DEEPINGS LOCAL FORUM MINUTES 11 JANUARY 2010 - 7PM DEEPINGS LEISURE CENTRE PRESENT Councillor John South Kesteven District Council - Chairman Smith LCC Councillors: Councillor T M Trollope-Bellew SKDC Councillors: Councillor R Auger Councillor R Howard Town/Parish Councillor A Baxter – Deeping St James Parish Councillors: Council Councillor P Dilks – Deeping St James Parish Council Councillor K Otter – Tallington Parish Council Councillor P Redshaw – Market Deeping Town Council Councillor J Stevens – Deeping St James Parish Council Councillor J Winstone – Langtoft Parish Council Councillor G Sutcliffe – Tallington Parish Council Councillor G Thompson – Deeping St James Parish Council LCC Officers: None SKDC Officers: Paul Stokes – Corporate Head Resources & Organisational Development Richard Wyles – Corporate Head Finance & Customer Services Paul Morrison – Principal Democracy Officer Susie McCahon – Assets & Facilities David Price – Service Manager Healthy Communities Others in V Fear (Stamford Mercury) attendance: Chris Beckett – The Deepings School Martin Atkins – Deeping Management Partnership 8 members of the public 1 1 INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME Councillor John Smith welcomed everybody to the meeting. 2 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor Robinson and District Councillors Exton (also LCC) and Joynson. 3 PUBLIC OPEN FORUM (i) Housing in Langtoft A member of the public asked why two bungalows in Langtoft remained empty, this would be passed to SKDC Tenancy services. (ii) Interactive traffic signs A member of the public from West Deeping asked about the provision of interactive road traffic signs. County Councillor Trollope-Bellow replied that there was a bidding process for these each year and any parish councils that wished to apply should contact their local county councillor. !2 signs were provided each year, unfortunately the bidding round for this year had just closed. Each county councillor was allowed to bid for one sign in their division. Councillor Trollope-Bellew agreed to provide further information for circulation to forum members. A number of other issues were raised during this item, which would be dealt with elsewhere during the meeting. These were:- Tallington Crossing Deepings Management Partnership Leisure Centre Market Deeping council tax precept. 4 MINUTES OF THE LAST FORUM MEETING - 6TH JULY 2009 The minutes of the meeting held on 6th July 2009 were approved as a correct record. 5 UPDATES FROM THE LAST MEETING. (i) Tallington Rail Crossing 2 Paul Morrison reported that he had contacted Brian Thompson of Lincolnshire County Council and Karen Sinclair, Planning Policy Manager, at South Kesteven District Council on this issue. Brian Thompson had stated that “We are working closely with the Department of Transport and the Government office on this. DFT asked us and Network Rail to provide them with data so that they fully understand the scale of the problem. I think a meeting with all stakeholders will be arranged some time in the New Year”. Karen Sinclair had added “The only thing is that representations made on behalf of Mr Thurlby that the Core Strategy should be amended to enable development where this would deliver recognized community benefits and also make specific reference for the provision of a A16 Tallington Bypass are due to be heard at the Core Strategy examination hearing sessions which start on the 19th January before an independent planning inspector. As part of this process, the inspector advised that if she were to consider making the changes sought to the Core Strategy it would be necessary for public consultation on these changes to be undertaken. This is currently being undertaken by Mr Thurlby’s agent, Mike Sibthorpe. All comments need to be submitted to him by the 15th January after which time they will be made available to the inspector. The inspector has indicated that she anticipates issuing her report to the Council in April”. County Councillor Trollope-Bellow said that he thought Network Rail were procrastinating on this issue. Councillor Otter (Tallington) refuted what had been reported by Mr Morrison and repeated his grave concerns on this issue as expressed at previous meetings of the Forum. Other parish councils expressed concern at the implications for their areas if a large number of houses were eventually built in Tallington. (ii) PCSO Funding 3 Further to the discussion at the last meeting, the letter to the Chief Constable and his reply were circulated and considered. Councillor Baxter observed that the reply did not clarify whether or not funding would cease. Councillor Trollope-Bellew stated that this was a matter for the Police Authority and the Chief Constable probably did not know at that point ie August. Conclusion: That the Forum is disappointed with the response. (iii) Summer Playschemes The Chairman introduced David Price who was the Service Manager Healthy Communities for South Kesteven District Council. Mr Price circulated a paper which outlined Summer activities as well as a Fairplay Football project that would take place in the Deepings over the coming months. Fairplay football was a community based football project aimed at reducing anti social behaviour and engaging teenagers (predominantly boys) in a positive activity. In respect of Summer activities these had run in Market Deeping, Deeping St James and Baston until Summer 2008 but council budget restraints meant that SKDC could no longer support them. Partnership working with other agencies had enabled the pooling of resources and it was proposed to provide activities in the Deepings area for Summer 2010. this project would run for four weeks over the summer and was aimed at the 4-19 age range. It was proposed that a small charge would be made for these activities as experience had shown that people were more likely to turn up if there was a charge for it. Councillor Judy Stevens asked about people who were in financial hardship, Mr Price stated that the charging policy would be reviewed to try and take this into account. Councillor Stevens also welcomed that proposed activities and stated that she would be disappointed if it did not work out successfully. Councillor Ashley Baxter stated that there was a girl’s football club (Deeping Diamonds) who might wish to become involved in the Fairplay football. (iv) Leisure Centre Management The Corporate Head Resources and Organisational Development, Paul Stokes and Susie McCahon, Team Leader Assets & facilities, updated the forum on the latest position regarding the management of the Leisure Centres. Ms McCahon also advised 4 the forum of improvement works that had been carried out to the Leisure Centre. This included repair work to the astroturf (but not resurfacing work) and works to the shower area including the hoist. (v) Gyspy and Travellers Sites Mr Morrison reported that a decision on the allocation of sites had yet to be taken as SKDC were awaiting the outcome of a planning appeal against the council’s refusal to allow a gypsy and traveller site near Fulbeck. The public enquiry had been held over two days in November, but there would be a further session in early January 2010. The inspector would normally indicate when they expect to issue a decision at the close of the inquiry. (vi) Deepings Management Partnership It was AGREED that this would be placed on the agenda for the next meeting. 6 SKDC BUDGET 2010/11 AND COUNCIL TAX Mr Wyles, Corporate Head of Finance and Customer Services gave a presentation on the SKDC’s budget for 2010/11. SKDC collected council tax not just for themselves but for Lincolnshire County Council(LCC), Lincolnshire Police and town and parish councils. The cash flow amounted to about £90m of which SKDC retained just £6m to help fund the services that they provided. SKDC did get grants from central Government for some services but were expected to raise the remainder through council tax and fees and charges. Two thirds of the services that the Council provided were statutory and each year consultation was undertaken so that the public could have their say on the proposed increases for council tax. Central Government operated a capping regime which prohibited increases of above 5% and Mr Wyles referred to Lincolnshire Police which last year fell foul of the capping regime. This year the Government were expecting low council tax increases but had not given a figure although 3% had been mentioned. For 2009/10 a typical council tax bill for a band D property looked like this: Lincolnshire County Council £1039.68 75% Lincolnshire Police Authority £174.06 13% South Kesteven DC £119.79 9% Special Expense Area (if applicable)£ 16.20 1% 5 Town/Parish Council precept £28.01 2% Total Bill £1377.74 Compared to the other local areas SKDC is the lowest and is considered to be good value for money. The majority of funding comes from central government although the settlement is getting smaller and SKDC expected to receive only 1.2% (total grant is £10.1m). The future was uncertain with a parliamentary election and with services such as health, education and police receiving priority doubt surrounded local government. There was a significant challenge ahead for the Council, the global economic downturn had had a negative impact on interest rates and investment income with had expected reduction on £250k and fees and charges also down. The Council’s response was: No budget growth in any services All staff vacancies held until business case demonstrated Sharing staffing posts and utilising