September 2023
Uffington Parish Council
Approved Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at Uffington Village Hall on Wednesday 27th September at 8pm
Present: Barrie Brown – Chairman, Cllr Genever, Cllr Barratt, Cllr Carr, Cllr Church and Cllr Smith
Clerk – Mrs. K Turner
Public Forum:
Cllr Brown welcomed everyone to the meeting. No members of the public present
1-38/24 - Apologies: Cllr R Trollope Bellew, Cllr Waterfall
2-39/24 - Approval of minutes from 23rd August 2023
The minutes were approved as a true and accurate record
Pro: Cllr Church Sec: Cllr Barratt
RESOLVED
3-40/24 – Matters Arising
Cllr Carr gave the Council members a brief outline of the Nature recovery plan meeting that he attended with the Langdyke trust. This proved to be an informative meeting with ideas for projects going forward.
Cllr Brown has obtained two quotes for Village entrance signs and is awaiting a quote from a third contractor
The Give way sign outside of number 2 School Lane is still not positioned correctly. Clerk to contact Highways again and chase up for a response
Clerk to contact Highways manager for an urgent update on the request for resurfacing of the pavements in the village.
4-41/24 – Tree Maintenance
A request from a parishioner has been received to prune trees in Lindsey Road. The Council noted and discussed that the maintenance on these trees with all necessary pruning was carried out less than 12 months ago. Council members agreed for the Clerk to contact the Councils contractor who carried out previous work to visit and advise on if any works are necessary. The request for the parishioner to instruct their own contractor was decided against at this time until further advice received.
5-42/24 – Uffington Bulb Planting
Following on from Cllr Carr’s meeting with the Langdyke trust it was agreed for a project to take place of a bulb planting day to be held on 21st October. Several Parish’s with volunteers will be attending. A walk about the village identified areas in which the planting will take place, these include: Manners Close/Play Park, Island near The Bertie Arms, Casewick Lane, School Lane and the Allotments. Thanks to Dr. David Babbs who has kindly agreed to donate a further 1500 bulbs again for the village this year. Bulbs will also be kindly donated from the Langdyke trust. Details of the event and to advertise for volunteers and for people to attend the day will be put out through the Noticeboard, Village Facebook page, school parent mail and Towers and spires
a proposal for the Parish Council to contribute extra bulbs was put forward
Pro: Cllr Church Sec: Cllr Barratt
Cllr Brown agreed to contact Dr. Babbs to organise purchasing the extra bulbs
6-43/24– Accounts - Monthly accounts and bank balances were presented for agreement
Uffington Parish Council Accounts August/September 2023
Expenditure
C Harris Grass mowing £70.00
Noticeboard Company £3,420.00
Clerk’s wages Aug £187.57
UVH Hall Hire £15.00
Mrs. J Hartley Litter picking £40.00
Payments in
Interest £8.59
Bank balance as at 20/09/2023
Business account: £3022.12
Lloyds Business Savings: £6112.11
Proposal to accept the monthly accounts
Pro: Cllr Church Sec: Cllr Genever
RESOLVED
7-44/24 – Outside Reports
Cllr Smith sent in her report for this meeting as follows
Ward Walk: Cllr Trollope-Bellew and I have very recently arranged a ward walk with Cllr Cleaver (Leader of the Council) around Casewick Ward. This will be 10-2pm on Friday 29th September. We will need to cover all of the Parishes within the ward. If there is anything within Uffington that you would like us to specifically draw his attention to then please let us know (particularly District Council matters)
SKDC purchase of Langtoft housing for refugees: Last month, the purchase of 12 new homes in Langtoft by SKDC for Ukrainian and Afghan refugees caused some controversy. There has now been a public meeting and all households in Langtoft have been written to. SKDC purchased these homes using a central Government grant which was ring-fenced for the housing of Afghan and Ukrainian refugees who are already here legally. The houses will revert to social council housing when their visas expire so it is anticipated that the area will benefit from this increase in social housing in a few years' time
SK Funding workshops: There was a workshop held in Stamford in September. Information
was provided to community groups on the various pots of money available, such as UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and how to apply. Further sessions will be held: 18 Jan- Grantham, 21 Mar - Bourne.
SK Today - this is now online only for households. There are some hard copies available in Deeping library if anyone would like one. The current edition was available from 18th September: http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2321
Meet the Cabinet sessions: An opportunity to meet the Councillors who form the SKDC Cabinet. If anyone would like to meet the SK Cabinet, they are holding open sessions each month. September's one was held in Deeping. October will be in Grantham on 30th and November in Bourne. Session are drop in, no appointment necessary from 1-2pm
Consultation on how to fund the Council Tax Support scheme open to members of the public. Closes on Friday 13th October
www.southkesteven.gov.uk/CouncilTaxSupportSchemeSurvey
Cost of Living Officers: SKDC now has two costs of Living Officers. Please get in touch if you are in need of support as Councillors are able to make referrals to the Cost-of-Living team.
Cllr Smith explained that she had been asked by a resident on School Lane to raise the feasibility of a dropped kerb outside of number 4 School Lane to access a driveway to Uffington Parish Council members. The Council members objected to this idea on the basis that the property is in a conservation area and safety concerns due to the proximity of a driveway to the pavement and the school. It was suggested that perhaps road markings or a specific parking bay could be implemented as a compromise.
BT works on Lindsey Road were also mentioned. BT are carrying out works on individual households and a possible idea was out forward for a joint application for all households to ensure one set of roadworks to be done rather than individual works
Cllr Smith updated the Council on the cycleway from Tallington to Stamford and although there is sufficient support for this project the cost would likely exceed £300k and currently there is no budget for this.
Cllr Brown asked if the bin in the play area could be moved so that it could be emptied by SKDC. Cllr Smith agreed to raise this on the village walkabout with District Council
Cllr Brown also noted that the posts outside of the Bertie Lane bungalows were not to standard. The posts and chains have been replaced with timber posts and wire. Cllr Smith agreed to also look into this.
8-45/24 – Declarations of Interest
None received
9-46/24 – Planning
S23/1187 (previously S23/ 0096) - 47 Main Road, PE9 4SN, Erection of 1no. dwelling and conversion of existing outbuilding
Council members noted that the roof height had been lowered and two windows removed on this amendment.
No further comments or objections raised
10-47/24 – Correspondence
It was agreed to carry forward to the next Parish Council meeting the suggestion of subscribing to the rural funding digest in Cllr Waterfalls absence
11-37/24- Any Other business
The culvert along Casewick Lane is blocked. Clerk to report
Stile opposite green area at the end of Lindsey Road is rotten and needs replacing. Clerk to contact LCC
Cllr Church noted that Stamford hospital is in need of volunteers
A sub group to be formed to talk through further plans for the Nature recovery project and the trail and heritage map idea for the Village. Research and ideas to be collated and to be brought to the full Council for decision and funding application
Next Council meeting to be held in the Village Hall on Wednesday 8th November 2023 at 7.45pm
Meeting closed at 9.0pm