Minutes from 11.01.2024
THORNTON LE FEN PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 11th January 2024 at 7pm in the chapel of the Methodist church.
In Attendance: With Councillor P. Hawkes in the Chair there were also present councillor(s), P. Corke, L. Quiney and B. Czornookyj and J. Daff. County councillor Tom Ashton was also present.
Public: There were 3 members of public present.
Absent: Councillor Best and District Councillor Neil Jones.
Public forum:
The local reverend announced that the pre-school is 20 years old and they will be hosting 20 events throughout the year the first event will be on Saturday 20th January 2024. The head teacher of Gipsy Bridge Primary School was present and informed the council that she had been outside of the school twice for altercations over parking. She told the council that the school are trying to obtain more land so staff cars can be moved from the road side. There is no advisory limit outside of the school. Cllr T. Ashton told all that he is going to chase the signs and lines crew and see what is enforceable in the area along with a review of the TRO. Cllr L. Quiney suggested that the school name and shame the parents parking poorly and perhaps use leaflets and banners asking them to park more considerably.
1. Chairman’s announcements – None.
2. Apologies for absence and reasons given – Apologies received and accepted from Cllr Best.
3. The notes from the meeting of the Council held on Thursday 5th October 2023 (attached) to be approved as Minutes and signed by the Chairman
It was:-
Proposed by Cllr B. Czornookyi Seconded by Cllr P. Corke and Resolved.
4. Reports from County and District Councillor if present - County Councillor T. Ashton told the council about devolution and it leading to a mayor of greater Lincolnshire which can provide useful amounts of money and they will be able to levy a precept. The most local thing that this could be used for is the Kirkby on Bain flood defences.
He told the council that there has been 8 breeches on the Rivers in Lincolnshire and the EA does not have enough funding to deal with these issues, maintenance and running costs. Various solutions have been discussed including an additional fee on council tax to the EA.
5. To consider and approve the Following payments
a) LALC Cllr training - £156.00 (PAID)
b) LIVES defib pads - £84.30 (PAID)
c) GE-VEIWS (planters) - £1,008.86 (PAID)
d) Clerks Salary & tax - £239.40
It was:-
Proposed by Cllr L. Quiney Seconded by Cllr P. Corke and Resolved.
6. To discuss and adopt a social media policy – Councillors had not reived the social media policy circulated so the clerk is going to resend and this can be discussed at the next meeting.
7. To discuss personal/ council email addresses – Cllrs Quiney and Czornookyi recently attended councillor training and told the council that it is best practise for the council to have their own councillor email addresses. The chairman suspended standing orders to allow a member of public to speak. He told the council that he had recently done a comparison of prices for this service and will send it to the clerk so the council has an idea on prices.
8. Planning Application/s – None
9. Correspondence for the Council
a) A request for a WHATSAPP group for councillor communications. The council discussed this and due to the GDPR and Freedom of information requests this would not be feasible.
It was:-
Proposed BY Cllr B. Czormookyi Seconded by Cllr P. Corke and Resolved.
10. Event for DDAY – Cllr Quiney would like the community and school to work together to hold a community event for the DDAY remembrance. Cllr Quiney is to liaise with the headmistress of the school to discuss ideas and the clerk was asked to apply for the councillor community grant for this project.
11. IDB Rates – Councillor Hawkes discussed the current IDB rates and asked why the cost had gone down when the IDB are paying out more in running costs. Councillor Ashton told her that the rates have not gone down. The councillors discussed the good job the IDB does and the struggle that the EA are facing.
It was:-
Proposed BY Cllr P. Hawkes Seconded by Cllr P. Corke and Resolved by all for the clerk to write to the MP and stress the importance of taking the levy of District councils so they have more funds avliable for local items and to set up a resilience levy to be financed through council tax.
12. Highways Matters
a) Village Planters – The clerk told the council that the planters are being delivered on Thursday and the Pride tea at ELDC are going to install them for the council. The clerk was told to write a letter to the Pride team and managers informing them of what a great asset this team is for local parishes to use.
b) Litter bin request – The clerk has completed the document request for a 2nd or larger litter bin on Lindsey Way, she has also asked for Newham Lane to be looked at again.
c) Councillor Quiney told all present to use fix my street to report any issues, it’s a very user friendly service. Councillor Ashton told the council to ensure repairs are put in again over the summer as they tend to hold better than they do in the winter weather.
13. The date of the next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 9th May 2024 to commence at 7.00 p.m. in the Chapel of the Methodist Church. This will be the annual council meeting. The council’s annual parish meeting will be on Saturday 18th May at 11:00am in the Methodist chapel shared with the local coffee morning.
14. Any other matters for discussion only or on the next agenda
a) Social media policy
b) The clerk was asked to do a timesheet for her hours as the council feel it would be useful information to have.
c) The headmistress of Gipsey Bridge school offered the school hall to be used for council meeting, free of charge.
Signed by chairman: 0Meeting closed at 8:28pm009.05.2024