15 October 2011

Bin collection changes                                                                

Did you know there is a Prosperous Communities Committee at West Lindsey District Council?  No, neither did the Clarion, but we do now because they have decided to save us £150,000.    The way they are doing this is by suspending the green bin collections during December, January and February - so our last green bin collection in Scothern will be on Friday 28^th October, re-starting in March.  It’s never good to lose a service you have got used to, but apparently there is a dramatic reduction in the use of green bins in the winter and the saving here prevents cuts elsewhere.  You could try one of their subsidised composters at www.lincscc.getcomposting.com if you feel the need.

Feedback from Clarion readers

We love feedback and we got quite a lot from the last issue - most of it saying how you would love a Christmas tree in the village.  Also included in the feedback was the s uggestion that there should be provision for readers’ letters – especially opinionated ones.  We will try this under the heading “Dear John” – what do you think of that?

More feedback - a challenging suggestion from another of our readers was that we should use the Clarion to introduce new village residents.   The idea stems from the feeling that Scothern is still a real community and that if we are prepared to share information with each other the community will be stronger.  The Clarion expects that some readers will be thinking “No new residents will share information about themselves in this way” - the Clarion thought this at first, but we are delighted to admit we were wrong, and the new section starts today.

New residents

Haradikar Varadaraj – short name Raj - is a consultant urologist at Lincoln & Louth County Hospital and his wife, Suman, is a computer engineer who does volunteer work in the library at Ellison Boulters School. Raj and Suman have a son Rohan who is studying at the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and a daughter, Mallika, who is at Ellison Boulters.  They live at *** Scothern.  Raj says he is looking forward to the Graham Gooch evening at the Village Hall – we too.

We extend a warm welcome to the whole family, Raj.  You have already performed us a service by being our first “new resident”.  We hope other will join in with the spirit of this.

Parish Council Meeting of 5^th October

Public session - There were eight members of the public present at the latest meeting of the parish council, and during the public session they expressed concerns about the lack of police response to their complaints, absence of the police from parish council meetings and the condition of the parish cemetery. The need for the provision allotments was questioned.

Councillor co-option - At the meeting itself Mr Neil Roberts (the council’s treasurer) was co-opted as councillor to fill the vacancy left by the departure of Jenny Walkley.

Next generation access - The Community Interest Company, NextGenus, has been invited to make a presentation to the village on the provision of fast broadband on the evening of Wednesday 9^th November.   A flyer  is being prepared for delivery to every household in the village inviting them to attend the meeting at Ellison Boulters School.   Representatives of the County Council and the District Council will be present at the meeting, and the response of residents to this call will undoubtedly have an influence on them so a good turnout is absolutely essential if we are to catch their eye.

Christmas Tree - Following the overwhelmingly positive response to the suggestion of a Christmas tree councillors agreed to try to provide one this year.   A site outside the school gates was provisionally selected and a maximum one off setting up budget of £1,000 was agreed (to put this in perspective just supplying an electricity supply for the Sudbrooke Tree cost £1,600).  Local businessman Mark Harris offered to supply a tree and his offer was accepted with thanks.  Now the race is on to see if we can get it organised in time for Christmas. At the moment the council has no idea how to fix the tree in the ground or who will help erect it.  Any volunteers?  Any local builders or handymen who can help?

Footpaths - Councillor Dave Black reported that the County Council had not managed to properly maintain the grassy footpaths within the built up part of the village.  It was agreed that he and Councillor Nicoll would review this and make recommendations on what needs doing.

Village maintenance - Councillor Nicoll presented quotes on grass cutting and planters.  Only one quote for grass cutting was received. No quote was received from the present contractor although at the meeting it was confirmed that he was willing to continue at last year’s price.   A decision will be made at the next meeting.

Scothern Players are trying to arrange a complete set of curtains (stage and hall) for the village hall.  The total cost will be in the region of £2,500 and the council agreed to set aside £500 to contribute to this project if it became viable in the next eighteen months.

Allotments - Councillor Melanie Tointon reported on progress on finding land for allotments - so far the only possibility is using a small section of Grange Park.  She is still actively seeking alternative sites - any offers from local people/landowners would be really welcome.

 Dear John

Two things in the last issue of the Clarion which have tweaked me:

1) There is no such thing as dangerous parking (unless you leave the brakes off)  only bad driving. Cars don’t do any harm when stopped. I have engaged in this debate at length when we had building work done and vans parked outside our house on a slightly blind kink in the road by our drive.  Far from increasing accidents, they slowed the traffic like those chicane arrangements and in my view made the road safer.

2). All retrospective planning permission should be refused on principle.

Yours etc – Your first letter writer

NB The author didn’t ask to be anonymous – we are just trying it like this until we get used to it.  Don’t want to start any wars!   And of course, it wasn’t actually the first letter.  Who could forget John Gibbon’s contribution about the fencing outside the Bottle and Glass.