Minutes of a Meeting of Ashwell Parish Council, held in Ashwell Village Hall, at 19.15 on Tuesday 5th September 2023.
Present: Val Harvey – Chair (VH), Sue Ellis (SE), Harry Smith (HS), Tony Graveling (TG) & Ward Councillor Kiloran Heckels (KH).
No members of the public attended the meeting.
- Apologies
The Clerk, Mrs Sally Harnett, was not present following the death of her husband Mr Mike Harnett. It was agreed to send Sally some flowers with the Parish Council’s condolences. Action VH - Declarations of Interest
Mr Harvey declared an interest in matters concerning Ashwell Village Hall. - Minutes of the last meeting 23 May 2023
It was agreed that the minutes were a true record of the meeting and were signed by the Chairman. - Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting
Travellers in the Green Lane close to Tambourine Bridge; KH reported that RCC have no plans to move the travellers on from their present site. There is no suitable Travellers’ site in Rutland and RCC have no immediate plans to establish an authorised site for them. Any resident with concerns should address them to pollutioncontrol@peterborough.gov.uk
No progress had been made on identifying the ownership of the notice board on Cottesmore Road. However, given that no decisions on the fate of that land are imminent APC should take no further action for the present. - Finance
Report presented by TG. The present balance stands at £11,115.76.
Payments to SSE for the electricity supply to the defibrillator have been paid by direct debit on a monthly basis. The average cost per month (inc VAT) being £6.30, the VAT portion can be refunded by HMRC at the end of the financial year. The defibrillator battery will need to be changed in December, likely cost £250. There was uncertainty as to who was carrying out a regular check on the defibrillator on the Village Hall. VH to investigate. Action VH
A donation of £300 was paid to Citizens Advice Rutland as agreed. The 2023 local election costs have been paid to RCC amounting to £155.19. No donations have been requested from the Parish Council since the last meeting. The installation of two new signatories for the Parish Council bank account has still to be finalised. Action VH & SE.
The Treasurer thanked Mrs Harnett sincerely for her work at this difficult time and noted a payment of her wages of £260.90 for 19.75 hours work since 23 May 2023.
Mrs Harnett also receives Statutory Holiday pay for 2022-2023 of £137.38. A diary was purchased for £7.00.
The Treasurer confirmed the dates for the next five meetings and these need booking with the Booking Secretary of the Village Hall. Action VH - Village Hall
VH reported that the level of booking remains at a high sustainable level. It was noted the Lavender Mill occupies the Hall for three sessions in the week and these sessions are practically full. Clearly in the summer months fuel costs are low but the expenditure in the coming winter months will inevitably rise substantially. It was noted that the Broadband line runs through some trees at the back of the hall and it was recommended that the VH Committee look into freeing the line up by cutting back the trees. Action VH to liaise with VH Committee. - Planning
It was confirmed that from now on, when APC is asked to comment on a Planning Application, councillors would meet in person to discuss the application and once agreed a suitably worded response would be given to the Clerk to forward to RCC.
APC was asked to submit a response to the Outline Planning for the Officers’ Mess at Edith Weston. While this proposed development has no immediate impact on the village of Ashwell APC will submit a response. Action VH and HS to meet to tidy up the wording.
It was noted that the current application to develop the Ashwell Garage site has been withdrawn. The application to develop land adjacent to the Langham Road level crossing has been turned down. It has been reported by local residents that the positioning of the Heras fencing round this property is encroaching upon Highways land. This will be passed on to Highways Action VH. The revised application to develop land adjacent to 1 Water Lane is yet to be considered at a future meeting of RCC. - Highways.
Concern has been raised about the large heavy lorries coming into the village from Cottesmore on Cottesmore Road. There is a 7.5 ton restriction on vehicles using that route. One lorry has been photographed and in a consequent verbal conversation the driver indicated ignorance of that. Even empty, these heavy lorries exceed the limit. This will be monitored during the fortnight of Community Speedwatch. There is a sign poorly positioned in Cottesmore but we have not been able to find a similar sign at the Ashwell end of Cottesmore Road. Residents who wish to comment about this should address their comments to Highways at RCC.
RCC has said that they are reducing the frequency of times that verges in Rutland will be cut from 10 cuts a year to 6. [They have suggested that parishes might like to opt out of the RCC cutting and RCC would pay the village 3 pence per metre per year. No one could be found to take that job on privately at that rate]. The Parish Council will write to complain about this reduction to Highways. Action VH.
There has been no action on APC’s request to have a dropped curb on the bend in the road near the well to enable mobility vehicle access from Langham Road onto the pavement side of Oakham Road.
It was noted that during the Community Speedwatch period (25 September to 8 October) the police will not be formally monitoring speeds in Ashwell. - Public Forum.
In the absence of any members of the public, this item was passed over. - Police Report.
No formal report was submitted by Ben Orton. However his last circular (31/8) noted no criminal activity in Ashwell had come to the notice of the police. - Correspondence
The number of messages for all residents from APC via the RRI has increased and the messages are not always clear. SE agreed to look at messages APC wish to send out and to simplify/clarify them on behalf of APC before they are sent to Mrs Yvonne Ewing, who circulates the RRIs. The Ward Councillor requested that she is added to the RRI circulation. Action VH to meet Yvonne and go through the items that were discussed.
‘Peppers – A safe place’ was on the agenda under this heading and the discussion was deferred to the next meeting. - Any other business
A previous request that the mobile Post Office visit Ashwell regularly had been turned down on the grounds that the village is less than three miles from an existing Post Office. It turns out that Exton now has a regular mobile Post Office service and Exton is closer to Cottesmore post office than is Ashwell. Action KH to revisit our request & report back to the next meeting.
Meeting closed at 20.26
Signed …………………………………………………….. dated……………………….
Dates of future meetings of Ashwell Parish Council, to be held in Ashwell Village Hall:
19.15 on Tuesday 5 December 2023
19.15 on Tuesday 5 March 2024
19.15 on Tuesday 14 May 2024
19.15 on Tuesday 3 September 2024
19.15 on Tuesday 3 December 2024