May 2023 Open Meeting Minutes
MINUTES of
RAUCEBY PARISH OPEN MEETING
Held at Rauceby Village Hall, Main Street, South Rauceby
17 May 2023
The meeting opened at 7.00pm.
Present: Chairman Mr M Ireland, Cllr Wright for LCC, 6 Parish Councillors, 12 Members of the public, Clerk.
1. Apologies were received from Cllrs J Hoare and S Enstone, Cllr A Hagues of NKDC and AVM and Mrs Robson.
2. Minutes of the last (May 2022) Parish Open Meeting had been distributed, approved by the meeting and signed by the Chairman.
3. Reports from visiting representatives were given:
From Cllr R Wright (LCC): Cllr Wright presented a report, attached to these minutes, that embraced the issues of Lincolnshire.
In addition to the report he emphasised a recommendation to use the App “FixMyStreet” to report pothole issues to the Highways Dept. He suggested that the app be downloaded onto mobile phones so that reports can be made rapidly. He also recommended that when reporting, the number of potholes in the vicinity of the problem area is included in the report so that the workforce can bring sufficient material to carry out a more complete repair.
From Cllr Hagues (NKDC): Cllr Hagues presented a report, attached to these minutes, that embraced the issues of North Kesteven.
4. The Chairman’s Report of Parish Council activities since the last Open Meeting is attached to these minutes.
5. The Financial Report for 2022/23 was distributed and questions invited regarding the contents. A copy of the report is attached to these minutes. No questions were asked
6. Matters of local interest: One parishioner wrote to ask that the council examine the potential to rewild the grass verges around the village. This gave rise to some positive discussion and it was agreed to discuss the matter at the Parish Council Meeting which followed the Open meeting.
7. The meeting was concluded with an interesting talk by Ms Anne-Marie Shepherd, Senior Partnerships Officer of NKDC, regarding the putting together of a Neighbourhood Plan for the village. She described the potential benefits but stressed that the Plan would not be a Parish Council device but a Rauceby Village tool for planning in the future. Its generation requires the engagement of the whole village, utilising the skills of residents as well as those of the council. It would be a long project – taking between 18 months and 5 years to complete. The Planning Authorities would be obliged to take into account the contents of the Plan when considering other planning matters. Financial and technical assistance would be available from NKDC.
It was agreed that the matter would be discussed in greater detail at the July Parish Council meeting
8. The meeting closed at 7.45pm
Report from County Cllr Wright for Rauceby Annual Open meeting
Priorities for this year are
Highway improvements.
Improvements to the A16 between Boston and Spalding and construction of the Grantham Southern Relief Road. In the planning stages of the North Hykeham Relief Road, due to start in 2025.
There are roughly 5,500 miles of highways to maintain in the county and a vastly reduced pot of money to fund that work. Spring Budget only gave approximately £6.8m for filling potholes in Lincolnshire. Just over half of what was taken out of our budget last year.
However, the government have reduced the amount they provide for road maintenance by 25% in recent years, and this additional funding will not go far in addressing this shortfall. In effect, the cuts put in place by government until the end of 2024 will mean that we will have lost the equivalent of an entire year’s worth of roads maintenance funding – a huge £47m black hole in the resources we critically need.
Despite using £7m from our council reserves to prop-up the roads maintenance budget this year, the increasing costs of energy and materials, mean we can repair fewer potholes for the same money.
We are already lobbying the government and talking to our local MPs about this issue. With 660 miles of roads which are rated poor or very poor, we will continue to keep this at the top of our priority list to ensure our residents get the best standards of road we can deliver.
Closer working with N & NE Lincs on Adult and Children Services – looking to improve services between the 3 authorities and collaborate on what works best.
Better ways of delivering social care, against a backdrop of rising costs.
Integrated Care – working across Lincs with NHS & Partners.
Secondary education – large build projects to be completed across at least 6 sites.
Coastal tourism & coastal flooding working with Environment agency. Lincolnshire has the only coastline in the East Midlands, and yet it doesn’t feature highly enough yet, on a regional level, which needs to change. Coastal erosion not only means the potential loss of homes, but also valuable farmland.
Food economy, looking to future proof the industry through modern methods working with the Uni – aggrotech.
Migrant situation – bridging hotels, coastal hotels, RAF Scampton. – all ongoing situations which we engage with the Home Office on.
Ukrainian refugee issues – homes, Esol, jobs, schools. We continue to welcome people from the Ukraine, but the longer the situation continues, we will face difficulties dealing with and funding the support required.
New Environment act and issues it raises, especially with waste.
Locally
Lots of potholes filled and where appropriate, now full repairs, rather than quick fills.
Speeding – An issue being raised in several villages - I’ve raised this again with the Road Safety Partnership and asked for action.
Also had a meeting with the Assistant Chief Constable about the reduction in PCSOs. As this has been done to finance other in-service teams, there is now a clear expectation that we see results from teams such as the Road Traffic team, where we have persistent problems and not just on the major roads.
And finally – you have received notice of road closures at the end of the month to finally get the red markings added to the roads.
Report from District Cllr Hagues for Rauceby Annual Open meeting
CENTRAL LINCOLNSHIRE LOCAL PLAN ADOPTED: The Central Lincolnshire Local Plan has been adopted and will be used in making decisions on planning applications across the City of Lincoln, North Kesteven and West Lindsey areas. This new local plan is pioneering in placing climate change at its core, and will help ensure Central Lincolnshire is a net zero carbon area. This trailblazing approach will also lead the way for other areas to follow in tackling climate change.
The new Local Plan introduces a number of new policies to guide development in Central Lincolnshire, including:
Climate change – an ambitious and ground breaking set of policies aimed at Central Lincolnshire net zero carbon, including in making sure new homes are efficient, attracting renewable energy generation, and ensuring new homes are adaptable to climate change.
Housing- new housing sites, capable of meeting our needs to 2040 and policies to ensure that the housing is in the right location and well designed.
Jobs- protection of existing employment sites and land available for more employment development in locations where housing is or will be built.
Shopping and city/town centres – policies to enhance our city and town centres and ensure they remain a destination, and to protect local centres which provide essential services across the area.
Tourism – policies to support the tourism industry in Central Lincolnshire and to ensure that any tourism development is in the right location.
Environment – a suite of policies seeking to protect our environment including delivering biodiversity net gain, protecting our valued landscapes, protection of high quality agricultural land, and protecting trees and hedgerows.
Infrastructure – policies to help ensure that the infrastructure needed to support new development is delivered in the right places.
RAF Scampton – a policy which will allow the future redevelopment of this site be properly planned to deliver great benefits to Central Lincolnshire.
The new Local Plan was adopted by the Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee at its meeting on 13th April 2023 and will be used on making decisions on planning applications immediately. The Central Lincolnshire committee is made up of a partnership of City of Lincoln, North Kesteven District Council, West Lindsey Council and Lincolnshire County Council should evolve between now and 2040.
ACCESS IMPROVEMENTS AT LOLLYLOCKS FIELD: Access to the Lollylocks field nature reserve in central Sleaford will be improved with a new ramp and a revamped section of footpath, with works now underway.
Lollylocks is home to an array of wildlife and has seen a number of improvements already through the partnership £1.29 million Witham/ Slea Blues Green Corridor project, including a kingfisher nesting bank, hedgerow planting and scrapes for biodiversity and an extended boardwalk around the pond to protect ground vegetation while providing access.
Now, as part of the remaining works for the project, the steps down to the nature reserve from Eastgate will be changed to a ramp, allowing better access for prams and wheelchair users. A new path will also be laid along the existing earthen path, from the new ramp until it meets with the existing tarmac path which then moves over the bridge to Sleaford Leisure Centre.
To help ensure the works are carried out safely and in the shortest timeframe possible, this section of path is now closed for the duration of the works, which are already underway.
A17 MAJOR ROADWORKS: Just to let you know that until July, there will be ongoing night closures and disruptions to the A17 in the Cranwell and Byards Leap area.
Financial Report for 2022/23
Chairman’s Report for Year 2022/23
Ladies and Gentlemen
It gives me great pleasure to present my Annual Report as Chairman of Rauceby Parish Council, a year in which we have met on 6 occasions and addressed issues such as planning, highway matters and general village administration.
The Parish Council helped to organize and provided funding for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration last June which unfortunately turned out to be a wet day but thanks to all those parishioners who helped and attended. Thanks also to Councillor Gill Enstone who organized the Book of Condolence following the very sad loss of Queen Elizabeth in September. The recent Coronation of King Charles III was celebrated at an event at Rauceby Hall and on the following Monday some 25 parishioners volunteered with a Parish Litter Pick which was highly successful and generally enjoyable – again, thanks to Councillor Jonathan Hoare for hosting both these events. I am also pleased to say that following the demise of the bench on Main Street, South Rauceby your Parish Council have replaced it with a new Oak bench, sourced and crafted in Lincolnshire, to commemorate the Coronation of King Charles III.
A general theme throughout my tenure as Chairman has been speeding through the parish and I am pleased to say that over the past few months we have finally erected a pair of speed reduction gates on Rauceby Drove as you enter the 40mph zone and at the end of this month we believe that the long-awaited red tarmac will be laid in two locations.
The SID machine continues to be deployed to good effect and following my comment last year about the battery life we are very thankful to an anonymous donation from a parishioner of a set of new batteries and service which has been most appreciated.
The Rauceby Gigabit Project, although now in its fourth year has recently received good news when we reached and validated the required number of vouchers to cover the scheme cost. Once again, my thanks to Cllr Simon Enstone who has valiantly led this project, sometimes from Australia, the remainder of the steering group and all the parishioners who have continued to support. Hopefully we will have a positive outcome and much quicker broadband in the next few months.
Sadly, an element of vandalism has crept into the village over the past 12 months with two of our dog bins being set on fire. This senseless act on bins both in North and South Rauceby is hard to understand but two replacements were ordered and thankfully there have been no further occurrences. The Buttercross in North Rauceby, although damaged in a motor accident, has now been repaired by specialist contractors and is back looking its best.
As many of you will know both North and South Rauceby have various pieces of artwork which were commissioned by North Kesteven District Council some 27 years ago. During the year we have discussed moving the responsibility for these pieces to our own Parish Council but on consideration and with no agreed ownership of them we declined. Potentially this could have been all cost with no gain, so the status quo remains.
We continue to use the services of Jeff Earl to cut the grass in various village locations and he has agreed to include cleaning out of the bus shelters in South Rauceby this coming winter as this was an area that had raised concerns. I thank him for his excellent service which is always looked on positively by parishioners.
I would like to thank and am very grateful to the 8 other councillors who give of their time freely, contribute to discussions and help as required. Two councilors stood down prior to the May election and I would like to pay thanks for their time on council. Sue Waite has stood for 10 years, always had the best interests of the village at heart and as a regular walker kept us up to date with the village footpaths. Roger Enstone has served over more years than I can remember, a past Chairman and long-term member of the Planning sub-committee. Both will be very much missed but I’m sure ably replaced by Paula Ireland and Geoff Hall who we welcome to the Parish Council.
As a Parish we are supported by our District and County Councillors, Susan Waring and Richard Wright, who I also thank for their time and contributions. Susan stood down at the beginning of May and with a change of ward boundaries we now have two councillors, Andrew Hagues and Jim Clarke who we look forward to seeing at future meetings.
Finally, I would like to thank our Parish Clerk, Ian Grady. Ian has very much grown into the job, I’m not sure we renumerate him for all the hours he does for us. Among everything else he does for us he has revitalised the website and it is always up to date with relevant information and there for everyone to use. Ian, we thank you for your time and effort which is much appreciated by all.
Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes my report for the year.
Signed _____________________________
Chairman of Rauceby Parish Council
Date_____________________