December 2020 Minutes
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting of Great Ponton Parish Council
Held on 7th December 2020 at 7pm via zoom
Present: Cllrs E.Booth. Chairman, P.Jackson, Vice-Chairman, D.Booth, J.Booth, A.Convery and I.Cruickshank.
Welcome.
Public Forum. Nothing raised from the public but those who attended were allowed to join in the discussion.
District Cllr Bob Adams addressed the Parish Councillors and gave a lengthy and comprehensive discussion regarding the chicken farm planning application. He said that all the questions that had been previously raised before had been dealt with and that the applicants had in fact reapplied even though an appeal was still going ahead. He was waiting the applicants to withdraw this appeal.
1. Apologies of absence.
a. Apologies received from Cllr G.Taylor Reasons given and accepted by all.
2. Declarations of interest.
a. Cllr Jackson declared an interest in the planning application for the Chicken Farm.
3. Notes of the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 14th September 2020 to be approved as the new minutes.
a. Resolved to accept these minutes
4. Matters arising for the minutes:
a. Highways matters.
Hedge of private dwelling on Dallygate has now been cut. Also the complaint received regarding a) furniture outside a property – this was awaiting SKDC to collect it and the collection had been paid. b) caravan outside property – the Clerk had already reported this before and all was in hand for it to be removed. Drain covering at the top of Archers Way – A1 has had a barrier tape around it for the past 6 weeks. Clerk to send email to District Councillor to action. Sign on the A1 saying ‘weight limit’ was discussed, but there are two already alongside another sign. Concerns had been raised that if a heavy vehicle was to miss the sign, then they would not know about the weight limit on the bridge. School parking along Dallygate is becoming a problem again. Cllr Adams said that he would discuss this with the head teacher. Cllr Adams also said that cctv camera van had been out and about but not cost effective.
There are two enforcement officers for towns and he can request them to visit the village, but vehicles may get a ticket. Clerk to contact the head teacher again asking if it was possible for the school to contact the vehicle owners to ask them to park in the village centre car park.
b. Speed Indicator Device.
Data to be sent through.
c. Boundary in village. Ongoing.
5. Village Centre Matters/Report.
The committee are seeking out grant funders. Coffee mornings and bingo have all been well attended prior to lockdown.
6. Community Playing Field/Paddock.
a. Playing Field access had now had the hard surface put down which extends across the paddock. Clerk to write to Stoke Rochford estate for their contribution of stone and also to for the supply of tarmac chippings. The commemorative tree had been purchased and planted and spring bulbs also planted. Chairman would like to say a huge thank you to Cllr Jackson for doing the planting and also grass seeding. Right hand side of the playing field the trees have been cut down and others on need of a good cutting back. SOS garage on the A1 have removed the overgrown trees and will be replacing the broken fence at some stage. Household gardens backing onto the playing field have slightly overgrown trees, Cllrs will keep and eye on these before any problems arise. Moles are back again. Cllr Taylor had sent a report of bikes being used on the field.
b. Football Club. Chairman has been approached by various clubs all wanting to use the playing field football pitches.
c. Caravan & Camping Club. The C+C annual report had been sent off. Not must happening at the moment although a rally has been booked for next year.
Clerk said that she had contacted SKDC regarding getting the pavilion rated for business rates. She had been contacted from the valuers office who said that they are going to rate the pavilion and also the caravan site separately.
This would be most beneficial due to the closure of both due to the corona virus and that she would be applying for the government grants.
7. Financial matters.
a. The latest financial report had been circulated and it was resolved to accept the figures given.
Cllr Jackson said that the £250 held back from the ground contractors can now be paid to them, as the wet patch on the field had now cleared up satisfactorily. It was resolved to make this payment of £250.
b. Budget/Precept. Clerk had circulated the budget figures for 2021-22. After discussion the budget was agreed and the precept be increased by 2%.
8. Browns Trust.
a. The Brown’s Trust monthly interest will be divided between 8 eligible ladies of the village.
10. Planning matters.
a. Any planning applications received had been dealt with and sent to SKDC.
b. The chicken farm planning application had been discussed in great detail from Cllr Adams in the public forum. Parish Cllrs discussed the details amongst them. Previously 4 issues had been raised: a) smell, b) water coming off site, c) traffic though the village, d) traffic on the High Dike. Items a) there is no smell coming from the chicken farm, as all circulated air from the buildings are passed through a filter. b) Dirty water from cleaning the buildings is removed by tanker, water off buildings is diverted to a pond on site and ultimately fed into the river close by, any rain water would normally come off the land anyway and the applicants cannot be held accountable for that. c) the applicant ensured that NO farm traffic will pass through the village. d) Traffic on the High Dyke the speed in 70mph and can be rather fast flowing. Therefore the comments sent to SKDC are:- The applicant must be mindful of no traffic allowed through the village and the speeds that are reached on the High Dike.
11. Correspondence.
a. Correspondence received was included in the agenda.
12. Cllrs reports & items for inclusion at the next meeting. Or reports on other items not on the agenda. Clerk asked to add Number 1 footpath alongside the paddock going to the A1 be added to the grass cutting list for next year.
13. Date of the next meeting 18th January 2021.
14. To resolve whether to exclude public, press or Police, who will be required to leave the meeting at this stage.
a. None.
Meeting closed at 8.45 pm