Notice is given that the Parish Council meeting took place on:

Monday 17th January 2022

 Village Hall, Anderby Village.

The meeting commenced at 7.00pm.

Members of the public attended but no questions or comments were made and the Council meeting started at 19:10.

Signed – Alan Vassar  - Alan Vassar – Clerk to the Council

PARISH COUNCIL AGENDA

Attendees: The Village Hall Committee, one member of the public and Cllr Davie.

1. Apologies for absence

Cllr G Williams

2. Councillors present at this meeting

Cllrs Fisher. Wood. Fisher. Johnson. Rushton. Bullimore. Hayes.

3. Councillors absent and no apologies sent
4.  
4. To receive Declaration of Interests
5.  
6. To receive reports from outside bodies

Cllr Davie (LCC) supplied Councillors with a flyer and poster to display and supporting the argument that the Gov should re-instate the £12.5m removed from the Highways budget for Lincolnshire.

He also notified APC of the following:

‘Council Tax to rise by 3% (County charge) and has to be raised so that Social Adult Care can be better funded.

The debate regarding extended seasons on Caravan sites has been raging for the last two+ years. The Secretary of State called in a raft of planning applications across the coastal area for his own determination. LCC, The EA and the LRF were united in opposing these proposals which were supported by Eldc.

The Secretary of State, Michael Gove decided the first three of these applications this evening and the sites in Hogsthorpe and Ingoldmells were refused outright mainly for H&S reasons and the one in Sutton on Sea was technically unable to be determined but the decision is “Minded to Refuse”. I understand there are a further 30+ applications in the system to be determined but this decision sets the precedent for others.

LCC support this position as, although they want to promote Lincolnshire as a Tourist Hotspot, the reality is of course that 12 month occupancy on these sites puts extra pressure on local services (doctors etc) with a very large percentage of the Occupants of these sites not paying Council Tax, and therefore do not contribute to these services.

Michael Gove is looking at the status of second homes and static caravans, and it would appear that he may want to review this issue of non liability of Council Tax’

A discussion ensued and it was agreed that a contribution of CT from the Occupants of these sites would finance great and positive changes to Anderby and Anderby Creek.

Cllr Davie went on to state:

‘As the energy crisis hits a lot of people will be crippled by massive increase in heat and lighting costs. The average cost of staying warm will soon be £2500 per year and this will cripple households who will have to decide whether the eat or heat.

The Government have put so much into Green energy, but if there’s no sun or wind, then the policy fails. To compound the problem, Nuclear Power Plants are coming to the end of their life and will be decommissioned before the new ones come on line.’

6. Notes of meeting held on November 2021 to be approved as Minutes.

So approved

7. Update on Action Notes generated from last APC Meeting.

These were detailed and the points not actioned carried forward to next month.

Cllr Wood advised the Council that he had contacted the Company that supplied the speed cameras with a view to having them reprogrammed to show current speeds etc. He has not yet received a response.

8. Financial statement of accounts to December 2021.

The Clerk presented the Bank Reconciliation, and it was accepted and approved by the Council.

9. Agree Clerk’s salary for coming year.

It was unanimously agreed to leave the Clerk’s salary as is, but to increase his hours by 2 hours a month so that the progress already made in developing the APC website can be continued and in doing so, make it an effective tool to inform residents of the activities etc in Anderby and Anderby Creek.

10. Agree Budget and Precept for forthcoming year.

A proposed Budget for 2022-23 was presented by the Clerk and unanimously accepted. Provision had been made for the Churchyard maintenance programme with Finch and did not show any increase in the Precept. After some discussion about the Precept to be applied for the forthcoming year, it was strongly felt by all the Councillors that this should not be increased and that many projects etc should and could be financed via Grants etc. The Precept for APC will therefore remain as it was last year.

11. Reports from Councillors re external meetings.
12.  
12. Queen’s Jubilee Event?

A full and far-reaching discussion was held, and the Councillors had several ideas that need to be investigated. It was agreed that the Clerk should send out a Round Robin email to the Village Hall Committee and the Councillors in order that more ideas can be proposed for any possible event.

13. Churchyard Trees – update.

A cheque to be issued to Finch A. as final payment for the work done on the Churchyard trees. It was agreed that APC should take advantage of the Maintenance Scheme offered by Finch for £200 a year.

14. Discussion re:capital expenditure and funding for capital projects

The Village Hall Committee joined with the Councillors in a positive and enthusiastic session in which new ideas were voiced about developing the Village Hall with possible projects being:

1. Updating the kitchen
2. Developing the back of the Hall to make it maintenance free
3. To have a PA system
4. To have Solar Panels and battery.

Cllr Wood and Johnson shared details of the Lincolnshire Funding Portal, Triton Knoll grants, (that they would be available for the next 25 years and the max grant was £10000 but if not spent in the year, it could be rolled over). They also gave some tips as to using the right wording etc when applying for funding and offered to preview any applications prior to placing if that would be helpful.

15. Community Voluntary Work Placement?

An offer has been made by LCC (through Cllr Rushton) for an individual to be placed in the Community to do odd jobs around the area for a short term (initially).

Various tasks were suggested by the Councillors as to the tasks that this person could undertake, and these were noted by Cllr Rushton to send on to the Scheme organiser.

The Clerk added a caveat, however. The using of young people to do this type of placement is subject to lots of legislation, and consequently there needs to be Risk Assessments etc in place before commencement.The Clerk explained that he was in favour of these schemes, but his responsibility was to protect the Councillors from any recriminations/legal action should the person have an accident etc. and as such it is incumbent on him to oversee the legality of the scheme and although he had every faith that this would be covered by LCC he would need to ascertain that this was correct. 

Cllr Rushton assured the Council that this initiative is not new and that LCC would write/supply risk assessments, PPE, safeguarding etc so there would be no financial impact on the Budget, Insurance etc.

16. To receive retrospective permission to purchase new Gritting Machine

The existing machine had broken and beyond repair, so the Clerk had organised a new one from Amazon for around £50. Retrospective permission was being sought for this purchase.

So approved.

17. To approve payment for Parish Clerk

So approved

18. Finance:

To approve payment of accounts:

1. Any cheques required for immediate action
2. To pay invoice for Churchyard trees
3. To pay for new Gritting Machine
4. To issue cheque for Parish Clerk wages

Cheques were raised for these items and signed by Cllr Fisher and Wood.

19. Date of next meeting Monday 21st February 2022
20. Any other business for discussion only or next agenda

1. Signs missing from the area – ‘No Vehicular Access to Beach’ etc. Highways to be notified.Update on planning acceptance for application from Thornlea on Sea Road.
2. Grant to upgrade Anderby Creek Island.

Cllr Johnson gave a review of progress. It was agreed that Cllr. Wood would provide an

itemised costing using sub-contractors to enable the bid to be entered in time.

3. Planning Application for Pods N/005/000830/22 – Unanimous agreement for Clerk to send a letter to Planning on behalf of Council to object.
4. Confirmation that the damaged white boards on the bad corner by the Poplar Zareba have been reported to Highways.