Recently in Scopwick PC Category
Drought Effects
As this is being written at the end of April the drought seems a distant problem. Water is flowing in the Beck at Scopwick and the springs that sustain it are bubbling up once again.
While the rain has been welcome the effects of the drought are still with us. This can clearly be seen in the subsidence affecting the Village Hall. The long dry period affected the clay on which part of the Hall rests and, as the clay shrank, so the Hall cracked. It remains to be seen what effect there will be as the recent rainfall is absorbed and the ground heaves back to a new level.
The subsidence does not appear to be dangerous or to directly affect any of the activities in the Hall but it will be an expensive business to investigate and eventually repair the damage. The Hall of course is one of the main social hubs of our community.
Appeal
For many years a Voluntary Car Scheme has been in operation for residents of Scopwick and Kirkby Green. The purpose is to help mainly older residents to attend doctors' surgeries and, occasionally, hospital appointments when alternative transport is not available. The scheme is organised and the service is provided by local people and has been free of much of the bureaucracy and costs that similar schemes attract elsewhere.
The current Car Scheme has been running for many years and it is now time when those who have helped others for so long must step aside and let new people provide the service. If you are interested in helping members of our Parish by making yourself occasionally available to provide transport then please contact Hugh Cardy on 01526-320500.
It is interesting how often the Parish makes the local news. Last winter Look North called on Scopwick Garage on a couple of occasions to comment on the state of the roads. Then Escape to The Country filmed in and around the village and the programme has been shown at least twice on National television.
Recently Look North returned again to the village with a reporter and a representative of the Environment Agency standing in the dried up bed of the Beck to emphasise the continuing effect of the long dry Spring and that a Drought Order remains in place. The occasional downpours during the Summer have done nothing to replace the ground water feeding the springs that normally provide the Beck with a continuing water supply.
Recent enquiries to the Environment Agency from the Parish Council have confirmed that water extraction by the local landowners is being monitored and used responsibly.
Licence 4/30/09/*G/0011 is to the west of the village whilst licence 4/30/09/*G/0128 is to the east. Both licences have conditions which protect the environment. In fact this year abstraction ceased at the Scopwick sites before the licence conditions were reached. No abstraction has taken place from the boreholes since August 4. The majority of abstraction had actually finished by the end of June due to the wetter summer months.
The big and very obvious disruption at the moment is the removal of overhead electricity supply lines along Main Street and Springfield in Scopwick and replacing them with an underground supply. The work isprogressive and will take some months. The improvement to the look of the village should be considerable.
As always with a job of this size there are coordination problems; Western Power is relaying the cables, the County Council is responsible for putting up new footpath lamp standards, NKDC is responsible for the actual footpath lamps, and BT look after the telephone lines. Enquiries by the Parish Council so far have been satisfactorily answered but there are still questions as to what will happen with the telephone lines.
Residents will have noticed the blue spray paint applied by the BT Plant Protection Officer that shows the other contractors where there are underground BT services. However, it is clear that BT has not yet formed a plan as to what it will do with the existing overhead supply lines. This will be monitored by the Parish Council.
EVENTS
3 Dec - Holy Cross Christmas tree festival
10 Dec - Village Hall Xmas Draw and Market.
Scopwick Parish Council Minutes for 27 September 2011
Scopwick Parish Council Minutes for 26 July 2011
The Parish Council is pleased to announce that it has co-opted two new Councillors; Caroline Oldham and Simon Spink. This means that the Council now has its authorised number of Councillors to represent residents in the Parish. The contact details of the two new Councillors are here.
The Agenda for the Parish Council Meetings is put on the village notice boards in advance of each meeting that normally takes place on the last Tuesday of every second month. These are public meetings with a short public forum before the meeting proper. All residents of the Parish are welcome to attend to hear what is being discussed and decided on their behalf. The next meeting is at 7.00pm on Tuesday, 27 September.
Stephen Flett came along to the last Parish Council Meeting as a member of the public and gave an update on what is happening to provide a wireless Broadband connection to Scopwick. The current intention is to use a wireless connection to link in to the fibre optic system that has transformed Broadband availability in Ashby de la Launde.
Digby has already set up a wireless connection so its experience can be used to assure potential users in Scopwick and Kirkby Green that they will really reap significant benefit if a similar system is installed in our Parish. A group of individuals has already expressed its interest in higher speed Broadband. Anybody else who is interested should contact Stephen Flett on 01526-321737.
The Village Show on 6 August was a great success. Fortunately, despite a forecast of variable weather, the sun did appear and the event was very well attended by stallholders and visitors. The range of handicrafts, flowers, and vegetables on display in the Village Hall in the many competition classes is testament to the skills and the wide interests that are maintained in a village community such as ours.
Scopwick and Kirkby Green belong to the Metheringham Cluster that meets regularly to share and discuss issues of mutual interest. One issue that is becoming acute in all local Parishes is that of speeding. The NKDC coordinator is convening a meeting between the Cluster members, the police, and the Road Safety Partnership to determine what positive action can be taken on this serious issue. We will let you know the outcome. In the meantime local people are being asked to respect the speed limits and drive safely according to the conditions in their area.
Joe Kennard (Clerk)
Representation
The local elections in this area were something of an anticlimax. Both the sitting District Councillors were re-elected unopposed and, out of a possible seven Parish councillors, only five people chose to stand so that they also were elected unopposed. All of those five live in Scopwick and none come from Kirkby Green.
It is possible to co-opt two additional councillors so if there are people who are interested in joining the Parish Council then they should apply in writing to the Council via the Clerk.
Monthly Draw
The refurbishment of the Village Hall has been a great success and bookings are increasing because of the good facility in a nice location. It is also an advantage to some that the Village Hall has a liquor licence for any number of bookings.
That refurbishment was paid for partly by grants from WREN and the Parish Council but a large proportion was paid from funds accumulated by the Village Hall Management Committee. An important contribution to those funds over the years has been the Scopwick Village Hall Monthly Draw.
The cost to join the Draw is £1 per month or £12 per year and, while the prizes are not enough to pay for a holiday in the Bahamas, they are worthwhile and participants know that any profits go to a well appointed facility that is used by a wide range of community activities throughout the entire year.
If you want to join the Draw then contact the Village Hall Treasurer, Andy Mitchell, on 01526-322254 and he will arrange for one of the collectors to visit you.
Events
Daffodil Weekend this year was blessed with both good weather and daffodils actually in full bloom. It was very well attended and apparently a great success. Similarly, the Royal Wedding Party exceeded expectations with a high attendance to enjoy the food and games. Around 90 children under 16 years of age living in the Parish received a commemoration mug. Who would have guessed that the Parish contained so many children - even including those in The Oval at RAF Digby that also falls within the Parish boundary.
We are now looking forward to the next major events, the Holy Cross Church Fete - earlier this year on 4 June, and the Annual Summer Show, which will take place on Saturday, 6 August in the Village Hall and Meadow.
Published at the request of the Metheringham Parish Council Clerk
You will hopefully have received a copy of this year's Council Tax Booklet through the post in recent days. If not, I'm sure you will soon.
I'm afraid that some of the figures presented on the Parish Precept information on the back page are incorrect, but they have since been amended and circulated to all NKDC Members and parishes.
An amended copy is also being hosted on our website - http://issuu.com/newsnk/docs/nkdc_council_tax - and we will make it clear to all callers where this can be found. Furthermore if people need printed copies of the corrected information we will also make that available on request.
Apologies if this causes you any difficulties,
With kind regards
Jason Hippisley
Press and Publications Officer
North Kesteven District Council
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