Minutes of Sheepy Parish Council Meeting

Sheepy Memorial Hall

2^nd March 2010

1) Attendance and Apologies

Jim Aldridge – Chair, Mary Beechey, Brian Greenfield, Malcolm Greenwood, Andrew Gough, Oz Hall, Brian May, Kevin Morrell, Alf Oliver, Anne Parkinson

Mavis Bassett – Clerk and Ivan Ould – County Councillor, Bill Crooks – Borough Councillor. (Rural Cabinet Minister)

6 parishioners and PC Graham Anderson

Apologies: Pat Bingham

The Chair, Jim Aldridge, opened the meeting but Kevin Morrell – Vice Chair – replaced Jim Aldridge as Chair during Parishioners’ Open Forum.

2) Parishioners’ Open Forum

A parishioner, Mrs Wilkins, spoke on behalf of 14 residents concerning parking restrictions on Church Lane. She expressed their disappointment that the no parking scheme is not being progressed. During her presentation, several questions were addressed to the Parish Council. In view of the length of her speech and the amount of questions for the Parish Council, the Chair of the meeting (Kevin Morrell) asked if Mrs Wilkins could give a copy of the letter to the Clerk and the Parish Council would respond within the month. Mrs Wilkins asked for it be minuted that the Vicar had requested that a copy of the written submission submitted by the Church be sent to her.

3) Minutes of the last meeting – The minutes were approved as a true and correct record.

Crime and Safety was moved forward on the agenda, in order for PC Anderson to give his report.

4) Crime and Safety – PC Anderson said that with regard to HGVs through the village, unfortunately, there was nothing the Police could do. The Clerk had also forwarded an email from a resident concerning parking in Mill Lane, particularly near the junction. PC Anderson said that he would visit the school and give them leaflets and request that they park away from the junction. He said it was best if this was done with the co-operation of the school but it was a problem he was encountering near all schools in the area.

There were 4-recorded crimes in the parish in the last 31 days. PC Anderson also reminded those present that the Police Surgery would be held in the Church at Sheepy on 25^th March.

Ivan Ould reported that there were several young men visiting houses around Witherley saying they were from the Probation Service and trying to get householders to purchase items at the door. The Police are looking into this but it is believed that they are not connected to the Probation Service. A parishioner also reported on a young man roaming around the village, who had disappeared by jumping over a wall. Councillor Aldridge reported on a pick up, which was often in the village collecting scrap. PC Anderson reported that the vehicles were legal but there had been instances where items had disappeared from gardens, as they were perceived to be scrap. PC Anderson also reported that lead is still being taken from Church buildings and H &BBC Waste disposal, say that there are more tyres being dumped in the area.

PC Anderson reported that the new sergeant at Market Bosworth is keen to put regular articles in parish magazines to alert parishioners of what is happening. Market Bosworth was not open for telephone queries, parishioners need to ring the central number 0116 2222222 or they could leave a message for PC Anderson on email or voice mail.

5) Matters Arising from Minutes

Flooding – Councillor Aldridge gave an update on the meeting of the 3 Parish Councils (Witherley, Sutton Cheney and Sheepy) to discuss flooding issues as a result of the proposed housing development at Barwell. Jim Aldridge asked for the Councillors’ approval for the Chair to send a letter on behalf of the 3 Parish Councils, all were in agreement. It was also noted that the Forum in March at Market Bosworth would have someone from Environment Agency and H &BBC in attendance to discuss flooding issues.

20 mph outside Sheepy School – Clerk reported that she had spoken to LCC and this was scheduled for mid March

Request for donation for Sheepy Festival by PTA – the Clerk read a letter, which had been received from the PTA clarifying the situation. In view of this, it was proposed by Jim Aldridge and seconded by Andrew Gough and all in agreement that a donation of £1,000, as agreed previously, should be given to PTA. Councillor Aldridge reiterated that the use of the staging was free for anyone in the Parish to use but a donation towards insurance would be appreciated. Outside the Parish, the charge was £50 per day.

Parish Council Notice-board – Andrew Gough reported that hopefully it should be completed by end of month.

6) Report by County Councillor – Ivan Ould reported that the next meeting of LCC Highways Forum was on 6^th May and he was trying to get permission for Parish Councils to attend. Councillor Morrell reported on problems the H&BBC was having with Highways refusing to adopt roads within a development. Ivan to get this as an agenda item at the next Highways Forum

An email from parishioner at Cross Hands concerning HGVs was discussed and Ivan Ould suggested that they contact Environmental Health at H&BBC. He also suggested that if the problem carries on and other parishioners were involved, the Parish Council might like to contact Highways re speed restrictions

Finally, he said that LCC budget for 2010/11 had been set at 2.5%.

7) Report by Borough Councillor – Kevin Morrell welcomed Bill Crooks, the Councillor with responsibility for Rural Affairs, who said that he would support the Parish Council with any problems they had.

Councillor Morrell reported that H&BBC budget increase was 2%. And they were the 10^th lowest Borough tax in the country. Voluntary redundancies had taken place and investments had been affected by low interest rates. H&BBC were moving from Argents Mead to Atkins building. Sheepy Parish precept was below the average and the Parish Council were one of the best in the Borough and H &BBC were grateful. Parish Initiative Fund remained the same for this year and Sheepy PC were 5^th in the league for receiving grants.

Councillor Morrell also reported that at the last Council meeting, land supply had been discussed and housing needs had been negotiated down from 7,000 to 5,000 over the whole of the Borough over 5 years. Affordable homes had not been reduced. With regard to disabled facilities for homes, the budget had been increased and the waiting list reduced. Also at the meeting, closed churchyards had been discussed and Councillors were trying to get support for churchyards.

8) Correspondence

The following was discussed

H BBC - Big Tidy Up – it was noted that this was to take place over a 3-month period from March to May.

Brian Mee – ground maintenance contract for 2010 – 1% increase. It was proposed by Brian May, seconded by Oz Hall and all in agreement that this increase should be accepted. It was noted that the contractor was doing a good job.

Community Forum – 11 March, 7pm at Dixie Grammar School, Market Bosworth, everyone invited.

RCC –annual subscription - £36, proposed by Malcolm Greenwood, seconded by Brian May and all in agreement that we should renew this subscription.

The following was available for information:

Minutes of Hinckley & Bosworth Parish Forum -

9) Accounts and Signing of cheques

Reserves Policy – The Clerk reported that at the moment the Clerk keeps a working capital of £7,000, this had been agreed in 2004 and reviewed periodically. The Clerk now suggested that this be increased to £14,000 to cover working capital for one year in respect of Clerk’s salary, insurance, grass-cutting, emptying dog bins ands hire of meeting room. This was proposed by Andrew Gough, seconded by Oz Hall and all in agreement that the Reserve should be increased to £14,000.

LCC website update - Councillor Aldridge reported that the Clerk had attended a training session on Leicestershire Parish Councils website and this had resulted in a total of extra 20 hours to attend the session and update website. It was proposed by Andrew Gough, seconded by Oz Hall and all in agreement that the Clerk should be paid for these extra hours with next month’s salary.