Parish Council

Report of the Parish Council Meeting held on Tuesday 4 June 2013

Apologies were received from our two District Councillors and County Councillor.

Welcome
The Parish Council welcomed Graham Jones who had been elected (uncontested) to the vacancy on the Parish Council.  Graham has already agreed to investigate the possibility of establishing a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme in the village!

Village Hall Management Committee
Councillor Summers, our representative on the Committee, gave his report on its May meeting.  If you want to see the minutes of this, or any other VHMC meeting, they are on the Parish Council’s website under Village Hall.  Remember it is up to you to let your Village Hall affiliated club member representative, or your village representative, know your views on any matter relating to the Hall, so that they can deal with it on your behalf.

Post Box
Some good news!  After much “badgering” of Royal Mail by the Clerk and Councillor Goldsworthy, at long last it is now likely that once Mr. Sowerby (as the land owner) has given his blessing, a post box will again be available in the Nocton Park area.  It is intended to place the box on the corner of Nocton Park Road and Woodlands Avenue.

SID
It appears that the Speed Indicator Device (SID) has now been located and should be deployed in Nocton soon.  Rather too late for the residents of Wellhead Lane during the recent B1202 road closure, but your Parish Council has put forward an official complaint that when most needed, SID was not available.  Spot checks with hand held speed guns will, however, continue in the area…… so beware and keep your speed down when driving through the village!

Parking on the Village Green
At the request of a local resident, the Parish Council reviewed its recent decision not to allow parking on the Village Green and is now looking at the feasibility of allowing up to two parking “slots” for disabled and/or elderly people visiting the Church or School.

Youth Group
A constructive meeting between two members of the original CLAN committee and the Chair and Vice-chair has resulted in the Parish Council seeking advice on how to get this much needed Youth Group off the ground.  A leader is now being sought!  There are plenty of young people and adults all wishing to get involved in this important venture, all that is required is someone to head up the group until it becomes self-sustaining.  Are you interested in helping?  If so, please contact one of your parish councillors who will pass your details on to the residents looking at the initiative so that they can give you more information on what’s involved.

Following completion of the works to the bridges on the B1202 and Wellhead Lane, the Parish Council has arranged for a representative of Network Rail to attend the next meeting to talk about the scheme to modernise the Great Northern/Great Eastern (GNGE) Joint railway line between Peterborough and Doncaster via Lincoln (of which works to these bridges are a part) and to explain any implications for the local community.   If you have any questions you would like to ask Network Rail let our Clerk, Steve Altridge, know at least a week before the meeting either by telephone (01526 321760) or email: noctonparishcouncil@hotmail.co.uk

Finally, a reminder.  If you would like to see a copy of the full Nocton Community Plan then go to either our website http://parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Nocton/ or contact the Clerk who has hard copies to loan.

“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.”

Next Meeting Tuesday 2 July 2013 at 7pm                  Councillor MaryAnn Williams

Village Hall Working Group

You may also like to see the outcome of my query on the progress of this group. This would appear to be a convenient location to publish it. My email was as follows:

Email to Clerk of Nocton Parish Council dated 31st May 2013

"Hi Steve,

I would like to enquire about the following in readiness for the Parish Council meeting on 4th June:

• I see from the published Terms of Reference for the Working Group that the Parish Council requested a report within 3 months of the first meeting date.
• I seem to remember the first meeting was held before the end of February.
• The Agenda for 4th June does not make any mention of a report to be considered from the Working Group, although one is due to be submitted.

I would like to know:

• When will the 3 month report be considered by the Parish Council?
• When will this be made available for local residents to study?
• If there is going to be a delay with the 3 month report, will there be an interim progress report from the Working Group for local residents to examine and if not, why not – it is after all a village asset?

Kind Regards,

Geoff "

 

The reply was as follows:
 

Email from Clerk of Nocton Parish Council dated 6th June 2013

 

"Hi Geoff

 

Thank you for your email of 31 May. Although the Parish Council has received brief reports at its meetings on the work of the VH Working Group from either myself or the PC's two representatives thereon, you are correct in that it has yet to consider the matter formally. Whilst it was hoped that the Working Group would have finished the first part of its work within three months, it has become clear that the issues are potentially more complex - and certainly more time-consuming - than was originally envisaged.

 

In the circumstances, it is intended that a report on progress will be considered at the Special Meeting to be held on 25th June which has been convened to consider the PC's Annual Accounts. I do not yet know what form this report will take as it may depend upon the outcome of discussions at the Working Group's next meeting.
 

Finally, I note that your email was sent to my personal address rather than to that of the Parish Council. May I please ask that you refrain from using this to contact me in the future and to delete it from your address book. I have also copied this email to the Chair and the Vice-Chair of the PC for their information.

Many thanks and kind regards.
Steve"