Haxey Parish Council - Minutes

Minutes from the meeting held on Tuesday 30th October 2007 in the Hood Room of the Haxey Memorial Hall.

Present: Cllrs. Allcock, Boor, Booth, Carlile, Cooke, Eckhardt, Foreman, Knowles, C. Lindley, W. Lindley, Maw, Moyle and Whitehead.

Chairman: Cllr. Allcock presided.

313. To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 9th October 2007. Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs. Hailstone and Smedley.

314.To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 9th October 2007.The minutes had been circulated and were confirmed a correct record by Cllrs. Maw and Boor.

315.To receive an update from Mr. Geoff Popple of NLC, who will be attending the meeting, regarding the flooding issues that affected the Parish earlier this year.
The meeting was closed at 7.02pm.
Mr. Geoff Popple reported on the flooding issues that affected the Parish on 25th June and what NLC are doing to rectify the drainage problems. Other members of the Team from NLC included Mr. Rob MacKenzie (Traffic Officer), Mr. Trevor Lamming (Environmental Health), Mr. Dave Harrison (NLC) and Mr. Graham Wilkinson (Emergency Planning Department).
Mr. Popple stated that the amount of rainfall was unprecedented but there were a number of issues that were highlighted. These were a lack of gully emptying, blocked drains and poor maintenance of some dykes. Reports were given on each area that had experienced flooding problems and the work NLC were doing. The areas highlighted were Haxey Lane, Akeferry Road in Graizelound, Graizelound Fields Road near the War Memorial in Haxey, Cove Road, Westmoreland Close and Thinholme Lane all in Westwoodside and parts of Low Burnham including the A161.
Mr. MacKenzie stated that investigations had been carried out in all the areas and NLC had found that either the gullies were inadequate, the gullies needed to be emptied and jetted, dykes needed to be cleaned out and maintained and reconstruction work of some of the systems needed to be carried out.
A number of other areas were highlighted including the drain behind Haxey Playing Fields, the drain where part of the A161 road between Graizelound crossroads and Haxey Lane has subsided, the drain which runs from Westwoodside Pond and then to Westmoreland Close and beyond to Monkham Drain and the dam at Burnham was also mentioned. NLC are to look at these areas.
Mr. Graham Wilkinson talked about a Household Emergency Plan and how a Community Emergency Team could be put together to help communications between the Community and the Local Authority on these types of issues. Mr. Wilkinson is to also look into whether other emergency services such as the Fire and Ambulance Departments have a non-emergency number, similar to the Police Service, which could be used in order to cut back on the number of calls that are not urgent which are being made on 999.
Cllr. Allcock thanked Mr. Popple and his team for the excellent presentation and for the work which is now being carried out by NLC.
The meeting was re-opened at 8pm.

316.To receive the decisions made by North Lincolnshire Council and to consider the following planning applications:

The following planning application has had an Appeal Decision made by the Planning Inspectorate:
2006/1906 – to erect a two-storey rear extension at 45 High Street, Haxey – The Appeal has been dismissed.

The following planning application has been refused planning permission:
2007/1440 – to erect a dormer bungalow with attached garage and a erect a single domestic garage to serve 10 The Nooking – rear of 10 The Nooking, Haxey.

The following planning applications have been granted planning permission:
2007/0905 – to erect a two-storey extension providing 2 new bedrooms and a single-storey kitchen extension (re-submission of 2007/0518) at 3 High Street, Haxey.
2007/1099 – to erect a two-storey extension and detached domestic double garage at Laurel Cottage, 30 Commonside, Westwoodside.
2007/1376 – to erect a barn at Merry Meadows, off Station Road, Graiselound.
2007/1386 – to erect a two-storey side extension at Richmond House, 42 Brethergate, Westwoodside.
2007/1396 – to construct an all weather riding arena at Marland House, Haxey Road, Low Burnham.
2007/1452 – to erect a two-storey side extension at Sandhill, Tindale Bank Road, Westwoodside.
2007/1556 – to erect a detached domestic garage and a boundary wall (re-submission 2007/1126) at 41 Commonside, Westwoodside.

The following planning applications were received from NLC and discussed by Haxey Parish Council:
2007/1638 – Mr. Gary Matthews, 14 Hopgarth, Haxey – permission to erect a two-storey extension – Support Approval.
2007/1666 – Mr. and Mrs. J. Green, Land adjoining 34 Brethergate, Westwoodside – permission to erect a detached Dwelling – Cllr. Whitehead declared a non pecuniary interest. Do Not Support. Letters of objection were read out. The proposal would be over development of the site and would be contrary to Policy H5 of the North Lincolnshire Local Plan as the access would create a traffic and road safety hazard and the development would overlook and create a loss of privacy to the neighbouring property.
2007/1728 – Mr. A. D. Smith, Hallgarth Farm, A161 Between Epworth and Haxey, Low Burnham – permission for the change of use of land from agricultural to temporary storage of pipes (this is a re-submission of 2007/0722) – Support Approval.
2007/1729 – Mr. Whitfield, 2 Westmoreland Close, Westwoodside – permission to erect a single storey side extension – Support Approval.
2007/1649 – Mr. Andrew Barlow, Oak Tree Fishery, Station Road, Graiselound – Advertisement consent to display a non illuminated free standing sign – Support Approval.

317.To receive Clerk’s Report – an update on decisions taken at previous meetings and to consider further action. Work has been carried out by NLC on the damaged kerbing at Westwoodside Pond. New kerbs have been put in. A letter has been received from Roy Hindmarsh of the Safer Roads Team at NLC regarding a matter that was raised at the recent Isle Police Authority Meeting and where Mr. Pete Scott, the safer Roads Team Manager, agreed to look into an issue on Akeferry Road at the bend opposite the engineering company. Mr. Hindmarsh is understood to believe the issue was speed related and that Mr. Scott did explain that both Akeferry Road and Doncaster Road in Westwoodside are currently in a position within the North Lincolnshire Speed Management Strategy where they are receiving enforcement over the year.
Mr. Hindmarsh states that the signage on the bend has been looked at and the bend, which is over 200m radius, is not a significant bend for signage. Drivers must negotiate the bends safely, by approaching at the correct speed and in the correct gear and in a position where they can gain a view through the bend and only accelerate when the bend opens up.
At this time, there has only been one reported road casualty on this bend within the past 5 years which was ice related and there have been no ‘near-miss’ reports. It was resolved to reply to the letter stating that there have been more accidents that have occurred on this part of Akeferry Road and to ask if a white line can be put in to help drivers as they approach the bend.
The public local inquiry regarding Public Footpath 74, Epworth and Haxey, is to be held on Wednesday 5th December at Belton Village Hall and will open at 10am. The Voluntary Car Service is running a recruitment drive aimed at boosting the numbers of voluntary drivers available for the service and a notice has been produced to publicise this. The notice is to be put up in the notice boards in the Parish.
ERNLLCA are to hold a training seminar on ‘The Employment Maze’ which will be held on Tuesday 20th November at Ashby Link at Scunthorpe and will start at 7pm. A total sum not exceeding £250 has been set aside for funding for the seminars (minute 160 from the meeting held on 29th May). Cllr. Allcock has said that he would like to attend. The Clerk is to check to see if she will also be able to attend.
An invitation has been received from Axholme Connexion inviting the Chairman and his wife and any other Councillors of Haxey Parish Council to attend their Annual Remembrance Concert on Saturday 10th November at St. Nicholas Church, Haxey starting at 7pm. The Chairman stated he would be happy to accept the invitation.

318.To receive an update on the Parish Council’s Website/Newsletter/Directory. Cllr. Allcock notified the meeting that between 22nd and 28th October, a period of 6 days, a total of 43 visits had been made to the Parish Council’s Website. More items had also been added to the site including the minutes from meetings and the agenda for forthcoming meetings. Details in relation to agenda item 326 of this evenings meeting had also been put on the Website.
The majority of the newsletters have been delivered. The only areas left to deliver to are East Lound, East Lound Road, Blackmoor Road and Hallcroft Road and Close. Pelfintax and part of Cove Road in Westwoodside also needs newsletters delivering. Cllrs. Booth and Maw and the Clerk are to deliver to these areas.
The Parish Directory is near to completion. The Clerk had printed off 2 draft copies which were passed around the table. Some organizations have recently had changes made so these need to be altered. A copy is to be given to Cllr. Moyle and details from each page will be sent out to the appropriate person to check. Cllr. Booth suggested that the Directory could go out with the next copy of the newsletter.

319.To receive an update regarding the Affordable Housing Development.
The sewage system for the development is in but it has still not been connected and there is also no electricity running to site for the pump. The properties are still empty and there has not been a reply from South Yorkshire Housing Association to update when tenants would be able to move in.
Cllr. Cooke added that the condition of Thinholme Lane had become a lot worse since work had been carried out for the connection of the properties to the sewage system. The road had been dug up on 3 occasions. Dave Sanderson had been asked to look at Thinholme Lane. The Clerk is to contact NLC again asking for this road surface to be looked at.

320.To discuss the refurbishment of the Butter Cross on Haxey Lane – deferred item.
Cllr. Knowles asked for this item to be deferred until the meeting at the end of November. It was resolved to defer this item.

321.To receive an update regarding the addition of the ‘Ropewalk’ to the Definitive Map.
A lot of information has been put together regarding the Ropewalk and Cllr. Allcock asked if this item could be deferred until the meeting at the end of November. It was resolved to defer this item.

322.To receive a report from the Network Event hosted by Safer Neighbourhoods and HANWAG.
Cllr. Maw attended the meeting which was held on Monday 15th October. He stated that there were a large number of people present at the event including members of North Lincolnshire Council and a number of organisations including Youth Workers, Drug Workers and many more. Each organisation was available for people to ask certain questions on their related topic. Cllr. Maw felt that when the next event was held the Parish Council should be better prepared and should take appropriate questions to ask.

323.To discuss a proposal for the one-way regulation to be lifted to allow vehicles to use the stretch of highway between Vinehall Road and Greenhill in both directions.
Cllr. Lindley felt that as the bus service no longer used the bus stop in the area that the one-way restriction should be lifted to allow vehicles a safer exit on to Greenhill from Vinehall Road. It was resolved a letter would be sent to the Highways Department at NLC asking for this to be considered.

324.To receive a report from the ERNLLCA Annual General Meeting.
Cllr. Allcock attended the meeting which was well attended.
The resolution that had been submitted by Haxey Parish Council was voted on at the meeting. The resolution was ‘Where a Town or Parish Council has a complaint about a Local Authority (Principal Authority) and the complaint has gone through the laid down complaints procedure of the Local Authority and the complaint is not satisfactorily resolved then the Town or Parish Council would like to have the option of taking the complaint to the Ombudsman’. Everyone at the meeting voted in favour and the resolution was carried. A further resolution which was carried was in respect of the need for more preventative maintenance of the water drainage infrastructure.

325.To be notified of the details regarding this years Remembrance Service and to determine who will attend.
The service will be held on Sunday 11th November and the Church Service will start at 10.45am. Cllrs. Allcock, Booth, Knowles, Maw, and partners will be attending. The Clerk will notify Rev. Green of this.

326.To be notified and to discuss NLC’s Development Framework – Housing and Employment Land Allocations Development Plan Documents – Issues and Options consultation and to submit comments before 16th November 2007.
A copy of the above document had been received by the Clerk after the extra meeting of the Parish Council which was held on 9th October. Comments on this document must be submitted to NLC on 16th November. However, due to the recent postal strike a request has been made to NLC for an extension of 1 week to be given. The Chairman had been approached by 4 Parish Councillors asking that the public should be involved in the consultation and not just the Parish Council.
The Chairman has called a Parish Meeting which will be held on Tuesday 6th November at Westwoodside C of E School and will start at 7pm. NLC have stated they agreed for an extension to be given and therefore comments are to be submitted no later than 23rd November.
A notice has been put in the notice boards in Haxey and Westwoodside and additional notices have been put on display in the shops in the villages and the schools. An article has also been put in the Epworth Bells for the edition that is to be published on Thursday 1st November.
The Chairman has approached NLC’s Spatial Planning Team who have agreed to send a representative to speak at the meeting. Cllr. Knowles asked if the Parish Council would hold an extra meeting after the Parish Meeting to allow the Council to comment on this document. The Chairman stated that an extra meeting would be held. NLC have been asked for additional copies of the documentation for Haxey Parish so that all Councillors can have a copy should they wish.

327.To be notified of the completion of the accounts for the financial year ending 31st March 2007 and to approve the accounts.
The accounts had been completed by Glover and Co at Epworth. A proposal was made by Cllr. Boor to accept these and this was seconded by Cllr. Moyle. These were approved by the meeting.

328.To be notified of the cost for the cleaning of the War Memorial and the Cross of Piety and to determine if this quote is to be accepted.
A quote for the cleaning of the War Memorial had been received from R. Wallace and Son. The cost for the cleaning of the granite steps, column and marble soldier statue, the replacement of missing letter and interior chippings would be £594 excluding VAT, the total cost being £698.
Mr. Wallace had also been asked to look at the cleaning of the Cross of Piety on the Greenhill. This is still to be looked at and a quote will be sent separately. A proposal was made by Cllr. Maw to accept the quote that had been received. Cllr. Knowles felt that a figure of £1000 should be set aside for both the cleaning of the War Memorial and the Cross of Piety. It was felt that the two should be dealt with as separate items because Mr. Wallace has indicated he is busy and may not be able to attend to the Cross of Piety for some time. The proposal that had been made was seconded by Cllr. Boor and it was resolved to accept the quote that had been received.

329.To be notified of concerns raised by residents of Low Burnham and to determine what action is to be taken.
Cllr. Carlile had been approached by residents of Low Burnham whilst delivering the Parish Council’s newsletter. A number of the questions raised had been dealt with during the discussion with Mr. Geoff Popple under agenda item 315 and the concerns regarding the flooding in the area on 25th June involving Burnham Beck and the cleaning of the gullies.
A further concern that had been raised was for the provision of a salt box. NLC have stated that there are key elements which need to be met before a salt box can be sited. The area proposed for the siting of the salt box is at the north end of Low Burnham between Hall Farm and Low Burnham Hall. This area does have bends in the road, the road does rise and fall, there is a junction with another road/highway and due to the one way system, it is the only route out of the village. The Clerk has already contacted NLC about this matter.
A further concern raised was the state of the A161 running through Low Burnham. The Clerk has already been contacted by Rob MacKenzie at NLC (this is mentioned in minute 304 from the meeting held on 9th October 2007). Cllr. Maw stated that this road needed looking at immediately as a cyclist from Scunthorpe had been traveling through Low Burnham and the tyres of the bicycle had blown as they had got caught in the grip of the hardwearing course that has come away from the highway. The Clerk is to contact NLC again informing them of this accident and to ask for the results of the survey to be passed to the Parish Council immediately.
A further concern that has been raised by a resident of Low Burnham is with regard to the cutting of the grass verges by NLC. Emails had been received from the resident and these were read at the meeting. Additionally, photographs had also been received and were passed round for the Councillors to view. Neighbourhood Services at NLC have stated that this part of the highway is dangerous for them to work on because of Health and Safety issues and NLC have had to cut back on using hand held strimmers to cut the grass. It was felt that a letter should be sent to NLC, together with the pictures that had been received, asking if they could find an alternative to cutting the grass. A possible suggestion was for traffic lights or cones to be implemented whilst the grass is being cut.

330.To be notified of a copy of a letter received from a Parishioner regarding the Cross Hill street name sign that has been put in by NLC on Upperthorpe Road.
Cllr. Carlile declared an interest and asked to be excused from the meeting. Cllr. Carlile left the room before discussion was held on this matter.
A letter has been sent out by NLC to residents of Upperthorpe Road, Haxey regarding a postal address query that had been made by a member of the public. The query was regarding difficulties the area has been experiencing with the delivery of post. NLC have carried out a thorough investigation and believe the main problem is that the property is shown to be on Upperthorpe Road and not Cross Hill. Due to this, a suggestion had been made to transfer the property and road names on Cross Hill. However, before this matter can be actioned, NLC require a mandate of 2/3rd of Upperthorpe Road occupiers that would be affected. This change would affect 9 residents of Upperthorpe Road and would mean that 6 of these 9 people would need to agree to the change.
Four letters had been received by the Parish Council and these were read out.
Three of the letters were not in agreement with NLC’s proposal and the fourth letter was from the resident who had been experiencing difficulties.
The resident who is affected by these problems has stated that NLC consider the road should be called Cross Hill and it starts at the end of Church Street and ends at Mill Lane and that all geographical maps show the area as Cross Hill. The resident also state that there is documentary evidence to show that Cross Hill was in existence in 1930 and has been regularly identified as such since.
It is apparent that sometime in the past residents were having problems with their postal address and it was on the advice of the Royal Mail that they opted to have a postal address of Upperthorpe Road. However, the geographical name was not affected as the ruling body was not consulted. Concerns have also been raised by the residents in the past as the emergency service experienced difficulties finding addresses in the area, due to the satellite navigational technology that is now used. The letters that had been received objecting to the proposal stated that it was just one resident who was experiencing difficulties and that the road had always been known as Upperthorpe Road. The recent name change has now lead to confusion and that post goes missing as people are not aware of Cross Hill. A suggestion of an appropriate solution would be to have a road sign stating ‘Upperthorpe Road Leading to Cross Hill’.
Cllr. Booth stated that it was the Post Office that had originally made the alteration and that if this had not been done in the first place there would not be any confusion.
Cllr. Boor added that it was the house that was known as Cross Hill and the road had always been known as Upperthorpe Road.
Cllr. Maw believed the postal problems were a secondary issue and that the residents should be concerned about the emergency services not being able to find them. The emergency service would not start looking for people who live in the area until they arrived at Mill Lane.
Cllr. Moyle stated that an alternative sign should be erected and that the emergency services should be contacted enquiring what problems they have experienced, if any.
Cllr. Booth believed the sign should read ‘Cross Hill Leading to Upperthorpe Road’. Cllr. Moyle made a proposal for the sign to read as stated in the letters of objection that had been received and for it to be ‘Upperthorpe Road Leading to Cross Hill’. Cllr. Boor seconded the proposal. An amendment to the proposal was made by Cllr.
Booth who believed this should be ‘Cross Hill Leading to Upperthorpe Road’. There was no seconder to the amendment. A vote was carried on the original proposal and with a vote of 5 in favour and 5 against, the Chairman used his casting vote and it was resolved to write to NLC and the emergency services suggesting the alternative road sign of ‘Upperthorpe Road Leading to Crosshill’ be erected. The emergency services are to be asked if this will cause any problems.
Cllr. Carlile re-entered the room.

331.To be notified of the next Axholme South Neighbourhood Action Team meeting.
The next meeting is to be held on Monday 12th November in the Parish Rooms of the Coronation Hall at Owston Ferry and will start at 7pm. Cllr. Eckhardt will attend the meeting. Cllr. Booth is hoping to attend.

332.To notify the Clerk of items to be placed on the agenda for the next meeting.
Items to be included on the agenda for the meeting at the end of the months include:
To receive a report from the recent Isle of Axholme Physically Handicapped Society Meeting,
The cleaning of the outlets of Westwoodside Pond,
To discuss the refurbishment of the Butter Cross on Haxey Lane – Deferred Item,
To receive an update regarding the addition of the ‘Ropewalk’ to the Definitive Map,
To receive an update regarding the Affordable Housing Development,
To receive an update on the Parish Council’s Website/Newsletter/Directory.

333.To consider the following accounts and any received after the agenda has been sent out and before the next meeting:

Mr. Ron Allcock - £43.21p - 101324
North Lincolnshire Council - £326.85p - 101325
Mrs. N. Atkinson - £772.09p - 101326
North Lincolnshire Council - £68.51p - 101327