Annual Parish Meetings

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON

MONDAY 20th MAY 2019 AT LEGBOURNE COMMUNITY CENTRE

PRESENT        M Chapman (Chairman), D.Harrison, A Hallifax, S Cole, J, Willrich - members of the Parish Council; District Councillor A Grist; County Councillor S Parkin; There were 12 residents present.

                        A Claydon (Clerk - Minutes)                                                    

1. CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME & APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and outlined the agenda for the evening. Apologies were received from Cllr P. Maw.

2. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT – Cllr M. Chapman

Cllr Chapman spoke about matters affecting Legbourne in 2018/19, with particular reference to the following:

• The rollout of high speed broadband, punctuated by numerous delays, inconsistency in service standards and difficulties in resolving problems with a small number of properties still unable to receive the promised speeds
• Discussions that took place during the summer with Councillor Richard Davies, LCC highways portfolio holder, regarding various road safety and transport issues, including the potential for a crossing, speed management measures and a safer pick up point for school bus services. These points were revisited during the year, with the Parish Council supporting the use of the Househams Lane bus stop for Louth-bound school services (but not necessarily the adjacent lay-by), receiving a presentation on Community Speedwatch and attempting to canvass volunteers to enable a scheme to be set up in the village; and inviting Andy Ratcliffe, LCC area highways manager, to the February meeting where he committed to a traffic survey as a first step towards updating LCC’s scored assessment of whether a crossing could be justified. He also indicated that a review of signage would be undertaken and the results of both these exercises are awaited.
• Community led affordable housing, another item that was covered in a presentation, this time by an officer from East Lindsey DC. The focus of the programme is to work with communities to identify possible sites for small scale provision of social or low cost housing that might be used to attract or retain young families. At the time of the presentation there was no obvious location in the village.
• An invitation from the Chairman of the Lincolnshire Wolds Walking Festival to host the launch of the 2019 event. With advice from LWWF’s officers and a great deal of input from The Community Centre committee, the event was successfully delivered in May 2019
• The major planning issues determined during the year were the dismissal of a planning appeal against ELDC for non-determination of an application to build houses on the site of the Trout Farm in Mill Lane; and the approval of a revised application for development of the garden area of Rosemary Lodge, with a series of subsequent matters being referred back to ELDC for consideration of possible enforcement action.
• In the spring of 2019 the Parish Council reviewed its Statement of Planning Principles, which sets out its view on major priorities and constraints that need to be observed when looking at development proposals.

3. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING.

These had been published on the Parish Council’s website. It was agreed by the meeting to adopt these as a true account of the 2018 meeting.

4. FINANCIAL POSITION

The Clerk and RFO, Andrew Claydon, went through the financial position. In 2018/19 the Council spent £3600 against cash received of £5316 (precept plus recovered VAT and a very small amount of interest). Year end balances totalled £8670, including earmarked reserves for possible election costs (£2100), asset replacement (£2040) and future projects (£1500). A further addition to balances held was envisaged in 2019/20. The accounts would be published on the council’s website in early June 2019.

5. ISSUES AFFECTING LEGBOURNE.

Cllr Chapman referred back to some of the priorities that emerged as part of the data collection exercises for the Parish Plan and the Neighbourhood Planning process that was superseded by the Statement of Planning Principles (SoPP). These included:

•  surface water drainage capacity issues and the associated incidence of highway flooding, which would be exacerbated by further development unless mitigated as part of the design;
• the retention of the village shop;
• the conservation of recreational and landscape features for example, Legbourne Woods, playing fields, agricultural land / open countryside at the village boundaries and green space in the village centre.
• Affordable housing
• Road Crossing(s) and road safety

These items featured to some degree in the work undertaken by the Parish Council in the previous twelve months and were also reflected in the five principles of the SoPP.  Cllr Chapman asked the meeting whether there was anything else that might be regarded as a priority, inviting responses in the public session

6. DISTRICT AND COUNTY COUNCILLORS – Cllr A Grist and Cllr S Parkin

Both councillors expressed concern regarding the increasing propensity towards social isolation of vulnerable people. There is a potential role for Parish and Town Councils in supporting a Good Neighbour type scheme, using their local knowledge and communication channels to facilitate this.

Cllr Parkin stressed the desirability of building the volunteer base for Community Speedwatch as part of the overall approach to Road Safety.

Cllr Grist felt that LCC should give consideration to an offset island as a traffic management tool with the aim of reducing average speeds in the village.

7. RESIDENTS COMMENTS

The Chairman asked residents for any questions or comments they may have.

Comments were made as follows:

• the turnaround at the junction of Wood Lane and Mill Lane, where overhanging trees, poor road surface and inconsiderate parking had resulted in damage to verges and kerbs.
• Problems with logs etc blocking watercourses
• A 30mph speed limit on the eastbound approach to the shop is still too fast to enable a controlled response if a pedestrian is crossing on the blind side of the bend. Some form of visual warning needs to be in place  for motorists
• Gradual reduction of vehicles approaching the village (ie 60 – 40 – 30) would have a beneficial effect on average speeds of through traffic
• Vehicles have been seen backing into properties that sit in the 60mph zone, albeit that a reduction to 40mph had been mooted by LCC about five years ago but is no longer regarded as a priority.
• Mobile phone services in the village were poor with some networks still having no signal
• Could the gates be left as natural wood or painted a different colour? Cllr Harrison responded that white was used as a visual sign to drivers to slow down as they were in a village and paint extended the life of the gates
• Litter picking could be an activity that the nursery and school play a part in. The Parish Council would consider buying their own equipment to support regular clean-ups.

The Chairman thanked everybody for attending & the discussions held and closed the meeting at 8.57 pm.