2021 Town Council Minutes of Meetings

Minutes of a Meeting of Market Deeping Town Council Held on Wednesday 10th February at 7.30pm

Zoom meeting code 86918131054 Password 214893

Present:

Cllr Yarham (Chair)
Cllr Miss Moran
Cllr Brookes
Cllr Broughton
Cllr Hembrow
Cllr Mrs Redshaw
Cllr Shelton
Cllr Mrs Sked
Cllr Davis
Cllr Miss Collins
Cllr Dolan    Cllr Lester
Cllr Neilson    

A representative of the Safer Together team, the clerk and the deputy clerk were also in attendance.

Cllr Yarham welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked the representative of the Safer Together Team to speak.

7.36    pm Cllr Baxter entered the meeting.

The representative informed the council of the new ‘Safer Together’ initiative, whereby her team work in partnership with the Lincolnshire Police force.

7.37    pm Cllr Mrs Sked re-entered the meeting.

The safer together representative would act as the local point of contact in the area with the aim of reducing crime and is also able to assist with funding initiatives. She agreed to meet with Cllr Mrs Sked, who represents the Neighbourhood policing panel for the council. Members were advised that there will be a new police officer working in the Deepings from 1st March. Cllr Yarham thanked the representative for her input, and she left the meeting.

Cllr Miss Moran, for SKDC, then advised that she had attended a full cabinet meeting at Grantham and that the Leisure Centre plans are progressing.

7.42 Cllr Broughton and Cllr Mrs Redshaw re-entered the meeting.

Cllr Baxter, for SKDC, advised of the full council decision to allow special constables a discount on their council tax.

Cllr Broughton then advised that he had been issued with a tonne of road salt 2 years ago and that there was still half a tonne available for the use of local residents. He is available to deliver if necessary.

There being no other public speakers, the meeting commenced at 7.44pm.

159.    Chairman’s Welcome & Introductions

Cllr Yarham welcomed members to the meeting.

160.    Apologies for Absence

No apologies were received.

161.    Declarations of Interest under the Localism Act 2011

None were declared.

162.    Acceptance of minutes of a meeting held on 13th January 2021

It was proposed by Cllr Yarham, seconded by Cllr Shelton and RESOLVED with 12 in favour and 1 abstention to accept the minutes of the meeting as a true and accurate record. The Clerk will sign the minutes on behalf of the chairman.

163.    Reports: Including reports from Deepings First, Committees (Planning and Highways, Amenities and Open Spaces, Town Hall and Cemetery), Mayor’s Diary and the Clerk

Deeping s First 

Cllr Shelton advised that the plan is now referendum ready and this should take place in May at the time of the local elections. The plan now carries even more weight following the new changes to planning policy. The team, which still retains several of the original 2016 members, will now move on to monitor and review.

Planning & Highways 

Cllr Brookes advised members that the SKDC Draft Design guidelines for Rutland and South Kesteven required a response by 12th March. He believed that the document was well put together and asked that members either feed back to the P&H committee or to SKDC directly.

Amenities and Open Spaces

Cllr Broughton advised that the salt bins referred to in item 59 were slightly more expensive than originally thought, and that 2 bins had been ordered for Deeping St James pc at the same time. One MDTC bin would be placed in the Riverside Park, and Cllr Mrs Sked asked that the other be placed with good access to the High Street as this area is liable to suffer from flooding.

Town Hall and Cemetery

Cllr Miss Moran advised that there had been one grave that had been fenced and gravelled, thereby contravening the cemetery policy, but that this issue had now been resolved and the grave in question was ready for re-seeding. The Town Hall would be discussed under agenda item 8.

Mayor’s diary

The Mayor and deputy Mayor had attended no events due to Covid restrictions.

Clerk’s Report 

1.    The clerks have online training for Parish Online and Cemeteries and Burials booked for February.

2.    With the closure of the Post Office there is now nowhere to bank that does not require a car journey, so banking will take considerably more time than it has done previously. Cllrs Yarham and Broughton offered to take the clerks to the bank when necessary.

164.    Correspondence to be noted and resolved upon

Correspondence to be noted

Correspondence to be resolved upon:

165.    Council Finances

a)    Income and expenditure by budget cost centre

Members had received a copy of the Council Finances and Omega report prior to the meeting. Cllr Yarham asked if there were any questions. There were none.

b)    Accounts to be paid

Cllr Yarham pointed out the additional items to be approved and asked if there were any questions. As there were none, it was then proposed by Cllr Yarham, seconded by Cllr Lester and RESOLVED unanimously that the council pay its bills for February. See appendix A.

166.    For members to ratify the decision of the Town Hall and Cemetery committee to spend up to £10000 on repairs to the Town Hall identified in the survey report and as detailed in the document of 16th January produced by Cllr Hembrow

The clerk had provided members with a copy of Cllr Hembrow’s report prior to the meeting and Cllr Hembrow explained that the £10000 would cover the reasonable expected costs of the remedial work required. Cllr Broughton asked if it would include the fire wall and it was confirmed that it does. Members discussed the expenditure and Cllr Yarham confirmed that there was currently nearly £40000 in the ear marked reserves for Town Hall requirements. Cllr Mrs Redshaw asked if a plan could be produced to cover the next 2 years of work required. Cllr Hembrow confirmed that all the actions detailed in his report had been derived from the surveyor’s report and Cllr Shelton advised that as the council had taken on a valuable asset, it should be kept in good condition. It was then proposed by Cllr Yarham, seconded by Cllr Mrs Sked and RESOLVED unanimously  to ratify the expenditure.

167.    For members to ratify the decision of the Amenities and Open Spaces committee to transfer the Christmas Tree budget to the AOS committee and to consider the placing of the Christmas lights budget Members were happy with the budget transfer and Cllr Brookes asked that the committee terms of reference be updated to reflect the decision. It was proposed by Cllr Yarham and RESOLVED unanimously to transfer both budget items as detailed.

168.    For members to agree a response to the Safer Together (Policing) team

Cllr Yarham advised that the council has a good relationship with the existing policing team and members were broadly in favour of working with the new Safer Together team, although some members still felt badly let down by local police whilst the town had been suffering criminal damage by travellers in the previous year. The clerk was asked to write to the representative and say that the council looks forward to working with her.

169.    For members to agree any updates/amendments required to the Emergency and Flood Plan  Suggestions were made regarding updating email addresses to the new MDTC addresses. Cllr Broughton agreed to be added to the list of resources with sandbags and truck to be made available when necessary. The clerk was asked to print some incident forms and pass to Cllr Broughton, in his position as flood warden for the town. The clerk will report the amendments required to the DSJ clerk, who has the master plan.

170.    For members to consider planting a tree in honour of those affected by Covid and the NHS

Cllr Yarham left the meeting and Cllr Miss Moran agreed to chair this agenda item only. Members agreed that an oak tree would be most suitable and that the Paddock was the best location. The cost of a mature tree and planting could be up to £1000 but members felt it was important to have a well established tree.

Cllr Yarham reentered the meeting.

Members discussed when to plant the tree and Cllr Brookes stated that there may be national events held at some time in the future so now may be a little premature. A future date should also allow more attendees to be present at any unveiling event. Cllr Mrs Sked suggested that the tree be planted but then ‘unveiled’ at a later date and Cllr Broughton advised that the best time to plant would be November or December. It was then proposed by Cllr Yarham, seconded by Cllr Miss Moran and RESOLVED with 10 in favour, one against and one abstention to take up to £1000 from Ear Marked Reserves (AOS contingency) to plant the tree in honour of those affected by Covid and the NHS.

171.    For members to consider the section of hedging at the entrance to the cemetery and to agree a way forward

Following an incident in the cemetery, Cllr Yarham had spoken to local residents who believed the hedge should be lowered rather than removed. He therefore proposed that this be done. Cllr Broughton had measured the section of hedge and found it to be 16ft long and 7ft wide. He believes it to be an historic hedge where birds nest. Cllr Mrs Sked asked why there was a fence running through the hedge and Cllr Broughton advised that a fence is put up to support hedges whilst growing. Cllr Mrs Redshaw advised that planning permission would be required to work on or remove the hedge. It was then proposed by Cllr Yarham and RESOLVED with 10 in favour and 3 abstentions that the clerk request planning permission to prune the hedge  to a suitable height, the suitable height to be advised by Cllr Yarham after he has visited the cemetery to look  at lines of sight from a standard vehicle.

172.    For members to receive an update on Digital Council

Cllr Yarham advised members that he had a phone meeting with Apple scheduled for the following day to resolve the final issues around acquiring the ipads. He confirmed that once ipads were issued, members would not receive paper agenda packs, but would access all documentation on line. Some members were concerned that they did not have printing facilities should they wish to print. Cllr Broughton advised that SKDC allows members to request a hard copy of a document if they wish to have one. Cllr Yarham urged members to avoid asking for hard copies where ever possible, and suggested that members’ current devices be used to access the meeting, and documentation could then be simultaneously viewed on the new devices. Cllr Miss Moran confirmed that she works in this way. Cllr Hembrow asked if it would be possible to split the screen to see both meeting and documentation on the new devices, and Cllr Yarham confirmed that it would.

173.    Forthcoming events: Councillors’ Training Day 23/24 Feb via zoom 10am – 1.30pm, New Councillors’ Introduction/refresher 16th Feb via zoom, 6-9pm, Financial Training – VAT/Auditing/Year end accounting, ‘A guide to being a good Councillor’ various dates

The clerk had previously provided Cllrs with details of the training events listed, and Cllr Yarham asked members to contact the clerk to book on to any of the events shown.

174.    For members to consider and discuss any points raised in the public session.

All points had been covered under agenda item 10.

175.    Confidential/Personnel Matters: Consideration to go into Closed session to discuss: Staff issues

It was then proposed, seconded and RESOLVED unanimously to move into Closed Session to members of the press and public in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, for members to discuss items that contained information of a confidential nature: Staff issues. It was then RESOLVED unanimously to come out of Closed Session.

Cllr Yarham thanked all members for attending and declared the meeting closed at 9.19pm. The next scheduled meeting of the Full Council will be held on 10th March 2021.