Minutes of the Horncastle Town Council Meeting Held on 14 July 2020 Via Zoom
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REPORT PACK FOR HORNCASTLE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING ON 11TH AUGUST 2020 Agenda item 4. NOTES Please be advised that these are notes of the meeting taken by the Clerk and cannot in any way be regarded as the official minutes of Council proceedings until they are approved and signed at the next meeting MINUTES OF THE HORNCASTLE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 14 JULY 2020 VIA ZOOM In the chair: Councillor F Martin MBE (Chairman) Present: Councillors Aron, Barker, Birchall, Burbidge, Everton, Hinkins, Lockwood, Macarthy, J Martin and Wilkinson In attendance: • A Bushell - Town Clerk • M Moss – Deputy Clerk • PCSO Nigel Wass – Lincolnshire Police • G Burrows – Horncastle News • Councillors Campbell-Wardman and Avison - ELDC Councillors for Horncastle • S Goodacre – Estates Supervisor • 4 members of the public Public participation: A Holt Lane resident spoke about the issue of part of Holt Lane being an unadopted highway, and they raised their concerns about the poor condition of the road surface. They asked that HTC looked favourably on offering them help to get the lane adopted by LCC Highways. 28. CHAIRMAN’S REMARKS The Chairman remarked that there were no public events being held at the moment, but she was still continuing to support the voluntary organisations in the town by assisting with the delivery of prescriptions and being in contact with the Scrub Hub which was preparing a phased close down. The Chairman hoped that the Town Council would be able to meet in August, otherwise it was in danger of falling behind with projects. Cllr F Martin provided figures from the Crisis Support Team and she gave a big thank you to HTC staff and everyone in the town who had helped and supported their neighbours which had shown what a good community Horncastle was. 29. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND REASONS GIVEN All members were present. Inspector Constantine and Sargent Burtenshaw from Lincolnshire Police had sent apologies. 30. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS AND DISPENSATIONS There were no declarations of interests or any requests for dispensations received. 31. MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 09 JUNE 2020 PROPOSED, SECONDED AND RESOLVED (unanimously) that the notes of the Council meeting held on 9th June be approved as a true record of the meeting. 32. REPORTS FROM CLERKS AND COUNCILLORS ON MATTERS OUTSTANDING Councillors received the outstanding actions list and updates which the Clerk ran through and answered questions. Cllr Lockwood apologised for not completing the outstanding action assigned to him, and he offered to try and find time to get it done. 33. REPORTS FROM POLICE, DISTRICT COUNCILLORS AND COUNTY COUNCILLOR Police: All councillors had received an e-mail from Inspector Constantine prior to the meeting giving an update on the anti-social behaviour issues in the town. PCSO Wass commented that the past weekend had been the most challenging weekend in his 20 years in the Police. He spoke about the incidents that had taken place at the weekend and gave details of the actions the Police had taken, which included issuing closure notices to properties in order to evict the residents. Councillors raised concerns that evicting residents didn’t mean that they would leave the town, as it was likely that they would be offered another property in Horncastle, and PCSO Wass explained that if someone was evicted under a closure notice than the Council had no obligation to rehome them, and if it wasn’t for Covid-19 they would probably have been evicted months ago, and evicted tenants did tend to leave the area under these circumstances. PCSO stressed the importance of people reporting incidents to 101 to ensure that the Police could take action, and he commented that it also helped with statistics and bidding for resources in the town. Cllr Aron was asked when the parking wardens were returning to the town, and he reported that they went back on duty the previous week. PCSO Wass was asked about witness protection people in the town, but he explained that he knew absolutely nothing about this, and even if he did, he would be unable to share any information on this with HTC. District Councillors: Cllr Avison reported that free parking in ELDC’s car parks had been extended to 1st August, and the 3 Ward Councillors had held meetings with Cllr Grist and officers from ELDC to push for it being extended further. Cllr Avison explained that he had been contacted by a Town Councillor to ask whether ELDC would allow for the Market Place tree surround improvements to go ahead if HTC paid for the work, and he explained that ELDC would as long as HTC committed to the costs prior to the work being done. He also spoke about a comment received about WLDC not charging for car parking and explained that they charged residents more in council tax which enabled them to keep parking charges low, however, ELDC didn’t think that way was fair. Cllr Avison also reported that ELDC staff were all still working from home which made it more challenging to get answers to queries as he couldn’t pop into Manby and speak to an officer, he urged Town Councillors to be patient and give the District Councillors time to get a decision on free parking before shouting about it. Cllr F Martin explained that the 3 Ward Councillors felt that they had put forward a case where there was no justification for refusal. County Councillor Aron reported that following the easing of the lockdown the town’s library and a number of LCC run tourist attractions had re-opened, and the click & tip was working well; and during lockdown LCC had distributed 500 laptops to school children throughout the County. Cllr Aron had walked around the town with County Councillor Davies and three senior officers to look at Highways matters, and work had already started on some of the issues. Cllr Aron explained that LCC had agreed to look at the partial pedestrianisation of the Market Place and St Lawrence Street, and if it wasn’t able to implement it, it would look at reducing the speed limit in St Lawrence Street to 20mph. Town Councillors queried why LCC wouldn’t be able to implement a temporary pedestrianisation of the Market Place with immediate effect since Government was recommending that areas were pedestrianised, Cllr Aron was told that a proper response was needed ASAP rather than HTC being told that LCC was looking into it. Cllr Aron was also asked about the footpath from West Street to the Swimming Pool, and he said that he had looked into the issue and would report back to HTC’s Highways Working Group. 34. TO APPROVE THE TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE, AND THE ESTATES MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE PROPOSED, SECONDED AND RESOLVED (unanimously) to approve the terms of reference for both committees. 35. NOTES FROM THE FOLLOWING COMMITTEE MEETINGS a. Planning & Development Committee meeting held on 15th June Cllr Burbidge mentioned the Winceby Gardens planning appeal. The notes were RECEIVED without any questions. b. Personnel & Finance Committee meeting held on 22nd June RECEIVED without comment. c. Estates Management Committee meeting held on 30th June A comment was made about the new burial land. The notes were RECEIVED without any questions. 36. TO CONSIDER WAYS TO HELP THE TOWN’S RESIDENTS AND LOCAL BUSINESSES POST LOCKDOWN Councillor Lockwood ran through the report which he had produced in association with Horncastle Traders Association (HTA) and residents. Councillors commented on Cllr Lockwood’s suggestions, and Cllr Hinkins asked if HTC could look again at transfers for empty shop windows, and improvements to paintwork because hanging baskets and flags would not hide dilapidated buildings. It was reported that Horncastle History and Heritage Society(HHHS) were looking at this, but it could be looked at by HTC if they don’t progress it. PROPOSED, SECONDED AND RESOLVED (unanimously) that subject to seeking 2 further quotes for the watering of the hanging baskets, in order to comply with HTC’s Financial Regulations. HTC would authorise expenditure of up to £3,000 from the Small Parish Projects budget to purchase flags, hanging baskets, the watering of the hanging baskets, and a donation to the Horncastle & District Lions for erecting and removing the hanging baskets and flags. This would be organised by Cllr Lockwood and Cllr Barker. AGREED to organise a town clean-up day using town council equipment. To be attended by Town councillors and HTA members on a Sunday in August, the Clerk would e-mail councillors to find out the best Sunday to suit the most people so it could also be advertised. Cllr Lockwood would do the risk assessment which would take into account measures to prevent the transmission of Covid- 19, the safety briefing and hand out equipment on the day, if the Clerk/Deputy Clerk was unavailable. Councillors considered the response from ELDC to the car park charging letter, and members expressed their disappointment that the letter did not answer the question about why other towns/villages had 2 hours free parking, but Horncastle did not. Cllr F Martin explained that the 3 District Councillors were challenging this, and felt that they were in a good position, and on the verge of being granted a period of free parking the same as Woodhall Spa. If they had not succeeded in being granted this by August, then it would go back on August’s HTC agenda so that it could be looked at again. The report sent to councillors with the agenda also included copies of communications received from ELDC about the Government’s Re-opening High Street Safely Fund.