Town Council Round-Up: Aswell Hole, Flood Alleviation, And Shopwatch

February 19th 2014

I don't know whether it was something in the water, or merely the absence of anything really contentious on the agenda, but the town council meeting of 18th February was extraordinarily amicable. It was an evening of easy agreements and cheesy jokes from some of the councillors.

In the public forum, Councillor Fran Treanor, a Trustee of the Gatherums and Springside Regeneration Group, announced that regeneration work had begun on the Aswell Hole. This means there will be no access through there for around three months.

Councillor Andrew Leonard commented on the remarks made by County Councillor Colin Davie, who recently spoke out against selling the cattle market to a supermarket. "I felt we ought to endorse that," Councillor Leonard said.

Councillor Davie is due to meet Louth town council on the 4th of March. Councillor Laura Stephenson suggested that Louth's own county councillors should be invited to this meeting as well, but her suggestion was voted down.

Councillor George Horton expressed concerns about the capacity of the Sessions House for holding a public meeting on this topic, saying: "The last public meeting we had, the British Legion was full."

Planning

A fortnight previously the town council had objected to plans for 98 homes on Park Avenue, citing concerns such as access, drainage, and removal of a community recreational asset.

During the meeting on the 18th the most significant application was for 137 holiday lodges at Brackenborough Lawn on the Brackenborough Road. However, this was a renewal of an application the council had already approved in January 2010, so there was nothing controversial about it. The town council voted to support this application. There were a number of other minor applications, all of which were allowed as well.

Community payback

The town clerk, Linda Blankley, reported that recent high winds had brought down a silver birch in the cemetery. She had praise for the community payback team, who were there to help tidy the place up. "They are doing a really good job," she said.

High winds can also be an issue for the catenary wires at the Market Place zebra crossing, and the junction between Queen Street and the Market Place. The Louth Town Partnership asked to take over the whole responsibility for these wires, which are often used to display banners.

"Our events this year have gone from three to six," the Chairman of LTP, Jerry Gale, said, explaining why the organisation wants to take them over. "Our insurers are quite happy."

"There's no loss to us. It's all for the benefit of Louth," Councillor Leonard commented.

The town council voted to pass the responsibility for the catenary wires on to the partnership.

Flood alleviation

The Environment Agency have announced a programme of flood alleviation works for the Louth area. Design and planning work will take place in 2014, and they are hoping to start work in early 2015.

"I think this is really good news," Councillor Jill Makinson-Sanders said.

There was a discussion of the problems of blocked gullies. Councillor Makinson-Sanders urged anyone who noticed any blocked gullies to inform the County Council.

Councillor Gus Robertson pointed out that there was a problem gulley on London Road and "invariably it's filled with rubbish."

Louth In Bloom

Louth's annual flower competition will be back in 2014, and the suggested colour scheme will be blue and gold.

"Louth In Bloom isn't just about flowers," Councillor Makinson-Sanders said. "We are looking for sponsorship from businesses and shops."

Shopwatch

I was unaware that Louth's Shopwatch and Pubwatch schemes had come to an end, but they had petered out. So Councillor Eileen Ballard updated the council about efforts to resurrect Shopwatch (although not Pubwatch yet). The new scheme is to be online rather than through radios, and the police will oversee it. All they wanted from the town council was an expression of support, rather than any commitment to look after it.

"We should give this our support," Councillor Neil Ward said.

The town council agreed, voting in favour of supporting the scheme.

That's a lot of mildly encouraging good news. What I haven't yet mentioned is that the press and public (well, me and my son Rowan, at that stage), were excluded so the council could get on with super-secret talks involving Mill House and Trinity Allotments. Don't you just hate it when the interesting stuff happens when you're not around?