February 2021 Minutes
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF KIRTON PARISH COUNCIL HELD VIA VIDEO CONFERENCE UNDER “THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES (CORONAVIRUS) (FLEXIBILITY OF LOCAL AUTHORITY MEETINGS) (ENGLAND) REGULATIONS 2020” COMMENCING AT 7.00PM ON 18th FEBRUARY 2021.
Present: Councillors: Cllr I Cole
Councillors: S Watson, P Watson (and Borough), C Brotherton, L O’Connor, G Cole, D Danby, S Wright, J Skinner, J Shelton, M Brookes (County)
Also Present: Mrs B Buttery – Clerk of the Council
Public Forum
No Residents attended.
22/21 Chairman’s comments
The Chairman thanked those residents who had been litter picking in the villages recently. It was definitely helping to keep the Parish tidier.
23/21 Apologies for absence and reason given
Apologies were received from Cllr Welton and Cllr Austin and their reasons for absence were accepted.
24/21 Receipt of any declarations of interest in accordance with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011, and to consider any written requests for dispensations in relation to members’ disclosable pecuniary interests.
Cllrs I and G Cole declared that they are married to each other.
Cllr P Watson is on the Boston Borough Planning Committee and will not take part in discussions on planning applications.
Cllr S Watson declared an interest in that her husband, Cllr P Watson is on the planning committee at Boston Borough Council.
25/21 Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting
It was resolved after a proposal from Cllr P Watson which was then unanimously agreed upon, that the notes of the Parish Council meeting held on the 21st January 2021, previously circulated, should be recorded as the minutes.
After a proposal from Cllr Wright and a unanimous agreement from the remainder of the Events Committee, it was resolved that the notes from the Events Committee meeting held on the 2nd February 2021 should be recorded as the minutes.
26/21 Police Matters
No Police attended however, PCSO Williams had emailed the Clerk the following information:
23/01/21 Assault, London Road – under investigation
03/02/21 Robbery, International Food and Drink, Boston Road – under investigation
08/02/21 Burglary, Marsh Road – under investigation
09/02/21 Theft from motor vehicle, Sentence Crescent – 1 person arrested and charged
12/02/21 Theft of catalytic convertor from vehicle, London Road – under investigation
12/02/21 Criminal damage to property, Eleven Acre Lane – under investigation
13/02/21 Animal cruelty offences, Nightingale Road – under investigation
17/02/21 Burglary Kirton Kebab – under investigation
27/21 Viewpoints on questions from members of the public
1 members of the public had emailed into the Clerk and 1 had phoned her to express their objections to the planning application B/21/0041 – Demolition of outbuildings and erection of 4 no. dwellings at Land to the rear of 11-13 High Street Kirton
28/21 Matters for the attention of Lincolnshire County Council/Boston Borough Council from/to County/Borough Councillors
A briefing note was prepared for the flooding issues within the village by the Highways Manager:
Briefing Note – Kirton Drainage – 17/02/2021
High Street/Green Lane/Station Road (plan below for reference).
Good progress has been made with the recent drainage cleansing and CCTV surveys. We have focused on the Green Lane outfall and have traced it upstream along Green Lane to the war memorial area, uncovering two buried chambers along the route.
In the centre of the village the drainage system is a large brick culvert. Starting under the south-west corner of property 4a and continuing under this building towards the war memorial, this culvert is 100% blocked with stone (allegedly something that was done at the time this property was built).
At the south-western end of the High Street, outside and opposite the Church, there is a separate drainage system on each side of the road. The gullies in this area are piped through each downstream gully and this is likely to be slowing the rate at which the drainage system can accept water. This may be resulting in surface water flowing overland instead of being accepted by the drainage system and collecting at the lowest point around the area of the war memorial. Both of these systems join the brick culvert near the war memorial.
The highway drainage along the full route is ultimately constrained by the complete blockage in the outfall route under properties 4/4a.
Because we have pinpointed the location of blockage we are now able to look at potential solutions, the main option being the installation of a new pipe in the road of the High Street, reconnecting all the highway drainage into this, and connecting this into the manhole which we have newly built in the rear garden of property 2 (apologies – not sure if this is 2 High Street or 2 Green Lane – the manhole is indicated with a blue circle). This is the route that is indicated on the plan below.
The lead drainage engineer is now modelling this proposal and developing costs with the aim of delivering the scheme in the 2021/22 financial year.
This drainage system takes significant volumes of surface water from private properties.
MAP 1
Penny Gardens/Priestley Close
Both Priestley Close and Penny Gardens share the same outfall. The route of this is indicated on the plan below in blue.
As it passes through property 11 Priestley Close it is obstructed.
It outfalls into an open water course at the western boundaries of 11 Priestley Close and 50-54 Willington Road (green line). This watercourse is unmaintained and severely obstructed preventing the discharge of water from the drainage system and preventing CCTV access to the system to locate the blockage within 11 Priestley Close.
This water course is likely to be the responsibility of the adjacent property owners mentioned above, plus the owner of the field to the south-west as riparian responsibility.
The IDB are planning cleansing work on the open ditch line that this watercourse joins on to and I will approach them about including the clearance of this riparian watercourse to enable the final piece of the drainage investigation to be undertaken.
The drainage system on Priestley Close connects into the outfall without an access chamber and it is recommended that a chamber be built at this point (LCC to do).
There is a buried chamber along the access road to "Kirton Leisure" and it is recommended that this is exposed and brought up to surface level (LCC to do).
The system in Penny Gardens takes roof water from all of the properties which confuses the liability for it. Discussion will need to take place with Anglian Water regarding this but I will continue to work to resolve the defects on the system and those discussions can follow on later.
MAP 2
Kyra Nettle
Local Highways Manager South
Cllr Brookes reported that the footpath mentioned at last month’s meeting has been identified a project that will be given consideration when more funds become available.
Cllr Brookes also reported that the County Council will be changing the Recycling Centres so that residents will still have to book a slot, but can take all waste at all times.
Cllr P Watson reported that Boston Borough Council has made a major decision to outsource backroom admin and IT.
Cllr P Watson asked what was happening regarding the barrier near to the footpath at the Church. Cllr Brookes confirmed that the work had been allocated and the contractor had 3 months to carry out the work. It is thought that the end of March was the deadline.
29/21 Finance
Accounts for Payment – as per payment sheet dated February 2020/21 (11 of 12)
It was resolved that the payments should be made.
30/21 Report from minutes of the previous meeting/Clerk’s report
Date Raised Issue Raised Completed Ongoing
30.11.18 Uneven pavement reported on the pavement on the Frampton side of Horseshoe Lane, in poor state of repair. Was scheduled to have been done but never carried out. Reported to LCC ref 342401.
03.12.18 LCC report that they need to investigate this matter further
21.02.19 Cllr Austin agreed to chase this up.
18.04.19 Cllr Austin informed members that this work has now been scheduled to be done
08.08.19 The update on the LCC site is: This fault will be assessed for the possibility of future permanent works and prioritised according to our Highways Asset Management Plan. X
21.08.2020 Clerk contacted Cllr Austin following on from a request from Cllr S Watson to chase up the signage issue at Skeldyke Road. Cllr Austin has raised this again with Highways Manager and is waiting to find out when it will be done. X
23.12.20 Preliminary enquiries made regarding obtaining land for allotments.
12.01.21 Contacted various bodies with regards to obtaining land for allotments. As of yet no success. Query made to Borough Council for further information. X
24.12.20 Grant forms completed towards getting funding from LCC for bus shelter at High Street.
11.01.21 Grant approved subject to the bus shelter having a timetable mounting added to the bus shelter. Bus shelter ordered and start date given of 4th February 2021.
14.01.21 Highways approval needed and sought for the shelter. Residents of Businesses adjacent to the site of the bus shelter met with Highways And Parish Council.
10.02.21 Highways approval granted for the bus shelter. Lines for where the Shelter will be installed have been marked out. Clerk booked new Installation date of 2nd March. This is approved by grants. X
04.02.21 Resident contacted the Clerk regarding 3 issues. 1st was the trees In the cemetery – wanted to know when they were going to be cut Back – answer given was, they are only going to be worked on as Per the Tree report which didn’t highlight any along the line of Trees that the resident wanted cutting back. 2nd was speed of vehicles Along Boston Road, following up from information Cllr Brookes Gave in September and January – update given as per previous Information and resident invited to join community speed watch – She declined. 3rd issue was pavements flooding on Windmills estate. Told her as this has not been adopted by Highways yet, she would Need to contact the developers to deal with it. X
15.02.21 Still unable to follow up getting quotations for the War Memorial Pillars and brickwork/point due to Covid restrictions. X
15.02.21 Requested a warrant be issued with Money Claim Online To recover monies paid to contractor who didn’t do fencing. X
17.02.21 Resident of Kells Drove contacted me via email asking for a grit Bin to be installed as many cars have come off the road this year Application to LCC made ref 4158340 X
31/21 Correspondence received which the Council are invited to resolve on
None received.
32/21 Town Hall
Cllr Danby reported that he had spoken to the Chairman of the Management Committee. The Town Hall Management Committee has decided that they will go ahead with having the ceiling in the main hall repaired. This is to happen in the next few weeks whilst the Town Hall is still closed. They are going to use the grant money received last year to pay for this. They have been informed that they can reclaim the VAT from the door and ceiling works and as such have decided to use the VAT reclaimed to pay for the side door to be replaced too.
Cllr Danby suggested that the rear of the building between the ramp and the corner of the building on the far side could do with a bit of tidying up too.
Cllr Danby reported that Western Power has now cleared up properly where they stored the soil spoil from works done in Saxongate.
Cllr Brookes left the meeting.
Cllr I Cole reported that he had spoken to the play equipment installers (for the new equipment at the rear of the Town Hall) following on from the graffiti that has appeared on the equipment. Cllrs Wright/I Cole and G Cole will attempt to remove the graffiti.
a. To consider benches for the green area near to the new play equipment
Members resolved to have 2 benches installed at the grassed area near to the new play equipment. It was resolved to put these on concrete pads to enable securing to the ground easier and also for grass cutting. Cllr O’Conner asked if she would be allowed to buy one of the benches and put a memorial plaque on it in memory of two people. It was resolved unanimously that this would be accepted.
33/21 Cemetery
Cllrs G and I Cole will put a trailer in the cemetery for the wreaths in the next couple of weeks.
34/21 Parish Matters
1. Reports from committee meetings held since last Council meeting
Only the events committee has met. Minutes approved. The Parks and Open Space Committee will be meeting probably next week. They will look at the fencing at Dame Sarah Swift Park amongst other things.
2. Allotments update
Cllr Brotherton and Cllr P Watson have been unable to contact local land owners.
35/21 Reports for Various Bodies
Nothing to report
36/21 Planning applications
B/21/0033 – Single storey side extension onto previous extension at 3 Chapelgate, Kirton End – NO OBJECTIONS
B/21/0041 – Demolition of existing outbuildings and erection of 4 no. dwellings at land to the rear of 11-13 High Street Kirton – OBJECTIONS:
- Members are concerned that the vehicle exit from the proposed development is straight onto the footpath with no clear view of pedestrians until they are on the footpath.
- Bins will be stored/put onto the footpath which could obstruct the footpath
- The development is not in keeping with the conservation area it sits in
- Overdevelopment of the site
- Concern that the parking slots on the roadside for shoppers will end up being used by householders if it goes ahead
- Narrow entrance to get emergency vehicles through for the long development
- Members would like the Planning Committee to view this application and made a decision on it if the planning officer is mindful to approve.
B/21/0045 – Change of use from a child minding business (Class Sui Generis) back to a residential dwelling (Class C3) at 19 Cleymond Chase, Kirton – NO OBJECTIONS
B/21/0057 – extension to existing garage at 10 Ancaster Lodge, Meeres Lane, Kirton – NO OBJECTIONS
37/21 Date & time of the next Parish Council Meeting
Date & Time of the next Meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Thursday 18th March 2021 via Zoom beginning at 7 pm. There being no further business to discuss, the Chairman thanked those in attendance and declared the meeting closed at 9.10pm.