July 2022 Minutes
MORTON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting for Morton Parish Council held on Monday 18th July 2022, Morton Village Hall
15 minute public forum – no members of the public in attendance.
In Attendance - Cllr B Allison (Chair in absence of Cllr Parry), Cllr Butroid, Cllr C Allison, Cllr Hammerton, Cllr Bull, Cllr Youngman, Cllr Snee, Brian Gilchrist, Scotter Community Speed Watch, C Graves (Clerk)
1. Apologies For Absence – Cllr Parry, Cllr Gott, Cllr Rollings – apologies noted and accepted.
2. Minutes of the Meeting held on 13th June 2022 - Approved by all Parish Councillors. Proposed as a true and accurate record by Cllr Hammerton. Seconded by Cllr Butroid.
3. Declarations of Interest – No declarations of interest noted.
4. Matters Arising and Review of Outstanding Items
a) Crime Vandalism and Antisocial Behaviour – No police in attendance and no report received.
b) Councillors Update – Cllr B Allison noted that Pump Alley did not appear to have been swept lately. Clerk to enquire with Simon Smoothey. Cllr Youngman shared some photos that she had taken recently of the lagoon on Carr Lane. This showed that the covering membrane had sunk and could potentially be a health and safety risk to people and animals. Cllr Youngman believed that the lagoon had not been used since last April. Clerk to enquire with WLDC regarding safety issue. Clerk had received an enquiry from LCC regarding the overgrown cut through from Meadowlands into Nursery Vale. LCC had cut it in the past, however, this was no longer on their schedule due to financial constraints. Clerk had made enquiries with the management company responsible to for green spaces on the estate but to date had no response.
c) SID Signage – Cllr B Allison was pleased to report that the solar panels were now in place for the solar sign (SID2- fixed). He distributed data captured from SID1 (portable) and SID2 for period May and June which shows that the speed of vehicles coming into Morton from Walkerith is much higher than those measured from SID1. The percentage (15%) of violations from SID1 remains constant at 15% which is the same percentage measured in Front Street indicating that the violations are largely committed by persistent offenders.
d) Bus Shelter Walkerith Road – awaiting delivery and installation date.
e) Parking – Clerk reported that she had received correspondence from 2WayBuses regarding the parking of QEHS bus in the layby on Front Street. Following the change in parking restrictions along Morton Terrace the bus was no longer permitted to park up all day and had in the past received two penalty notices. Cllr Snee reported that the signage was a little ambiguous and Cllr B Allison requested that this is flagged up with highways. Cllr Hammerton noted that the parked cars around the bend coming into Front Street from Morton Terrace was a cause for concern. Cllr Snee advised that she had noticed that a planning notice had been put up outside QEHS regarding extending the path, application number PL/006/22. Discussion took place on how to report cars that regularly park on double yellow lines, and it was suggested that the Fix My Street App could possibly be utilised for this.
5. Accounts – financial statement distributed prior to meeting. Cllr B Allison highlighted that the bank balances expenses less receipts should read receipts less expenses. Clerk to amend. No further questions. Proposed Cllr C Allison. Seconded Cllr Butroid.
6. Burial Ground
a) Replacement Bench – Clerk advised that the bench had to be removed because it was rotten. Cllr B Allison requested councillors consider purchasing a replacement. Proposed Cllr C Allison. Seconded Cllr Butroid. All in agreement. Clerk to action.
7. Planning Matters
a) 145175 – Change of use of garage to dog boarding business resubmission of 144199, 8 Field Lane, DN21 3BY. Discussion took place regarding the number of dogs that could potentially be boarded, although correspondence states a maximum of 2 dogs for home boarding from any one household there was concern that this did not specify that dogs from other households would not be boarded at the same time. Cllr Butroid raised concerns regarding potential parking issues. It was therefore agreed that a comment would be submitted to state that the number of dogs boarding should be a maximum of 2 dogs from any one household at any one time. Clerk to action.
8. Playing Field and School Facilities
a) Playing Field Association Update – Deferred to next agenda in Cllr Parry’s absence. Clerk advised that a second football team had made enquiries to hire the field for Sunday league. No update on rabbits.
9. Community Speed Watch – Cllr B Allison welcomed Brian Gilchrist, Lead on Scotter Community Speed Watch. Brian introduced himself and gave an overview of how the scheme works successfully in their village and some of the issues that he encountered getting the scheme up and running. Brian explained that he is not a parish councillor, however, the parish council were already interested in the scheme, run by Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership due to persistent speeding problems in the village. The scheme is funded by the parish council and Brian submits a monthly report to them. Brian advised that the key to a successful scheme was having volunteers interested in making a positive change regarding speeding, willing to spare some of their time and someone to take the lead. An initial recruitment drive was commenced, through social media and noticeboards in the village and Brian now has 6 team members. A rota is distributed to the team where they are able submit their availability. A minimum of 3 members are needed to carry out a speed watch and a session is usually an hour duration. Brian explained that the training provided was informative and easy to follow, some of which was online due to Covid and following this equipment is provided. Potential speeding hot spots are identified and specific areas of where to stand during a speed watch and where to place the signs are confirmed ensuring that these follow health and safety guidelines. Scotter have a total of 12 speed watch locations. Brian explained that the paperwork from a speed watch must be submitted within 48 hours to enable warning letters to be sent out to offenders. The day, time and location of a speed watch is entirely the choice of the speed watch team and on occasions the police do attend and assist.
Discussion took place on how the data captured through the SID signs along with the information collated through the speed watch scheme builds a picture of the true extent of speeding within the village and this evidence can then be used to support submissions for any potential applications for crossings and traffic calming measures. The 20’s plenty campaign was discussed briefly and how this had been adopted in some counties.
Cllr Allison thanked Brian for his time in attending the meeting to share his experiences. Brian left the meeting at 7.10 pm.
10. Items for inclusion on the next Agenda
a) Lagoon
b) Playing Field Association
c) Map litter/dog waste bins
11. Date and Time of Next Meeting – Monday 22nd August 2022 at 6.30pm, Morton Village Hall.
The meeting closed at 7.58 pm.