Parish News Jan24
The Parish Council had its last meeting on 8th January at St James’s Hall.
FINANCE – Parish Councillors approved payment of invoices totalling £6612.20
Payments approved included £1884.00 for the purchase of a replacement defibrillator for the Village Hall. The cabinet for the current one is letting in water so could compromise the availability of a working AED. It was decided, due to the age of the existing equipment to replace both AED and cabinet. The new one is to be secured on the wall by the end of January. A security light is also to be put up above the cabinet to assist access to the AED in the dark.
In December Councillors resolved to increase the precept, for 2024/25, by £1050 to £54000. This represents a 1.3% increase for a Band D household and an application to SKDC has been submitted.
PLAYING FIELD MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE – The Playing Field Management Committee has been offered and accepted a generous cash donation from Geoff Fearn. It is anticipated (but not a condition of the donation) that the PFMC will use the gift to assist with planned improvements to the Pavilion, one of the village’s biggest community assets, helping to protect its longevity. The donation is for £30,000 and with the anticipated benefit of gift aid, will total £37,500.
FLOOD PREVENTION – SKDC have offered parishes the opportunity to hold and maintain a stock of sand and sandbags. This offer has been accepted with a tonne of sand and 100 sandbags having been delivered to Gablestock, Valley Lane, Long Bennington. The sandbags are available (currently unfilled) for collection, during normal business hours, should further incidents of flooding threaten. It is the intention to arrange for a group of volunteers to fill the sandbags. Please note, if further help is required during a flood incident, contact Lincolnshire CC, lead local flood authority on 01522 782082. SKDC have also advised that where supplies allow, where there is a serious risk of internal flooding, sandbags may be provided on a priority basis by calling 01476 406080 or 01476 406040 (out of hours). All requests for sandbags will be triaged by the on-call team.
VILLAGE MAINTENANCE – invitations to tender for the village grass cutting/verge maintenance contract have been sent out and will be discussed at the February Parish Council meeting.
PLANNING – Councillors referred to planning application S23/1616 for the change of use of land at Valley Lane for 13 traveller pitches. SKDC has advised that the Parish Council will not be consulted given the outstanding enforcement notice, and the previous planning history for the site. SKDC are seeking to decline to determine the application given that the suitability of the site has been extensively assessed as part of the previous enforcement appeal.
LITTER PICKING – a big thank you to our Community Cleaner, John Dodwell who continues to help keep our village tidy. Thanks also, to a number of residents who also do a fantastic job helping to keep the verges clean. More recently we have become aware of a volunteer litter picker, Dave Green, who has recently removed a significant amount of litter from our slip roads. For information, the Parish Council has some equipment if anyone wants to get involved.
OUTSTANDING PROJECTS – the proposed car park at the Pavilion is still being considered and the proposed gateways at four locations in the village is also still in hand, the specification having to be revised due to restrictions from the grant provider. The Playing Field Management Committee are in the early stages of looking at the possibility of replacing some of the children’s play equipment at the playing field.
Following meeting dates Monday 5th February 2023 and 4th March 2023
As always, if you have any issues or concerns you wish to raise with the Parish Council, please contact me on 01400 282716 or email parishclerk@longbenningtonparishcouncil.org