a true record, proposed by S.T.. seconded by JA.and the minutes, were, duly signed by the Chairman and Clerk. – Matters arising – All covered by agenda items.

5)GM addressed the meeting, giving an informed update on the work at Manthorpe Chase. 6-7 properties were now occupied. Works on the footpaths had been completed. With the recent storms it was p[leasing to note that the drainage on site had worked as expected with the reservoirs taking all the relevant overspill. GM confirmed that the work to install the traffic lights and the improvements to the bus tops in Manthorpe would begin w/c 6th January and was expected to take approx.. 12 weeks.  A weekly litter had been arranged along the footpaths, the hedge at the side of the Church Car Park/A607 would be trimmed in the next 2 weeks and work on the Church Car Park to level restone and roll should be completed by Christmas. There was still uncertainty about the provision of a primary school on the site as L.C.C. Education Dept are unsure if it is actually needed. A general discussion took place on this point and GM was asked to go back to LCC and ask if there is no need for a primary school could a Special Educational Needs School be considered as there is a real need in the area for this. GM agreed to discuss this with L.C.C. On completion of all the work a Condition Survey on Belton Lane would be completed and if Alison Homes were responsible for any detrition they would rectify. GM agreed that the agreement re the Extension of the Manthorpe Burial Ground was ongoing and she was confident that this would happen. Those present were given the opportunity to ask any questions of GM re the development.  

6) Update Re Belton Laison Comm – I.C. had sent his apologies, but had sent a written update that CM read out. It was agreed that the term Belton Laison Committee would be dropped and this item on the Agenda would be referred to as National Trust Update.

7) Manthorpe Burial Ground. M.M. gave a verbal update re recent issues he had, had with Co Op Funeral Care Grantham. After a discussion by all present it was RESOLVED  unanimously, that before the Co Op Funeralcare would be allowed to deal with a Funeral at the Burial Ground, in the future, full payment, upfront, by electronic transfer, must have been received. A resident from Langdale Cres Grantham had asked for a refund on a payment made in 2015 for Exclusive Right of Burial, as they no longer wished to be buried thereon death, A discussion took place, although this is not usual P.C. policy, on this occasion it was agreed that a refund, minus an £80 administration fee would be refunded. RESOLVED CM to arrange the refund. MM stated that there was an amount of work/maintenance required on 12 graves to bring than up to standard and to ensure that the Burial Ground was kept looking in a good state. A quote had been received from the contractor who maintains the Burial Ground RESOLVED, unanimously, to accept the quote from Andrew Pearsey and ask him to complete the work.

8) Finance CM had circulated the income and expenditure since the last meeting. RESOLVED, unanimously, to authorise, retrospectively, all the payments and the Finance repot was accepted and agreed. The proposed Budget for 2026/2027 had been prepared by CM and after one minor amendment, in relation to cost of Burial Ground Maintenance, the Budget was agreed. RESOLVED to accept the amended budget.

9)Planning Applications since last P.C. Meeting. CM had circulated all the relevant planning applications since the last meeting most were uncontentious, however there was one item that had been received that day Planning App s25/1526 re a development of 7 properties on Constable Field. Although the P.C. did not have any issues re the buildings concern was shown re the entry/exit plans for the development. It was felt that this was a serious Road Safety matter due to the 60mph limit and the close proximity to the “hump backed” railway bridge which did drastically reduce visibility to the site entrance, and this could be an “accident waiting to happen” It was also noted that there is no pedestrian footpath in the area so access for pedestrians to the site would be hazardous. 

An email had also been received from the owners of the nearby Manor Grange re the request to approve their wish to name a barn conversion as The Fold. There were no objections to this. CM to notify the residents

10) Any Other Urgent Business – CM informed the meeting that due to Cllr Simpson’s not attending meetings for 6 Consecutive months then Section 85 of the Local Government Act had to be implemented and a Vacancy declared. RESOLVED – all agreed CM to commence the process.

 

Meeting Concluded 21.20

Date and Time of Next Meeting – 7.30pm 24th February 2026 at The Church Hall, St John’s Church Manthorpe.

 

 

Signed    Chair………………………………………………………Clerk……………………………………………………Date………………………….