Archived Property Committee minutes 2108-2019

MINUTES OF THE NETTLEHAM PARISH COUNCIL PROPERTY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 17 APRIL 2018 AT THE OLD SCHOOL NETTLEHAM

 

PRESENT: Cllrs J Hill (JH) (Chair), J Evans (JE) (ex-officio), J Siddall (JS) (ex-officio), M Spencer (MS), J Downs (JD), T Williams (TW), R Porter (RP) and J Clayton (JC).  Also in attendance: F Stanford (FS) (Facilities Manager), J Ashby (Facilities Assistant) and K Pyrah (Village Handyman).

 

30/18 Apologies for Absence - none

  

31/18  Declarations of interest– none

 

32/18 Approve draft minutes of the Property Committee Meeting on 6 March 2018 – duly approved and signed as a correct record.

 

33/178 Matters arising from those minutes

Item 20.18.3 Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs’) – JH confirmed that no survey work to be undertaken until definitive response from WLDC regarding their TPO methodology.

 

34/18 Facilities managers report

Following submission and discussion around the Facilities Manager Report it was confirmed that: 

 

34/18.1  Staff Update – noted.

 

34.18.2  Old School Car Park Repairs – initial start date of 7 April 2018 cancelled (due to wet weather) and the contractor has now withdrawn citing increased workload – FS will need to obtain further quote/s.

 

34/18.3  Beck Path (Rear of Old School) – resurfacing/drainage work ordered and was scheduled to be undertaken w/c 21 May (should take 5 days weather permitting) – LCC has now requested that a formal ‘footpath closure’ notice be submitted (which requires 3 months notice and a cost c£1,000) – FS has suspended the works pending the outcome of representations to be made with LCC Highways requesting the removal of this requirement. The works start date may need to be changed. 

 

34/18.4  Bishops Meadow Benches – bases cast and benches to be installed w/c 23 April.

 

34/18.5 Mulsanne Park Tennis Court Painting – painting was originally scheduled to be carried out w/c 23 April 2018.  Adverse weather conditions had delayed the contractor workload - the work is now scheduled to be undertaken w/c 21 May.

 

35/18 Working  Group Verbal Reports

 

35/18.1 Village Hall Refurbishment – JS confirmed main entrance doors and hall clerestory windows are the next ‘refurbishment’ priority, that the car park bollards are now installed and over 1,000 snowdrops planted in the rear bank.  FS investigating the vehicular gates locking issue.  TW reported that the Village Hall ‘Memorandum of Understanding was 98% drafted and will need to be agreed at a future Parish meeting.

 

35/18.2 Beck – TW confirmed that a public presentation by Lincolnshire Rivers Trust and the Environment Agency on the beck, entitled ‘Like to see trout in Nettleham Beck’, has been arranged – Old School Large Hall – Tuesday 12 June 7.30pm.

 

35/18.3 Play Areas – RP reported that four quotes have now been received showing specific proposals for extending the current play area at Bill Baileys – these will be considered at the next Working Group Meeting (tba) and a report will be produced recommending the way forward including proposals and costs for consideration at a future Property Committee meeting.  In the meantime a grant submission, for up to £8k, has been made to WLDC (and has had a favourable response). LCC have also given further potential grant aid contacts.  RP also confirmed the current individual ‘Capital’ PC allocations for Bill Baileys, Mulsanne Park and Larch Avenue Play Areas and it was agreed in principle that £15k from Bill Baileys Capital Fund, which currently stands at £28.7k, could be allocated to the scheme subject to agreement/approval of the final proposal.  It was also reiterated that Mulsanne Park and Larch Avenue (S106) capital was ring fenced and could not be used at Bill Baileys.  FS also reported that surface water retention was a problem on Bill Baileys particularly the top field and it was agreed that FS obtain a price for a ground investigation with recommendations for consideration at a future Property Committee meeting.

 

36/18 Nettleham Matters Articles

A proposed timetable of articles was agreed other than ‘Fieldpaths’ will be in the June edition and ‘Play Areas’ in the December edition. Proposed ‘Why did I become a Councillor’ articles need to be co-ordinated relative to the proposed Property Committee group articles – JE will consider and produce plan/programme for these.   Confirmed that the police are prepared to provide ‘drone’ pictures to support the working group articles – FS will pursue/co-ordinate this input.

 

37/18    Burial Ground  - Grave Markings 

JH gave a brief historical background to the issue of setting out and subsequent recording of graves. Current practice is for staff to manually mark out and subsequently record burials using a system that has a potential for error, it is inefficient in the use of staff resources, planning future provision and managing budgets.  Following a general discussion it was agreed that a proposal based on GPR systems and digital recording of the position of existing and future grave positions, up to a maximum cost of £3k, be adopted. All remaining graves, approx. 125, would be professionally marked out with suitable pins incorporating discrete plot numbers, they will be suitably durable to resist/avoid grass cutting damage. The system could be used for future planning and use of The Swathe for burial purposes.

 

38/18 Village Green Former Telephone kiosk

Once the kiosk formally transfers to the Parish Council it was agreed to retain the kiosk as a ‘Village Heritage feature’, to install old type telephone (albeit disconnected) if possible (an old type A B system has now been acquired). It would be necessary to provide a lock on the door and reglaze the kiosk – it was also suggested that it incorporate a Wi Fi adapter - FS to investigate the cost of this and report back to the Property Committee.

 

39/18 Village signs

JH produced a briefing note on the provision, wording and responsibilities for signs within the Highway.  The anomalies between parish, ward and village development boundaries was discussed. The situation in a developing Village is understandably a dynamic one. JD requested that replacement of the Nettleham directional sign at the Deepdale Lane/A46 junction by the LCC be considered at the next Parish meeting.

 

40/18 Property Committee and Working Group Terms of reference  review

Terms of Reference (ToR) were approved other than the following comments/amendments:

 

41/18   Tree matters

41/18.1 General Update - JH reported that the tree ‘public safety’ work has been done and that he is to investigate the report of Silver Birch branches fouling overhead cables in Cherry Tree Lane.

 

41/18.2  Vicars Wood – Management Plan Version 7 (January 2018) adopted and Information Sheet 22 (April 2018) noted.  JH again requested that Councillors familiarise themselves with Vicars Wood – particularly the pathways condition prior to the Village Inspections next month. 

 

42/18   Financial management /Monitoring

Confirmed that details of expenditure and income to date for monitoring and review purposes will be included in future Property Meetings – not included in this meeting due to 2017/18 year end reconciliations.

 

43/18  Village inspections

Date and route of inspections noted along with last year’s inspection.  JH requested that Lead Councillors report on their area/s of responsibility during the inspections.  TW asked if the poor reinstatement of Washdyke Lane verge following the gas main works could be looked at - FS has already chased this issue.

 

44/18  Councillors reprot on areas of responsibility

JD had previously reported as follows: 

Bill Baileys

There is a large amount of builder’s debris from the new house on this side of the boundary wall in the NE corner of the play area.

The grass is in need of cutting.

Not strictly my area but there is a lot of grass growing over the matting surrounding play equipment.

Tree guards v.g.

Lots of dead leaves in the bus shelter. 

Ivy and weeds overgrowing the office paths.

Otherwise no short term issues.

Mulsanne Park

The FC may well clear it up after the game but players were exiting the changing rooms via the main room and so there was an amount of mud on the floor.

Roll of green wire fencing under the conifer tree between pavilion and nets.

The ditch level is below the drain outlet level but does need clearing. A certain amount of litter is evident.

Do we know yet who owns the “Stirlin ditch”?

Do we have a date for reinstatement of the practice field?

The weeds/moss around the wall inside the MUGA are getting worse.

How can we get rid of the rubbish around the FC garage?

The car park gutters look much better – can they be weedkillered?

There is a quantity of old fencing behind the garages.

There is a lot of mud on the carpark which has been deposited by a road roller. This is still parked in the carpark. Whose is it?

The car park has a lot of vegetation on it at the rear of the bungalow by the main entrance.

JC reported that a tree was leaning into Green Lane on Deepdale Lane junction – FS will investigate.

RP reported that regarding the potential new permissive paths the Parish Council has received an unfavourable response from one landowner (Kingsway) with another (Greetwell and Scothern Road) a little more amenable and a site meeting with them is being arranged to hopefully move this forward.

 

45/18 Future Agenda items – none.

    

46/18 Date of next meeting. Tuesday 5 June 2018 – 7.30pm Old School Small Hall – also confirmed that the Annual Village Inspection to be carried out on Monday and Tuesday 14 & 15 May 2018 commencing at 4pm.

 

The meeting closed at 9.40pm.