March 2025 Minutes
MORTON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting for Morton Parish Council held on Monday 10th March 2025, at 6:30pm in the Community Room at Morton Trentside School
15-minute public forum – Ralph Spencer in attendance. Chairman welcomed Ralph to the meeting, who raised concerns of the lack of banking facilities in the village and asked if the parish council would support a local banking hub. Discussion also took place on the planting of the saplings received from the Woodland Trust, as Ralph was happy to volunteer some time to assist with this. It was felt that more information was needed on the possibility of a hub and Ralph was going to pursue this further. Ralph left the meeting.
In Attendance - Cllr B Allison, Cllr Butroid, Cllr Parry, Cllr C Allison, Cllr King, Cllr Tompkins, Cllr Tinker, Cllr Field, C Graves (clerk).
1. Apologies for Absence – no apologies received.
2. Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 10th February 2025 - The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a true and accurate record. Proposed by Cllr Butroid. Seconded by Cllr C Allison.
3. Declarations of Interest – Cllr Tinker (6b) Cllr Butroid (6b) Cllr Field (6c).
4. Accounts – Monthly financial statement distributed prior to meeting. Clerk advised that the WMS expenditure was for the additional hours purchased from LALC for the website management. No further questions. Cllr C Allison. Seconded Cllr Field.
a) Budget Setting - deferred to next meeting.
5. Community Safety (Crime, Vandalism, Anti-Social Behaviour & Speeding)
a) New Crime Reports – No new crime reports noted. NC01 data report from Lincolnshire Police shared by clerk by email.
6. Playing Field & Shared Community Facilities
a) Chance To Share - Cllr B Allison informed the council that an online meeting had been requested by LCC, however, this did not include any school representatives. The time-frame was quite tight and it was advised that the clerk have a conversation with Tabitha Lomas to request a face to face meeting with all parties involved. Clerk to follow-up.
b) Hire Fees - The council considered correspondence received from Morton Cricket Club following the revised hire fees that would come into effect from 1 April. Whilst the cricket club paid for their own line marking to be carried out, the council paid for the line marking for the football pitch. The revised fees meant that both Morton cricket club and Morton football club would be charged the same hire rates, which seemed unfair according to Morton cricket club. Cllr B Allison advised that the contract provided to the sporting teams did not specify that it was the responsibility of the council to provide line-marking. Cllr Tinker suggested that line marking equipment could be purchased and this done in house by volunteers from the teams. However, it was believed that the cricket club would still have to have their line marking done professionally to satisfy the league. Clerk suggested that Cllr Tinker approach the district councillors to enquire about a donation from the councillor initiative fund to help towards the cost of line marking equipment, which would be in the region of £675 exc VAT. Cllr C Allison had concerns that the playing field did not currently bring in any profit and the current expenditure for maintenance including grass cutting and line marking etc exceeded any income from hire fees. Following careful consideration it was proposed by Cllr King that the council no longer provide and pay for line marking and this would be down to the responsibility of individual teams. Seconded by Cllr Tompkins. Clerk to contact Cllrs Rollings, Carless and Clews and liaise with Cllr Tinker on any funding opportunities. Cllr Tinker advised that he was looking at fitting new locks to the storage container on the field and would liaise with the clerk to ensure that a key be provided to the council. He also informed the council that a charity football match was to be planned to raise funds for the Air Ambulance and asked if it would be possible for the hire fee to be waived. Proposed Cllr C Allison. Seconded Cllr King. All in agreement.
c) Morton Feastival 2025 - Cllr Field reported that an application for community funding had been submitted to Gainsborough Town Council who had agreed to part fund the hire of a marquee if match funded by the parish council up to £750.00 Cllr Field advised that she had received a quote for £1,270.62 and requested that the parish council consider match funding. Discussion took place regarding the previous years donation by the parish council of the hire of the field for 2 days and vouchers for raffle prizes. Cllr C Allison asked Cllr Field is she had approached other organisations/companies in the village and Cllr Field replied that this was something that was also certainly being considered. After thoughtful consideration it was proposed by Cllr Tinker that the full amount of £750.00 be match funded. Seconded by Cllr C Allison. All in agreement. Cllr Field to liaise with clerk.
d) Grass cutting - Deferred to next meeting. Following a request from Cllr Tinker clerk to liaise with L.Slingsby to ask that the mower cut closer to the edges.
7. Burial Ground
a) Culvert clearance - Cllr B Allison explained the outcome of the recent site meeting with representatives from Lincolnshire Highways, the clerk and himself to discuss the work needed to clear the culvert to allow the free flow of water to aid with drainage and subsequent risk of flooding. The clerk summarised the meeting in a previous email, however, Cllr Parry raised his concerns that due to the substantial contribution required from the parish council towards the cost, this should be put on the agenda before any agreement considered. Clerk advised that due to the urgency of the work an email was necessary to collate opinions regarding the quote compared to the previous quote from Williamsons. Cllr B Allison confirmed that it was clearly explained to the representatives that any decision would have to be ratified at the next parish council meeting. As considerable discussions had taken place during previous meetings Cllr B Allison asked for a vote on the two quotes received, LCC were requesting a contribition of £1,500.00 towards costs and Williamsons quote came in at £3,400.00 A show of hands confirmed that the majority were in agreement at Lincolnshire County Council undertake the work. Cllr Tinker abstained and raised concerns that due to the urgency of the work to be carried out, what impact this would have on nesting season. This would be the responsibility of LCC dependant upon their programme of work.
8. Planning Matters
a) WL/2025/001162 - Outline planning of up to 49 dwellings with access to land west of Horsley Road, Gainsborough to be considered and not reserved for subsequent applications - resubmission of 134824 being removal of condition 12 of planning permission 136577, improvements of Floss Mill Lane. Cllr Butroid explained that the previous condition 12 pertained to ensuring Floss Mill Lane surface was brought up to a suitable standard, however, they now say that this application is not necessary, precise or reasonable and wish it to be removed. Discussion also took place regarding concerns the development is a water basin and what impact this has on the water levels of the Trent. Clerk to submit response.
b) PL/0124/24 - Proposed extension to create a grieving room and installation of new cremator. G W Lords, Walkerith Road, Morton - no comments.
c) Important Open Space, Field Lane - Cllr Butroid advised that she was currently liaising with a representative from HSR Law on our options and whether this land could be registered as official custodian of the parish. Cllr Butroid would continue exploring possibilities and potential costs and update accordingly.
9. Village Environment
a) Fix My Street – report for March circulated by Cllr B Allison and noted by all.
10. Tyler Trust – Cllr Butroid informed that a meeting had been held on 4th March where drainage issues had been discussed on the property on Front Street, along with storage of archive material.
11. Village Hall Representative – Cllr C Allison invited all to attend a defibrillator training event which would take place on 19th March alongside a coffee morning. Anyone interested should let her know.
12. Community Assets – Cllr King reported no issues. On further assessment of the bus shelter Cllr Tinker did not think a noticeboard would be suitable.
13. Policy Review and record retention - Clerk advised that Cllr B Allison and herself had visited both The Hive and The Storage Team facilities. The Hive would be unsuitable as this was outside storage. However, The Storage Team were willing to offer a 20% discount on long-term storage at £17.28/week. The VAT was also reclaimable on this amount. After consideration of the safe and secure storage of archive material it was proposed by Cllr Field and seconded by Cllr Parry. Clerk to action.
14. Fundraising - Cllr C Allison had arranged an informal meet for everyone who was volunteering to knit poppies and this would be held in the Community Room on Saturday 15th March.
15. Councillor Updates - The recent rubbish clearance of the area behind the garage had been a success, unfortunately due to the amount of rubbish the skip was filled before the garage could be cleared of waste. Consideration would be given to further skip hire for this on another occasion. Cllr C Allison kindly requested that councillors be mindful when replying to emails that they “reply all” if indicated which ensures that everyone is kept informed on discussions.
16. Items for Inclusion on next Agenda
a) Budget review
b) Pest control playing field
c) Skip
17. Date and time of Next Meeting – Monday 14th April 2025 at 6:30 to be held at Community Room, Morton Trentside School.
Meeting closed at 8.20 pm.