Present:                               Cllr Catherine Lack, Cllr Lucy Robb, Cllr Anne Booth, Cllr Hannah Weston Smith, Cllr Nickey Pretty, Cllr Martin Smith,

Also Present:                     Nicky Bush (Clerk), Cllr Murray Turner (SKDC)

Public Forum:                    Four members of the public

A member of the public asked about the light in the alleyway off West Street and was advised it is to be discussed within the agenda

Two members of the public discussed the possibility of using the football field and pavilion and again it was advised that this will be discussed later in the agenda

Meeting started 7.32 pm

23/133 Chair’s remarks.  – None

23/134 Apologies for absence and reasons given.

Cllr Nathan Roe gave apologies. It was resolved to accept the apologies.

23/135 To receive any declarations of interest in accordance with the Localism Act 2011.

Cllr MT declared an interest in item 10 – Pavilion, as a member of Pointon football club

23/136 Draft minutes of the meeting held on 18-01-24 to be confirmed and signed as minutes.

Cllr LR highlighted that it was Cllr NP’s son that would be looking at the allotment tap.An amendment was made, and it was resolved to accept the above notes as minutes.They were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

23/137 Financial matters: Accounts for payment and budget figures, including report, up to 17.03.24.

Bank Balances

Lloyds Treasurers account     £  5,642.73

Lloyds Savings account            £     500.87

Natwest account                      £15,148.02

In addition, the clerk presented the invoice for LALC which is due for payment on 01-04-24

It was resolved to accept the accounts for payment and pay the LALC invoice on 01-04-24

Action: Clerk to make payments with Cllr Lack to authorise them.

23/138 Planning:

S24/0260 Repair and restoration works – Toll House Cottage, Bourne Road

The Parish council fully supports the intention to save and restore the former Mill House.We applaud the approach to its restoration, which fully embraces its historical integrity with a philosophy of retention and repair and use of appropriate heritage materials.

S23/2089 – Replacement ancillary annex – Mill House, Bourne Road

This works is out of sight and replacing an existing building – no comments or concerns

S24/0031 – Tree works – 1 Church Lane

No comments or concerns

The Clerk confirmed that these comments have been submitted to SKDC planning department.

23/139 Correspondence

The clerk asked if there were any electric charging points within the village as Lincolnshire County council are trying to map where existing ones are.  It was confirmed that there are none.

The clerk also raised the email received from SKDC earlier in the week regarding flood resilience and an offer of support in creating an emergency plan for the village.  It was resolved that the Parish would engage with them with a view to setting up an emergency plan.  The clerk was asked to reply and find out more information.  Cllr MT has said he may be able to obtain a template that may be useful.

Cllr CL reported that she had received an email regarding permission to scatter ashes in the church graveyard.  She confirmed that she had responded to say this does not come under the Parish Council jurisdiction but have passed the detail onto the Church Warden.

Cllr CL also confirmed that she has passed details on to the Folkingham in Need charity of a lady who was asking for assistance.

Action: the clerk to feed back to Lincolnshire County council regarding charge points and respond to SKDC regarding an emergency plan.

23/140 Clerks report.

The clerk advised that in trying to book the dates for the meeting for the next year the May date is not available. It was resolved to hold the meeting the following week on the 23rd May 2024

The clerk asked about where the flood signs could be delivered to.  Cllr MS advised that he had already arranged for them to be delivered to him and they could stay there for the time being. It was resolved the permanent storage of these would be looked as part of the emergency plan.

Cllr HWS asked if there had been any further updates from Cllr M Hill regarding spring lane road signs.  There has been an incident where a lorry got stuck and damaged the bank, although the company have come back and repaired the damage.  It was resolved that the clerk would follow up on this with Cllr M Hill and Highways

Action: Clerk to book the May meeting and publish 2024-25 meeting dates and follow up with Cllr M Hill regards the signage for Spring Lane to try and prevent further incidents.

23/141 Updates from LCC/SKDC

Cllr MH was not present to give an update on the A15 crossing.  It was resolved that the clerk would follow this up via email.

Cllr MT reported that SKDC have allocated extra funding for council houses and are supporting the reopening of Deeping leisure centre.  They are also looking at replacing streetlights with halogen lights as the savings on electricity will repay the costs in the long term.  They have voted for a balanced budget and are not using reserves and they are trying to fix things and do better going forward.

In addition, he notified the councillors that SKDC have received an appeal with regards to the solar farm at Washdyke.

Action: Clerk to follow up on the A15 crossing with Cllr MH

23/142 Pavilion

Cllr NR reported prior to the meeting that the costs for the solicitors with regards to the transfer of the Pavilion were potentially much higher than reported at the previous meeting.  It was therefore resolved that the clerk would look into the registry of deed to see if this could be done directly as until this needs to take place before any further actions can go ahead.

A member of the public confirmed that he hoped to use it for a junior club, ages four to six, from June and Cllr MT confirmed that the Pointon adult team would like to use if from September. It was agreed that the Clerk would update on progress over the coming weeks. In addition, they said their members may be willing to assist in any maintenance work to get it up and running.

At present the pavilion needs to have safety checks done and health and safety compliance needs to be investigated.  The clerk asked if there were any other remedial works that need to be done as quotes would be needed before applying for funding.

It was discussed that the Parish council would retain control of the field and pavilion and it would be hired out on a pay and play/hire system and the annual running costs would need to be costed out prior to setting a hire out rate and a booking/payment system would also need to be set up.

A contract of hire would also need to be put in place to clearly outline the hire conditions.

The container that is also still currently in the field was discussed and if the football club are not removing it then this will need the ownership transferred, insurance obtained, and a health and safety assessment carried out along with any remedial works needed.  Cllrs agreed to measure the container and pass on dimensions so that the clerk can get a quotation to cover the container.

It was resolved that the clerk would look into the registry of deed and research health and safety duties of the council and contact LALC for advice to ensure the council is fulfilling its duty of care for users as well as looking into costs and a booking system.

Action: The clerk to investigate the items above and contact LALC for advice and feedback to the Councillors.

23/143 Playing field

Play Area

Cllr LR confirmed that she has still not heard anything with regards to the funding for the benches and that potentially alternative funding for the roundabout would be needed. Cllr MT said he would see if he could find out, in addition there are other funding opportunities he was aware of and that he would send details to the clerk.

Allotments

The Clerk confirmed that all the allotment rents have been recevied and plot no 10 has now changed hands.  Cllr NP confirmed the tap would be repaired in May

Action: Cllr MT to send funding details to the clerk and follow up on the pending application.

23/144 Update on streetlight off West Street

The Clerk advised that she has received confirmation that we do not need planning permission for the new lamp and that we have received a quotation with regards to installation.  It was resolved to go ahead with the streetlight and the clerk to contact the lamp company directly to establish which size of light we would need for this location.  A budget of £1250 was agreed as a maximum.

Action: Clerk to source a suitable streetlight and then arrange installation.

23/145 SKDC – Local Plan Review - consultation

Cllr MS confirmed that the plan did not include any changes for Folkingham, however Cllr MT informed the councillors that there were large developments proposed for Billingborough which could then have an impact on the traffic and services for Folkingham.  It was resolved that Cllr MS would look at this in further detail and respond to the consultation.

Action: Cllr MS to respond to the consultation.

23/146 Village skip Hire

It was resolved that the Village skip would be hired for 13th April 2024 and agreed that a 16yd skip would be hired as previously.

Action: Clerk to book skip and advertise on website and facebook.

23/147 Ecolearn – community food growing.

Following on from the presentation at the Annual Parish meeting it was resolved that this would not be a suitable project as it would need to be in a secure area.

Action: The clerk to notify EColearn that we will not be going ahead with the project

23/148 Other Village matters

Cllr MS now has some quotations for the phone box with an estimate of £1200.  As this is more than expected it was resolved that he would email the costs breakdown, and it would be discussed in more detail at the next meeting to establish how it can be used in the future.

Action: Cllr MS to forward costing details and the clerk to add to the next agenda.

Cllr NP having considered the discussion earlier, raised again concerns regarding Health and safety responsibilities with regards to the Pavilion.  Following discussion, it was agreed that a working party would get together, to include Cllr NR with his knowledge of these aspects, who was unable to attend today, to look in detail as all aspects to ensure that the Council has covered every aspect and then if need be have an EO meeting to ratify and confirm the way forward.

The chair resolved that the meeting would go into a closed session and members of the public were asked to leave.

23/149 Grass Cutting Tender

The clerk confirmed that only one tender had been received and after discussion is was resolved to accept the tender.

Action: Clerk to confirm tender acceptance with the contractor.

Meeting Closed 9.00 pm

Date of next meeting:  23 May 2024 7.30 pm

Signed:                                                                                                    (In the chair)