At the Meeting of Firsby Group Parish Council held at 7.00 pm on Wednesday 18 October 2023 in Bratoft Church Room.
Present: Mr R. Kidd, who took the Chair;
Mr R. Heane; Mrs S. Wilford; Mrs L. Mitchell; Mr R. Harman; Miss H. Smithson Whitehead; Mrs C. Brewer; Mrs J. Strunin and ELDC Cllr S. Dennis.
Apologies were received from Mr P. Gilbert; Mr C. Moore; Mr G. Holmes and LCC Cllr Mrs W. Bowkett.
1. Co-option of Firsby Parish Councillor
It was agreed unanimously to co-opt Mrs Jane Strunin as a Firsby Parish Councillor.
2. Minutes of the last Meeting
It was agreed that these be signed as a correct record of the proceedings.
3. Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting
Cllr Bowkett sent an email regarding Mr & Mrs Siddon, from Laura Gale, Senior Licensing Officer at East Lindsey District Council stating that "For clarity, once the updated Site Licence is issued for Kelsey Wood (previously known as Meadowlands) the Licence will have both Holiday Licence Conditions & Residential Licence Conditions. Due to the terms of the Enforcement Notice applicable to parts of the land, there will be a condition that states that some of the lodges including the one owned by Mr & Mrs Siddon, must revert back to holiday use only when they vacate the lodge or cease to be the occupier. Therefore the Residential Licence Conditions would no longer apply to the lodge should Mr & Mrs Siddon move out as the Holiday Licence Conditions would then apply to that unit." Mrs Wilford stated that the site has not got any planning permission for residential development only for a holiday caravan site.
Miss Smithson Whitehead asked if a response has been received from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership regarding the Archers Survey. No reply has been received.
Further discussions took place regarding Parish Meeting Money and lands:
Great Steeping has just under £10k . No land. Mark & Sonia Armstrong are registered on the Charity Commission. The Great Steeping Parish Councillors to set up a Parish Meeting in order to appoint Trustees and to decide what happens to the money.
Irby in the Marsh, the deeds to the land being part of OS No 18 have been found at Sills & Betteridge's offices. It was agreed to register the land accordingly at a cost of £500 + vat .
Firsby: Peter Coates has registered the Cheals Charity/Firsby Trust. The land beside the Church was previously agreed to be used as a Contemplation Area when Paul Jackson was a Trustee. A Parish Meeting is to be arranged to deal with any outstanding matters.
4. County Councillor's Report
Cllr Bowkett sent her apologies but sent emails regarding the resurfacing of the Aerodrome Road which is to take place at the end of October.
5. District Councillor's Report
Cllr Dennis stated that things are a bit disjointed at ELDC with personnel working from home and difficulty in getting hold of anyone. This has happened since the amalgamation with the other Councils.
He stated that he is on the scrutiny committee and that 350 caravans have been taken off caravan sites because they are old. He feels that they should have been sold of a few at the time.
Mrs Mitchell asked Cllr Dennis if he could deal with the noise issue that Mr Janney is complaining about. Cllr Dennis stated that this was a county matter but he would speak to Environmental Health to see if anything could be done. A most likely scenario would be that they would supply a recorder to record the noise levels.
Cllr Dennis stated that he has some grant funds if the Parish Council needed anything.
Cllr Dennis asked if there were any matters that the Parish Council needed dealing with. Mrs Wilford asked if he could ascertain when a response would be received about the caravan site in Little Steeping, so far it has been 2 years and the site keeps increasing in size. Mrs Wilford also asked Cllr Dennis to find our why it is taking more than 2 1/2 years to transfer the licence from one name to another at the Kelsey Wood Country Park?
6. Correspondence
a) Letter received from Mrs J Boccock stating that the overgrown hedges on Oxlands Lane would be cut back.
b) Email received from Tom Winning regarding the siting of the dog waste bin in Irby in the Marsh. The bin will now be monitored for its usage.
c) Newsletter received from the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance.
d) Email received from Elections ELDC regarding Polling Stations reviews. No action taken.
f) Email received from Colin Cleary, Clerk to Wainfleet All Saints Town Council requesting permission from the Parish Council for the Mayor to wear his Chain of Office to judge an event in Irby & Bratoft Village Hall. The Council agreed to this request.
g) A copy of the Clerks & Councils Direct Magazine has been received.
h) Email received from Janine Blades regarding a Police Commissioner pre-session survey to be held via Teams.
i) Email received from Chris Moore giving his apologies and a question to be posed to the Environment Agency regarding the dredging of the Lady Wath Beck. Mr Heane stated that the river has not been cleared out, once the rain came the work stopped. He stated that it needs clearing out from Halton Stone Bridge to the River.
7. Highways
Notification has been received of a temporary traffic restriction on Outfield Lane (Aerodrome Road) from the bottom of School Lane, to Gunby Lane from 23.10.23 to 31.10.23
Notification has been received of a temporary traffic restriction of Candlesby Road (between 200m & 350m West of Monksthorpe Lane from 1/11/23 to 3/11/23
It was agreed to report the following matters:
Bramblerry Lane, Bratoft, the cambers in the road are getting worse.
Ings Lane, Bratoft, there are cambers by the White Cottage and also on the bridge.
8. Any Other Business
Mr Heane stated that the reeds are being cleared out of the Lady Wath Beck, but there is so little fall on the river to Gibraltar Point that if all the reeds are not removed then it slows the flow down. He also stated that the old bridge was left under the footbridge at Great Steeping and the reeds are catching onto it. The old bridge should have been removed. The trees on the river banks also need removing which would help with the flow of water. He also stated that the gates on the West Side of the Lady Wath Beck where residents could walk have been locked again. The clerk to find out why this had been done.
The Parish Council have been asked again to take part in the remembrance day service at the RAF Memorial in Great Steeping. It was agreed to accept and to purchase a poppy wreath to lay at the service.
A resident from Brambleberry Farm has donated 5 limited edition sketches of various buildings in Bratoft. The sketches are to be framed and displayed at a location to be agreed in either Irby or Bratoft. The set must be kept together. It was agreed that members of the Bratoft Parish Meeting would be asked for their thoughts on where they should be displayed.
Miss Smithson Whitehead gave details of the data collected from the Speed Camera when it was positioned in Firsby. The camera has now been repositioned in Irby.
9. Accounts
It was agreed to pass the following accounts for payment:
Bratoft Church Room for use of room £20
Reimbursement to the Clerk for the purchase of a Poppy Wreath and Litter Pickers £41.60