2023-24 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

MINUTES OF FRAMPTON PARISH COUNCIL MEETING held on 21st March 2024 at Frampton Parish 

Present: Cllrs Ashton (Chairman), Cllr Burton (Vice Chairman), Cllr Pryke (Frampton Parish & Boston Borough Councillor – Kirton & Frampton Ward), Cllr Clare, Cllr Hildred, Cllr Fowler, Cllr Hladun, Cllr David Middleton (Boston Borough Councillor – Kirton & Frampton Ward) and Cllr Balgarnie.

Absent: Cllr Tennent, Cllr Rylott (Boston Borough Councillor) & Cllr A Austin (County Councillor)

In attendance: Max Barlow (Clerk & Responsible Finance Officer) & Lana Maclennan-James (New Clerk & Responsible Finance Officer)

Pre-meeting - 10-minute allocation for the Police and Public to speak:

98. Declarations for absence and reasons given (Agenda item 1 - 21.03.24)

Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr Tennent and Cllr Rylott. 

99. Declarations of interest (Agenda item 2 - 21.03.24)

Cllr Hildred declared interest in B24 /0099 – Planning permission for solar panels.

100. Approval of minutes for meeting held 15th February 2024 (Agenda item 3 - 21.03.24)

The minutes were signed and approved as a true and correct record.

101. Planning applications (Agenda item 4 - 21.03.24)

a) B/24/0078 – Agricultural Building – Cllr Clare asked if the building would affect the local heritage area, Cllr Ashton said it would not but he will write to the Borough Council with an observation on this.

b) B/24/0099 – Solar Panels on a building – No objections or comments.

c) B/24/0103 – Two bungalows – Cllr Pryke commented that it looks like over development. Cllr Burton has spoken to a neighbour who was concerned about the septic tanks on the site having to be moved and where they would be moved to due to surrounding buildings. He continued to say that when buildings behind are removed, fencing will need to be put up at the back of the property to prevent this neighbour being overlook. Cllr Ashton shared that his comments is that the build is on land not in the local plan, is 2 additional dwellings where previously there were none and it is outside the development envelope for the local plan. Cllr Ashton will write to the borough with the Parish Councils concerns. 

102. Environment of the Parish (Agenda item 5 - 21.03.24)

a) Cllr Pryke mentioned the GW Project (Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind) is now out of consultation round and the public enquiry will be done in due course.

b) Cllr Pryke welcomed the new 30mph signs on Middlegate rd that have now been replaced.

c) Cllr Pryke also spoke on the 30mph sign on Burnham lane recently being replaced.

d) Cllr Pryke reported the cycle routes new signage and directional stickers have been completed.

e) Cllr Pryke shared that people on Middlegate Rd have concerns regarding potholes.

f) Cllr Pryke then commented that he is concerned about how many lights he has seen on at 3am around the parish, he shared that we would save money turning them off. Cllr Ashton replied this would not save money as we pay a set amount. Previous councils have said they would prefer them to stay on all night. Cllr Ashton will check with the Borough Council to confirm whether this change would or wouldn’t save us money.

g) Cllr Pryke spoke regarding his concerns about litter on the roads, he has asked the county to do a better job of litter picking the main roads. 

h) Cllr Pryke shared the fact that Council tax has increase over 6% in Frampton and that the council tax rebate scheme only received 35 responses. He shared that this made the council think it is unreliable, however Cllr Pryke will request the council to put more effort in to sharing the availability of the tax rebate scheme.

i) Cllr Pryke shared that car park use all over the borough has lowered.

j) Cllr Pryke also stated that with local drainage business rates going up we may see a raise in council tax in the future. 

k) Cllr Middleton reported that the drainage board is worried about new buildings and their water drainage, he asked if something can be put into the newsletter to which Cllr Ashton agreed. 

l) Cllr Burton shared that he reported a problem on a 30 MPH road and the issue was fixed however he was not made aware that this was completed. 

m) Cllr Burton shared that the Council have contacted Frampton church hall and others regarding Funding for drains and lights. 

n) Cllr Hladun stated that he has reported a pot hole with man hole included on fixmystreet. Just need to identify the street name.

o) Cllr Hladun also shared that Hubberts Bridge is almost finished with its upgrades and they are looking for any functions or support to go to them.

p) Cllr Hladun reported that the village hall has joined Hallmaster for bookings which streamlines the booking process. Cllr Ashton asked if a link could be sent to the clerk to distribute between the halls.

q) Cllr Clare shared that the lamppost on Middlegate Rd west has been moved back to the grass verge.

103. New Clerk handover and signing of contract (Agenda item 6 - 21.03.24)

Cllr Ashton shared that this is the last meeting with Max Barlow as the clerk, Lana Maclennan-James will be taking his place. Max will be around to support Lana in the future until no longer needed. 

Cllr Ashton and the group thanked Max for his time as clerk then Cllr Burton and Cllr Ashton presented Max with a departing gift. 

Cllr Pryke sent an email to the group a few hours before the meeting outlining objections he has with the process taken while appointing the new clerk, Cllr Pryke requested a vote on these however Cllr Ashton refused to hold this. Please note that Cllr Pryke disagreed with the actions of both the Chairman not holding a vote and also in disagreement with the process of the appointment of the new clerk. Also to note that should there have been a vote he would have abstained.

The Chair together with the new Clerk will investigate the accusations levelled by Cllr Pryke, in regard to the process employed in selecting the new clerk.

104. Newsletter update (Agenda item 7 - 21.03.24)

Cllr Ashton shared that the newsletter is doing very well and we have had numerous responses due to it, he has been told that there is a slight error in the part regarding the black sluice however this will be fixed on the next run. He informed the group that it cost £580.00 for the delivery and printing of the newsletter.

Cllr Pryke thanked Sarah for the new design.

Cllr Fowler shared that someone in Kirton received a newsletter so Cllr Ashton said he will let the Driver know on the next delivery run.

105.  Partial update on progress towards resolving the issues of the internal auditors report (Agenda item 8 - 21.03.24)

Cllr Ashton sent out responses to previous questions regarding the internal auditors report and asked if there were any further questions. He shared that he has received questions about why we are holding reserves and we are awaiting a response on this.

No other comments or questions.

106. Frampton Parishes Pylon Problem (Agenda item 9 – 21.03.24)

Cllr Ashton shared that the proposed pylon plan is a big problem, with local news reporting the issue often. He believes as a parish council we should have a position on it for when the public contact us. 

Cllr Burton said that pylons are a bit outdated for 2024 especially having a lot of recent infrastructure put underground so he is concerned as to why is it going above ground on this occasion. 

Cllr Pryke shared that the consultation period for this is finished, there will be a motion coming to the Borough Council in due course. Cllr Pryke asked the County Council who are proposing to go to court to stop the pylons, whether they are talking to other English councils facing similar issues who may have more experience in dealing with them. He shared that it seems the government and opposition are for the pylon plan. He suggested the idea of running a referendum like other places have previously and that it is a good idea to keep an eye open for any opportunities available. 

Cllr Hladun agreed with Cllr Burton, stating that he has seen Pylons removed from the local area and is unsure why more would be added, Cllr Hladun said we are being near sighted as to what this development might bring in the future regarding solar panels/wind farms, he believes this may be one of many things to come. He then shared that he has seen mistakes, duplicates and missing information on things sent out from Network Grid, however he does know what the alternative to pylons could be. 

Cllr Ashton shared that we were all in agreement that the power needs to be transported somehow but we would rather it not be through our parish or overground and would prefer underground. He continued saying that we should push to know more about the alternatives with Network Grid and put something in the newsletter to share our stance with the parish.

107. Fen Road junction & Beyond (Agenda item 10 – 21.03.24)

Cllr Ashton received an email from member of the public, Darren Dutton in reply to the newsletter. Cllr Ashton read the email to the group.

Darren has concerns about Fen Rd. In the email he states that there are no public footpaths(1), no speed restrictions in areas (2), lots of heavy vehicles going down the road causing potholes (3) and lorries driving over property which are making tracks in his grass. He has contacted fixmyroad regarding some of these issues.

1)   Cllr Ashton believes that County Councillor Alison Austin has tried to resolve this and been unable to within the last 12 months. The parish council agreed to ask Cllr Austin to try and resolve this again.

2)   Cllr Ashton said he would go to Cllr Austin to ask about this as well.

3)   Cllr Ashton stated that this is a harder one as the house was purchased with the cement works opposite, Cllr Burton shared that this is a recurring issue, the cement works have been there for a large number of years. Cllr Ashton said he will discuss this with Darren.

4)   Cllr Ashton stated that this isn’t something we can deal with as this is more for the cement works but he will speak to Darren regarding this also. 

Cllr Ashton will write to County Councillor Alison Austin for help on problems 1 and 2. 

108. Clerks report & GDPR (Agenda item - 11 21.03.24)

Nothing to report.

109. Correspondence (Agenda item - 12 21.03.24)

Cllr Ashton has received correspondence from Hubberts Bridge Community Centre to say thank you for the funds for CCTV which is now up and running. 

110.  Financial Matters (Agenda item - 13 21.03.24)

a) BACs to be approved – 

b) Update on bank account - £35,812.90

111.  Date, time and venue of next meeting (Agenda item - 14 21.03.24)

The next meeting will be held on April 18th at 19:30 in the Hubberts Bridge Community Centre.

The meeting ended at 20:25hrs.