Mayor Plans To Dress As Sausage

May 23rd 2012

Louth Town Council met on Tuesday 22nd May. During the public forum Councillor Fran Treanor remarked that the new sign for Boneshakers Tattoo parlour "really enhances the street scene". This relates to previous concerns raised by the council that the former designs were too "fairground". Look carefully at the bottom left of the image on the left: someone has a sense of humour.

More comedy arose as someone wrote to the council with a suggestion for what to do about the Malt Kiln: "Hide it, and build a castle-like wall around it."

Councillor George Horton proposed forwarding the letter on to the owners, as an expression of people's concerns rather than an endorsement of this idea, and the council voted to do so.

Working Groups

Since this was the first council meeting of Councillor Jill Makinson-Sander's tenure as Mayor there were a lot of working groups to sort out. There are two working groups for flood alleviation, and it was suggested that the surface water flooding group be disbanded. However Councillor Eileen Ballard noted that there are still problems with surface water flooding, and she had experienced them at her property, in spite of a flood alleviation scheme already in place. "Why has £93 000 of ratepayer's money been spent on a scheme that doesn't work?" the Mayor asked. So the council voted to retain this working group.

Parties

We're all looking forward to the Jubilee, right? There are parties in Hubbard's Hills on the 3rd of June, and Spout Yard on the 5th. The Big Royal Picnic in Hubbard's Hills will feature the King Edwards cadet force, and will go ahead whether or not it rains. There's also a Jubilee Beacon to be lit on Monday 4th at 10.15 at the Orme Almshouses, although that's not open to the public, it'll just be something you can see from the road.

The Olympic Torch is coming to Louth at bleary o'clock in the morning, (okay, 7.45am). The Mayor announced "I am planning to dress up as a sausage." This isn't because the ermine itches, there's a good reason for this sartorial eccentricity. It's to promote Louth's status as a food town. The Mayor mentioned that Melton Mowbray has profited from its food town status. However she also said she has had difficulty finding an appropriate outfit.

Car Parking

ELDC has set up a scrutiny panel with a view to shaping future car parking strategies. "People aren't happy with the car parking situation," Councillor Sue Locking said.

Councillor Brian Burnett criticised the location of Louth's car parks. "Some of them are in the wrong place... too many of them are in the east."

When it comes to car park prices, the Mayor was opposed to the suggestion of giving people the first half hour free. Instead she advocated "a reasonable cost for four hours so people have time to go shopping. ... The car parking will stand what the offer of the town is. There has been academic research on it."

So people won't pay as much to park in Louth as they might in Leeds, for instance.

Planning Decisions

The council approved the application for four houses and a block of eight flats at Wheels, in Eve Street. "We thought this would be a good development and tidy up the site," Councillor Burnett commented.

They also approved six bungalows and 31 houses to be put up at land south of Keddington House, Keddington Road, opposite Michael Foale Lane. However there was some discussion about the dangerous junction and the need for a roundabout. Councillor Laura Stevenson brought up the traffic concerns of residents, saying "It's a dangerous junction."

The town council refused permission to erect a cattle market on the industrial estate once more: this was an amended application offering more detail, but it was rejected for much the same reasons as they refused it on 25th October last year.