Meeting Report

An informal report of the matters discussed at the meeting on 20th April. This is not the official record - that will comprise the Minutes, which appear in draft form on the Meetings Calendar page of the web site but which will not be ratified until the May meeting - and is not a complete description of the business conducted.

All Councillors were present at this meeting and six parishioners stayed the course as well but Mr Malone, of Energy4All, was not able to join us this month.

We discovered that it was the County’s Forestry Department who planted the new trees on the island and roadsides at the Marston Turn. They want more planted and will provide up to 25 trees free to any landowner whose land borders a road. The Clerk has leaflets giving all the details.

A number of village organisations had applied to the Council for grants to help with their projects. It was decided to award the Lubenham Bell Fund Trust £1000.00, which will enable them to replace all the frayed and fraying ropes and attend to essential maintenance and repairs. Lubenham Township Green Gardens were awarded £500.00 so that they can provide new, attractive gates to some of the allotments and the Newsletter was granted £250.00 to help with production costs.
The Heritage Group is launching a major photographic competition in the autumn and at the Council’s next meeting it will discuss providing some of the prizes in the six categories.

Leicestershire and Rutland Association of Local Councils has given the Parish Council a grant that will provide the Clerk with up to date computer facilities. He obtained two quotes for this and he and one of the Councillors will discuss them and see if there are any other suitable suppliers.

In view of a possible large new housing development that might threaten the open space between Lubenham and Market Harborough –– a threat which might come from any of a number of directions –– the latest news of any proposals will be discussed at every meeting from now on when planning applications within the parish are looked at.

The Council received two letters last month about overweight lorries and speeding traffic using Foxton and Laughton Roads, both of which prohibit vehicles weighing more than 2½ tonnes. It is seriously concerned about the dangers posed and will request more frequent police visits to monitor the problem. A few years ago it was discovered that it is possible to have traffic calming measures, such as speed humps or pinch points, put on these two roads and this will again be investigated. We hope that someone from Leicestershire Highways will come to the May meeting to answer our questions.

The Council isn’t going to let the ‘Section 106’ money –– due to the parish after completion of sales of houses in The Hawthorns –– disappear and is seeking legal advice and help from the Association of Local Councils.

A parishioner was recently reported to the Council for not removing the dog poo his animal had deposited on The Green. The details have been passed to the Harborough Dog Warden and we hope action will be taken.

One (and one only) benefit of a proposed housing development striding across the fields from Harborough, thought the Chairman, would be that the developers would be totally against the proposed win turbines and would back the Council in its opposition. Meanwhile, there is talk of one or more turbines being considered at HMP Gartree and this is to be investigated.

The Chairman is to work with the Head Teacher of Lubenham All Saints School in her attempts to cut down on the traffic problems before and after sessions. Some of the children will work towards a display that will be shown at the Council’s Annual Open Meeting on Tuesday 19th May.

This year the annual meeting will be different. The only ‘official’ business is the Chairman presenting a brief report of the Council’s activities last year and its plans and hopes for the coming year and ahead and a summary of the Council’s income and expenditure. You may not even find a chair to sit on while the reports are delivered! (Because they will be brief and we want to do away with the formality and static nature of the past.) A number of village groups will be providing displays; our cycling Community Support Officer will be there to listen to your concerns about traffic and vandalism problems; and more plans for making it an interactive event are being made as you read this.

And if that weren’t enough, the wine, cold drinks, tea and coffee will be flowing and there’ll be nibbles and that sort of thing too. See you at the Village Hall on the 19th!

How the Precept Was Spent

This table, updated just before each meeting, shows how the 2008-2009 Precept is being spent.

State of the Precept at 2nd March 2009