Meeting Report

An informal report of the matters discussed at the meeting on May 12th. This is not an official record - that will comprise the Minutes, which will be posted when they are ratified at the next meeting - and is not a complete description of the business conducted.

Due to other commitments two Councillors were unable to attend the latest meeting but there were still sufficient to form a quorum and conduct business.

This being the Annual Council Meeting Councillors had to elect or re-elect both Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Diana Cook was unanimously re-elected Chairman and, in his absence, Neil Stout was chosen to continue as Vice-Chairman. Cllr Cook duly signed the official Declaration of Acceptance of Office and Cllr Stout will do so if he accepts his re-nomination.
Wind farm
Two invited visitors informed the Council of plans that will affect the village. Mr John Malone, of Energy4All, outlined a proposal to erect four wind turbines on land between the village and Gallow Field Road. Ownership would be by a democratically owned co-operative venture between Lubenham, Foxton and Market Harborough and he hoped that a number of Lubenham folk would be interested in participating.
Energy4All already has five projects up and running in different parts of the country and two more are about to come on stream.
Mr Malone stressed that the land on which the turbines would be sited would remain as agricultural land and could not be developed for other purposes. If the project was approved an anemometry mast would be erected to assess the wind strength and Councillors were assured that the turbines themselves would not cause a noise nuisance.
There is to be a public meeting in the Village Hall on 11th June when more details will be given and villagers may ask questions about the scheme.
Shop and youth scheme
Susan Mason spoke about a possible scheme to bring back retail facilities to the village and provide a ‘drop in’ centre for old and young. She will be showing the plans in greater detail and giving residents the opportunity to ask questions at an open day; The shop would sell basics such as bread, milk and newspapers and also food sourced locally at below farm shop prices (some of it may be produced on Lubenham’s allotments); and she hopes to restore basic postal facilities! There would be a daytime internet cafe serving coffe, sandwiches and rolls and a quiet area. After school hours it would become a ‘twilight centre’ catering for children, with a youth cafe, learning environment and homework area. There could be a medical area with triage and chiropody services and the cottages behind the shop would be developed to provide further areas for youth and older people.

Councillors decided the scheme was worthy of support but cannot commit any funds towards the cost until a proper business plan has been prepared and more details known.

After introduction to these two potential new schemes, Council got down to normal business.

The seat to commemorate Mrs Loakes’s centenary has been ordered ad three local craftsmen have been asked to tender for fixing it on the village green.

It was felt that District Councillor Pain should attend for the early part of all meetings because he would not be able to represent Lubenham’s views unless he knew of them. The Chairman would contact him.

The Clerk felt that with long gaps between meetings some planning issues might not be promptly or fully dealt with. He proposed either forming a Planning Sub-Committee with delegated powers to comment on applications and report back to the next meeting; or holding more frequent meetings to avoid the gaps. The matter will be discussed at the June meeting.

The Clerk’s statement of accounts was adopted. The Annual Return has to be prepared before July, when the newly appointed auditors will conduct the usual annual audit. In response to enquiries, a digest of the Council’s 2007-2008 income and expenditure would be available at the Annual Parish Meeting on 20th May. [The annual accounts are by statute available to inspected by anyone during a two-week period after the audit and notices giving details of this are always placed on the notice boards.]

Council decided to set aside £3,000.00 towards the costs of setting up the proposed cycle path, walkway and leisure route from the village to Market Harborough. The sum would be put into a deposit account until it was required and this was subject to the council being satisfied about the details of the proposed route and business plan. Council would ask the Trustees for more details of the scheme.

The Clerk is having trouble contacting Leicestershire Highways. Between meetings he wrote letters on five subjects relating to road safety and signage and had received responses to just two. He would invite a representative of Highways to the June meeting and solicit support from our District and County Councillors.

The Clerk is to write to the village Heritage Warden to inform him that his services are no longer required. A number of members of the Heritage Group have expressed an interest in taking on some of the warden’s roles and this will be discussed at the June meeting.

The village is still without a Flood Warden. Active steps will be taken to appoint one and this too will be discussed next time the Council meets. on Thursday 22nd May the Clerk is to attend a meeting at Police Headquarters concerning plans for communities, including Lubenham, that are vulnerable to flooding.

And Finally . . .
The next Council Meeting is to be held at 7 o'clock on Monday 16th June in the Onyx Room at the rear of the Village Hall. As always anyone is welcome to attend.

How the Precept Was Spent

This table shows how the 2007-2008 Precept was spent.

State of the Precept at 31st March 2008