Minutes

Walesby Parish Council.
Minutes of a remote meeting of Walesby Parish Council held on Monday 11 May 2020 at 7.30 pm.
Present: Cllr David Thurman, (Chairman), Cllr Jeanette Ashton, Cllr Sara Sprague, Cllr David Milles, Cllr Judith Sweny, Cllr Mandy Ashley, and Cllr Peter Braithwaite.
In attendance: WLDC Cllr S Bunney, Mrs V Davies (clerk)
2 members of the public

28/2020 Apologies for Absence.
No apologies were received.

29/2020 Declarations of interest under the Localism Act.
None were declared. Declarations would be declared throughout the agenda.

30/2020 Minutes. To approve the minutes of the meeting held 9.3.2020.
Proposed Cllr Sprague, seconded Cllr Ashton and unanimously agreed to approve the minutes of 9.3.20. Cllr Thurman would sign the minutes and post to the clerk.

31/2020 Public Forum
Cllr Thurman proposed, Cllr Ashton seconded to suspend the meeting for a 15-minute public forum.
There were no items raised. Cllr Bunney advised that he could provide contact details if any residents were in need of business support.
Cllr Thurman proposed to close the public forum, seconded Cllr Ashton.

32/2020 To ratify resolutions made since 9.3.20
Resolution 1. Safety Statement - Meetings
That the Parish Council recognises and agrees that no business, meeting, service provision or service delivery of the Authority is of any importance above that of public and personal safety. As such all scheduled public meetings will be cancelled for an initial 4-month period (or as circumstances dictate).
Resolution 2. Suspension Of Standing Orders / Financial Regulations
That the Parish Council gives delegated authority to the Clerk to: suspend any relevant Standing Order or Financial Regulation as necessary to ensure the smooth running and operation (wherever possible) of the Parish Council for a period of no longer than 4 months (or as circumstances dictate), with the Parish Clerk to compile and maintain a list of such suspensions and reasons which will be to be presented to a future meeting of the Parish Council
Resolution 3. Annual Council Meeting / Annual Parish Meeting
That as the cancellation of meetings has a direct impact on the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council (scheduled for 11 May 2020), the roles of Chairman and Vice Chairman will remain the same until a suitable and safe public meeting is called and held.
Where any cancellation of meetings has a direct impact on the holding of the Annual Parish Meeting, the Parish Council will hold such meeting at a future date.
It is noted that whilst the above decisions are contrary to existing legislation (as of 16th March 2020) the Parish Council has made these decisions in order to place public safety at the forefront.
Resolution 4. Orders For Payment
That the Clerk emails information regarding all orders for payment to Councillors. Councillors are to confirm by email that they agree to the payments. The cheques will be signed by those elected Members with delegated responsibility for the authorising and signing of payments.
These measures are put in place with robust transparency processes to ensure effective business continuation and to minimise impact on local service delivery and local business with ratification by the Parish Council to be made at the earliest and safest opportunity.
Proposed Councillor Thurman, seconded Cllr Sprague and resolved by all Cllrs to ratify the above resolutions made by email.

33/2020 Proper Officer’s Report and correspondence.
1. Update on how the Walesby COVD – 19 (AVG) is working with the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum - Cllr Sprague.
2. Littlejohns Annual Governance and accountability return options. There were difficulties during lockdown in having an internal audit completed. The internal audit would be completed as soon as possible after lockdown restrictions had been lifted. In order to meet the deadlines to approve the Annual Governance statements (including publishing information and submitting exemption certificate) by 31 July, the Parish council would complete section 1 of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (Annual Governance Statement 2019-20) by considering the internal audit work performed and internal audit arrangements in place between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020.
Walesby Parish Council.
3. Temporary Traffic Restriction - Walesby Level Crossing (Moor Road,) 22.00 hrs to 0600 hrs on 10/5/2020.
4. The clerk reported that the carry forward from 2019/20 is £4373.87
5. Highways update – Cllr Sprague. The repair to several Potholes had been completed. (Rasen Road, Moor Road, Walesby Hill). See complete report on website.

34/2020. Finance – To ratify Payments.

Cllr Thurman proposed, Cllr Sprague seconded and it was resolved by all Cllrs to approve the payments,
The end of year accounts for 2019-20 would be forwarded to Councillors and be an agenda item for discussion at the July meeting. Action: Clerk.

35/2020. Planning Applications – to Ratify comments made by email.
Resolution 5. To Submit Amended Planning Application Comments. 140560 - Land At Catskin Lane, Walesby, Outline Planning Application For 1 No. Dwelling.
The parish council had agreed by email to amend the comments to the above planning application as detailed below.
“Apologies. Walesby parish council were incorrect in stating that planning permissions had been refused in the past for this particular site. It seems that there have been suggestions of development through Local Plans or through the SHLAA data bases in that area of Catskin Lane, but such development seems to have been discouraged.
The applicant is also disputing the comment about ancient woodland. We have contacted Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Services for clarification as this is their area of expertise.”
Proposed Cllr Thurman, Seconded Cllr Ashton, and resolved by all Cllrs to ratify the comments agreed by email.
Resolution 6. To Approve The Comments For Planning Applications. 140707. Sunnyside Up Farm Shop, Poplar Farm, Tealby Road, Walesby, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, LN8 3UL - Change Of Use Of Land For Siting Of Caravans (Lodges) And Proposed Recreation Pond With 20 Fishing Pegs, To Include Site Levelling Using Excavated Material.
The Parish Council had approved the following comment by email.
We strongly oppose application 140707. Under application 139788 approval was given for 15 and only 15 cabins. The reason for the limitation to 15 was “ This was the number considered acceptable to maintain and enhance the rural character of the area and the setting of the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB and in accordance with policies LP2,LP17 and LP26 of the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan”.
The current application is sited next to the field applicable to 139788. Effectively the 2 applications together relate to one huge site.
Under 140707 the applicant proposes to add another 50 cabins making 65 in all with the two sites together. That would be totally unacceptable in the AONB. The total site should be limited to the original 15- restricted for the reason quoted above.
The whole proposed project will have a serious impact on wildlife habitat and biodiversity, noise, highway issues and the character of the site through inadequate landscaping.
Proposed Cllr Sprague, Seconded Cllr Ashton, and resolved by all Cllrs to ratify the comments agreed by email.

36/2020 Broadband.
Cllr Ashton gave an update on the Broadband progress. With both projects (Openreach and Quantum) the rural gigabit voucher scheme could be used. A partial offer had been given by Openreach to provide fibre to the premises to the majority of the village (apart from 13 properties on the Market Rasen exchange)
Under the Openreach scheme there was a shortfall in excess of £50k. Steve Brookes from Lincolnshire County Council had previously advised that LCC would meet the shortfall. Action: Cllr Thurman to contact Steve Brookes to pursue.
Openreach required that a contract be signed by a legal entity and required a 50% deposit on signing the contract. Discussion took place regarding the legal implications of this action. There was information on the Openreach website regarding setting up a legal entity. Cllr Ashton would investigate the information.
Quantum had attended the last parish council meeting and had investigated the possibilities of providing a fixed wireless solution for the 13 properties. Quantum were prepared to complete all of the work and arrange the finance. Cllrs were concerned about the smallness and uncertain nature of the company in terms of the funding and time to complete the project. The phases of delivery for the project suggested too many unknowns at this stage.
The Parish Council noted that residents joining the Openreach project need to commit to a 12 month contract with a service provider of their choice at the time of completion. Quantum require participants to sign a 24 month contract at three levels of their own service, costing from £29 PCM for residents and £45 PCM for a business, to be initiated at the end of any existing contract.
The steering group had spent a lot of time looking at the options and were now recommending pursuing the Open Reach offer. It was resolved that Cllr Ashton pursue the Open Reach offer subject to a funding agreement from Steve Brooks and the setting up of a legal entity. Information will be shared with all residents, who will need to confirm their commitment to the project so that a voucher application can be made by Openreach.

Date of next meeting: Monday 13 July 2020 – 7.30.

The meeting closed at 20.30