In Attendance: Councillor H Staples (Chairman)

CLERKS NOTES OF THE FISHTOFT PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 13 JULY 2015 AT THE PLAYING FIELD PAVILION COMMENCING AT 7.00PM

In attendance: Councillor H Staples (Chairman)

Councillors G Bishop (Vice Chairman), C Bird, M Clark, M Ordway, O Snell,

J Harrison, P Skinner, E Armstrong, J Skinner (arrived at 7.40pm)

Boston Borough Councillor J Noble

Mrs K Partridge (Clerk)

1 CHAIRMAN’S REMARKS: Councillor Staples welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Apologies received from Lincolnshire County Councillor E Ransome.

3 PRESENTATION BY MICHELLE SACKS, BOSTON BOROUGH COUNCIL:

Michelle explained her role as the Monitoring Officer at Boston Borough Council, also deals with legal issues, Code of Conduct and queries from Parish Councils.

In general parish councils should be apolitical, encourage healthy debate and be a regular change of Chairman to help with this process. Members should adhere to the Code of Conduct; Standing Orders are very important and all issues should be debated and decisions resolved. All discussions at meetings should be directed through the Chair, all items discussed should be agenda items and any issues deferred to the next meeting if necessary to gather the correct information. LALC offer good advice.

Social media can be a useful tool to get volunteers and a source of fundraising (crowd funding). If using social media Members should not post comments in their capacity as a Councillor, only personal.

Councillor J Skinner arrived at 7.45pm.

Boston College students can be a useful source to help produce projects as they can use this as part of their portfolio. Councillor Staples thanked Michelle Sacks for attending.

4 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Councillor P Skinner declared an interest in all planning matters through his role on the planning committee at Boston Borough Council. Councillor Bishop declared a personal interest in planning application B/15/0232 as the applicant is known to his family.

5 POLICE MATTERS: Police report not received.

6 MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 15 JUNE 2015: It was resolved the minutes be approved and signed, proposed by Councillor Clark, seconded by Councillor P Skinner and agreed.

7 REPORT ON OUTSTANDING MATTERS:

Caravan Toot Lane: Councillor Ordway suggested the gentleman apply for a St Leonards Almshouse as there is currently a vacancy; Social Services would not intervene at the present time without further personal information. The caravan is in a very poor state. It was agreed to keep this as an agenda item.

8 HIGHWAYS REPORT: Report not received from LCC Highways. A meeting has been arranged for Tuesday 14 July to discuss the A16 Sibsey Road proposals by local residents; Councillors Staples, Clark and Ordway will attend together with the Clerk, Mr Gareth Milner of Highways and Mr Elmer. An update on this will be reported at the next meeting.

9 LITTER GROUP REPORT:

Councillor Armstrong suggested waiting until the next newsletter is distributed to see if more volunteers come forward before re-arranging areas. The War Memorial area has been weeded but more are coming through.

10 CLERKS REPORT, CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED AND COUNCILLORS ISSUES: General correspondence received was available and included Clerks & Councils Direct; Affordable Rural Housing; Transport Briefing.

Overgrown Trees Marshall Close: Letter received from a resident of Marshall Close asking if the overgrown trees in her cul-de-sac could be trimmed as they were blocking out the only street light in that area and making access to her driveway dangerous in the dark. It was agreed the Clerk contact Highways to ask if they could trim the trees back.

Councillor Armstrong had attended the recent meeting regarding new Local Plan; Councillor P Skinner had also attended.

During the meeting it was explained the need for a new plan, how it will be progressed, how to appeal or object. Central Government dictate the need for a 5 year rolling plan and to include housing. Developments need to be sustainable and needs looked at for this include jobs, local environment, social inclusion, equity, etc.

The Plan is expected to be available for consultation by November 2015; this process involves all stakeholders and opinions/comments are taken into account.

Not many parishes have a Parish Plan and Councillor Skinner suggested this should be considered; however, this issue was discussed at length last year and as the process is lengthy and costly it was agreed at that time not to proceed.

Councillor Bird has liaised with Fishtoft Primary School regarding their wish for an eco garden; more information will be available shortly and passed to the school.

Councillor Bishop reported the junction of Church Green Road with Fishtoft Road is beginning to deteriorate again; a good job was carried out over a year ago but the number of large lorries that use the junction are having an effect on the road surface again. It was agreed the Clerk ask Highways to look at this before any further deterioration.

Councillor J Skinner had taken a traffic count of Anglian Water vehicles travelling along Scalp Road to and from the sewage works on 13 July. There were 17 bulkers; 5 tankers; 6 Anglian Water vans. This will be discussed further at the next meeting when representatives of Anglian Water attend.

Councillor Ordway was concerned that in the future only items budgeted for should be approved for payment with regards to donations/grants and any request for funding should be an agenda item in the future. Councillor J Skinner pointed out she did request an item for the Love Shack be listed as an agenda item, however, this was only discussed during Clerks Report.

Councillor Ordway felt the discussion regarding a noise assessment on A16 Sibsey Road had been agreed by Highways at their meeting last year; the Clerk will check her notes. Councillor Staples reported she had been contacted by a resident of Sibsey Road who was concerned at the trees overgrowing her property from the neighbouring “green” area. There were also some concerns as to the proposed usage of the area by the current owners. It was agreed to contact Planning to state there are concerns regarding the proposed usage and of the overgrown trees.

Allotment holders on Toot Lane are currently experiencing theft of their produce.

Dog Fouling, Playing Field: There have been reports of dog fouling on the playing field; following discussion it was agreed to ask Boston Borough Council if they could produce a letter to be delivered to all residents in the area, also to contact the Playing Field Trust to ask if better signs could be erected.

11 BOSTON BOROUGH AND LINCOLNSHIRE COUNTY COUNCILLORS REPORTS:

Councillor Noble reported on the following:

 Street lights on Fishtoft Road should now be working.

 A16 road surface – resurfacing took place in 2014 and will not be done again for 10 years. Speed readings on Sibsey Road have been carried out by LRSP, some evidence of speeding, suggested Parish Council request interactive speed signs.

 Details are available from Boston Borough Council in relation to Forward Planning; areas for potential development are highlighted.

12 NEWSLETTER DISTRIBUTION: Councillor Bird to take over delivery to Wainfleet Road, Ball House and Burton House; Councillor P Skinner to deliver to Rimington Road, Fishtoft Road and Gilder Way.

13 FINANCE REPORT:

a) a budget update was presented and accepted, proposed by Councillor Skinner, seconded by Councillor Clark.

b) to approve payment of accounts

It was resolved the accounts be paid, proposed by Councillor P Skinner, seconded by Councillor Clark and agreed. Councillor Staples reported a representative of the Love Shack Charity had seen her and was concerned at an article in the Target newspaper where is was reported money raised is sent to Kenya, this is not the case and he was keen to alleviate any issues this may cause.

14 PILGRIM FATHER’S ANNIVERSARY:

Councillor P Skinner reported Boston Borough Council will be arranging events leading up to the Anniversary, a procession is organised and further information will be reported to Parish Council.

Councillor Bird reported she will be meeting Luke Skerritt shortly with regard to certain funding opportunities.

Councillor Ordway would like to see a more permanent memento, perhaps a stone bench or sculpture; this could be used to attract visitors to the area. Also suggestions to produce a map/booklet suggesting 2 different Memorial walks both adult and child friendly; a map to include points on history, nature, etc. Costs based on a map from another region have been requested from Chris Cook and will be reported to the next Parish Council meeting. It was agreed Members were happy for Councillor Ordway to pursue this project.

15 PLANNING MATTERS:

B/15/0222 – erection of two storey extension, construction of 2 No. A/C compounds, alterations to landscaping and extension of car parking area at Premier Inn, Wainfleet Road – no objections.

B/15/0232 – replacement of existing garage and erection of an ancillary granny annexe at 138 Willoughby Road – no objections however, Members would query whether an “annexe” should be attached to the main building and not a separate entity.

B/15/0240 – construction of a single storey modular type building at Pilgrim Hospital – no objections.

B/15/0253 – application under S.37a for the variation of condition 3 on planning approval B/07/0186 (erection of two storey extension to garden centre to provide additional sales area and secondary entrance) to allow an open retail (Class A1) use of an area ,5% of the overall sales area of the garden centre at Johnsons of Boston Garden Centre, Wainfleet Road – no objections. 16 DATE OF NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be held on Monday 17 August 2015 at Rochford Tower Hall and will commence at 7.00pm with a 10 minute public forum, if required.

There being no further business to discuss the Chairman closed the meeting at 10.05pm.