Groby Parish Council
Minutes of a Meeting of Groby Parish Council Parks & Cemetery Committee held at 7.00 pm
On Monday 14th April 2014 at the Parish Council Office, Groby Village Hall,
Leicester Road, Groby, Leicester.
P&C/071/13-14
Present.
Members: Cllr. Lindsay (Interim Chairman), Cllr. Beck, Cllr. Marvin, Cllr. Hollick, Cllr.
McCausland and Cllr. Fraser.
Cllr. Coley (ex officio) was also present.
There were no members of the public present.
The meeting commenced at 7.11 pm.
P&C/072/13-14
Apologies.
Apologies had been received from Cllr. Emmerson.
These were noted and accepted.
P&C/073/13-14
Declarations of Interest.
There were no declarations of interest recorded.
P&C/074/13-14
Minutes of the meetings held on Monday 22nd July 2013 and Monday 20th January
2014.
The Chairman proposed and it was RESOLVED unanimously to defer the minutes of
the meeting held on Monday 22nd July 2013 as insufficient members who were present at
that meeting were in attendance in order to ratify said minutes.
Proposed by the Chairman and RESOLVED, unanimously, that the minutes of the
meeting held on Monday 20th January 2014 be accepted and signed as a true record.
P&C/075/13-14
Matters arising from the minutes of the meeting held on Monday 20th January 2014
Village in Bloom: The Clerk advised that she had received a quote for signage for Fir
Tree Lane and Field Head flower bed to indicate the Centenary of the Great War 19141918 which was of A3 size with a red poppy colour-washed in the background. The signs
were also covered in anti-graffiti film and complete with fixings for pole mounting.
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to accept the cost of the
signage at £60.00 per sign from the Village in Bloom budget.
P&C/076/13-14
Public Participation
There were no members of the public present.
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P&C/077/13-14
Cemetery
The Clerk advised the members that there had been two (burials) in 2000 which were still
without headstones and that all attempts to communicate with the relatives of the
deceased had failed to ascertain what their intentions were in respect of erecting a
memorial headstone.
The Clerk further advised that these two empty spaces in the burial plots were inconsistent
with the orderly manner of the design of the plots and suggested that a simple plaque
indicating the deceased’s name and date of death could be provided and mounted on a
concrete plinth by the Sexton to ensure that the two plots concerned were regimented with
the remaining existing headstones.
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to mount a simple kerb
plaque to indicate the two burial plots.
[Clerk’s note: all memorials have been installed for previous burials and those awaiting
the requisite time span to allow for sinkage are being monitored as per the installation of
a memorial headstone].
P&C/078/13-14
Parks and Amenity Areas
a) Location of FIT brick structures
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously:
Marina Park – middle of grassed area facing into car park opposite the BMX track;
Stamford Memorial Park – within park at entrance off Sacheverell Way;
Quarry Park – middle of grassed verge of new car park facing towards GE Sensing car
park;
Butler’s Field – within the entrance to the right of the dog bin and further into the field;
Beacon Field – at entrance off Pymm Ley Lane, in location of existing Dog Control
signage
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to construct the above
FIT structures at a total cost of £ 1,170.00.
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to construct a further
two (2) brick structures to house a further two (2) FIT plaques at a total cost of £588
(includes FIT plaque, brick structure and granite engraved plaque).
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to locate the additional
two (2) FIT brick structures at the following locations:
Stamford Memorial Park – within entrance off Stamford Drive and
Beacon Field – off the path and between the knee rails at the front of the field, centralised,
opposite the jetty into Meadow Court Road.
b)
Design of memorial benches in Stamford Memorial Park
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously that the “Deeside Cast
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Iron framed seat” x 5 be located within the vicinity of the memorial stone as previously
discussed at a cost of £ 2,366.50 including delivery and bronze plaques.
[Clerk’s note: the Deeside bench is the same design as those situated on Ratby Road
outside the allotments, on the corner of Stephenson Way and corner of Fir Tree Lane]
c)
Grass cutting – proposed schedule of additional cuts
The members were advised of the findings of the Finance & General Purposes Committee
in respect of available funds within the existing sub contract works budget.
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to continue with the weekly
grass cutting during football season to Stamford Memorial Park (inside of footpath), Beacon
Field and Quarry Park.
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to call-off additional grass
cuts outside of the football season to Stamford Memorial Park (inside of footpath), Beacon
Field and Quarry Park if warranted.
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously that the grounds man
reviews the grass cutting of Stamford Memorial Park (inside of footpath), Beacon Field
and Quarry Park outside of the football season to advise if further cuts are required.
d)
Drainage of BMX track
The Clerk advised that a quote for the recent inspection of the track and surrounding areas
had not been provided as of the date of meeting.
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to defer this item until
such a report is available.
e)
Ownership and drainage of land adjacent to the Mineral Line, Ratby Road.
Members had been provided with the title deeds and plan of the area under discussion.
The Clerk advised that the area had come under question following concerns over a
flooding problem on Ratby Road from the Flood Risk Management team in January 2014
who requested after a site visit that the ditches from Oaktree Close to the bottom of Ratby
Road, opposite the school, be cleared of debris and the undergrowth cut back.
The Clerk further advised that since the site visit in late Jan 2014 some of the
undergrowth had already been cut back and the ditch cleared in part to expose the
drainage pipe, but that it was not something that the Parish Council’s operatives had
undertaken.
A discussion ensued with regards to whose responsibility it was to clear the ditch between
the highway and the mineral line, and Cllr. Hollick advised that a similar question had
arisen previously involving responsibility for ditches and hedges some years ago.
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED 5 votes for and 1 abstention to leave
the matter in abeyance until such time as further investigation as to ownership could be
proved.
f)
Correspondence re field next to Meadow Court Road
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A brief discussion ensued and it was proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED
unanimously to advise the resident in question that due to an issue of ownership of the
field in question the Parish Council were restricted in what measures they could adopt to
alleviate any flooding problems due to any potential future problems with the planting of
trees.
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to examine suitable
trees and shrubs for wetland areas.
g)
Update re Quarry Park
The Clerk advised the members of the current state of play in respect of the works on the
construction of the new car park and that the tarmac would be complete by the end of the
week.
The members were further informed of the recommendations from the Finance & General
Purposes Committee which had made a recommendation at their meeting earlier that
evening to go forward with the construction of the new multi-use games area without the
floodlights and associated ground works based on available funding at this present
moment in time.
P&C/079/13-14
Markfield Road Allotment wall
Members had been circulated with the latest report concerning the allotment wall on
Markfield Road.
The Clerk advised that the grounds maintenance operatives had removed the loose blue
bricks from the top of the wall (numbering 5) and would be re-instating them in due
course.
The Clerk also advised that safety tape and signs indicating an unstable wall had been
posted on the cross wall inside the allotments on Markfield Road as a precautionary
measure.
The Clerk further advised that a contractor had been out to see the wall with regards to repointing the areas identified within the report and that the quote had not been received as
yet.
P&C/080/13-14
Trees
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to obtain further quotes
from tree surgeons in respect of the areas under consideration – 2 Oak trees within Ratby
Road allotments / deadwood from the trees outside Ratby Road allotments / goat willow
at rear of houses on Beaumont Green backing onto Stamford Memorial Park .
Proposed by the Chairman and RECOMMENDED unanimously to submit an application
for trees for “Wetland areas” to the Woodland Trust for Trees for Communities.
P&C/081/13-14
Date of next meeting
The next meeting of the Committee was advised as Monday 14th July 2014 at a time yet to be
confirmed.
Apologies in advance for this meeting were received from Cllrs Hollick and Fraser.
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The meeting closed at 8.20 pm
Signed ………………………………………..
Chairman
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Date …………………………………..