Quorn Parish Council - Covid-19 Update

Posted to website July 11th 2020

We would like to bring you all up to date with the current arrangements for the Parish Council's facilities, including details of hiring the village hall. We are following government guidelines and also those of ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) who offer information tailored to Village Hall and Community Centres. The Old School main hall is not able to be hired out at the moment because of the lack of facilities to comply with the Covid regulations. The community room is available to hire as and when hire is requested, as is the village hall (minus the kitchen and balcony).

Last month we offered all our regular hirers the opportunity to book their regular slots in the village hall and community room in July and August, provided they were able to comply with the Covid 19 safety measures. However, almost all chose to either wait until September/October or have cancelled until next year. We currently have a small number of groups using the village hall and WiFi to teach online, a couple of small sewing groups, councillors surgeries, some individuals who need space for dance practice and the NQSC rehearsing.

We allow a maximum of 25 persons in the main hall and 12 in the Council Chambers. All hirers are sent the attached additions to the usual Conditions of Hire and a risk assessment template (sample for the Adult Dance Classes is attached) which they have to adjust to their own particular circumstances. The calendar from September retains all the usual bookings minus those who have cancelled until next year. Hopefully most groups will return in some form although, until the situation improves, they will still have to comply with the 25 person limit as well as the other conditions. The on line calendar is always up to date and accurate so you will be able to see what happens in September by checking it.

We have had one or two enquiries about new bookings (art class and a baby shower) and will provisionally take bookings from September. The NQSC and the Phoenix Entertainers do not expect to present any shows this year but there are several parties booked from September onwards which will have to be cancelled unless they can comply with the Covid 19 safety measures.

The Stafford Orchard play equipment and caves field play equipment were re-opened on 6th July in line with government advice. The public toilets attached to the park services building as well as the public toilets attached to the old school building are also open again. Completed Covid 19 specific risk assessments will be available online shortly. There are hand sanitiser dispensers mounted at the entrances to the buildings, and several inside the buildings, along with signage reminding people to stick to social distancing rules and other specific covid 19 signs, regular cleaning is taking place with a focus on high contact areas.

The Parish Council Office will be open again from 10 am to 12 am Monday to Friday from 13th July 2020. We encourage pre booking appointments with the member of staff you wish to meet, to ensure social distancing can be adhered to and to avoid unnecessary congestion.

We will continuously be staying up to date with the advice from the government and reviewing the room hire situation in mid-August. All of the above is subject to change at any time in line with any government updates, including for example, the potential retightening of lockdown rules (and re-closure of QPC facilities) if there were to be a second wave of the pandemic or the current lockdown area in Leicester city is extended to include Quorn village.

Thank you for your patience while we deal with the repercussions of the pandemic in the best way we can.

Quorn Parish Council Staff - contact us.
 

Quorn Parish Council News

Posted to website July 10th 2020

Council and Committee Virtual Meetings
The Annual Meeting of the Parish Council was held on Tuesday the 5th May. Councillor Chatburn was re-elected as chair of the council and Councillor Jones as vice-chair. Councillor Key was elected as chair of the Financial and General Purposes Committee, Councillor Price as chair of the Grounds and Facilities Committee and Councillor Thornborow as chair of the Planning Committee. The casual vacancy was filled with a co-opted member.

Two members of the public were in attendance at the meeting with one wishing to speak regarding the lack of noticeboards outside of the village centre. There were a number of resolutions made including the council moving over to electronic banking, a service level agreement with the Quorn in Bloom team and works to replace the lighting rig in the Village Hall.
Borough Councillors Jane Hunt and Richard Shepherd were in attendance and were thanked for their continued open communication throughout the Covid pandemic. The council also received an update from the car park working group.

The Council met again for the monthly meeting on 2nd June.
There were two members of the public present who wished to speak, the first regarding a complaint about noise from customers of the Old School Tea Rooms and the other regarding the lack of air quality monitoring in the village.

County Councillor Hilary Fryer was in attendance and updated members regarding services during the Covid restrictions and changes that may come into effect as a result. Borough Councillor Richard Shepherd gave his report regarding the 5 years housing supply figure which has had to be adjusted to reflect the impact of the Covid pandemic on house builders.

There were a number of resolutions made at the meeting including to declare a climate emergency, approving a remit for a new Stafford Orchard advisory group and adopting a new grants policy. Councillor Jones reported on the Community Library and explained that the Operations Team were working with the County Council with a view to getting the library open again on 4th July.

The Grounds and Facilities Committee met on the 13th May. A member of the public was present who wished to discuss the air quality in the village. It was agreed that the matter be referred to Council to bring it to the attention of County and Borough Members. There were a number of resolutions made during the meeting including approving expenditure for the redecorating of the Village Hall.

The Finance and General Purposes Committee met on the 22nd June and there were a number of resolutions including the approval of the updated complaints procedure, publicity policy and procedure and a new volunteer strategy.

The Planning Committee met on the 18th May and 15th June. Most applications were of a domestic nature with the exception of the proposed mixed development compromising of industrial units and a solar farm on land at Barrow Road and Poole Farm, Quorn. It was also noted that the County Council were advising about a scoping report exercise for proposed minerals extraction operations at Lodge Farm, Quorn and the committee resolved to wait for a planning application to be received before submitting comments.

Councillor Surgery
The Councillors Surgeries are currently still postponed due to the Pandemic Restrictions but planning has begun to get these underway again in the foreseeable future.

Follow Quorn Parish Council on our Facebook page on Instagram or @QuornParish on Twitter.
 

Quorn Virtual Open Gardens

Posted to website July 6th 2020

The response to contribute was fantastic. Our thanks and appreciation go to all those residents who submitted some absolutely wonderful photographs and video footage of their gardens.

The video is now live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9XFZ-Nz2HA

Although we initially restricted the numbers, if we have enough extra people wishing to contribute, there may be the possibility of having a sequel/part 2. So, if you originally considered submitting some photographs and/or videos of your garden, then didn’t but wish that you had, it may not be too late. Perhaps your garden is a late bloomer and you felt it wasn’t at its best until now or have been inspired by the other residents. Please email your photos/videos to cheriebinch@gmail.com before 24th July. If your files are too large to attach to an email, either Dropbox or WeTransfer can be used.

The video will be available to watch until the August Bank Holiday Monday (31st August), so sit back, relax and enjoy looking at the beautiful gardens with a cuppa and cake … or your favourite tipple.

We hope you like the result.

Linda & Cherie
 

Quorn Parish Council - Staff Vacancies

Posted to website June 25th 2020

Quorn Parish Council needs two motivated enthusiastic individuals to take on the role of Cleaning Assistant with responsibility for the cleanliness of the Council’s community buildings including the Old School, the Village Hall, Parish Office and public toilets.

View more information.
 

Quorn Volunteer Group

Posted to website March 29th 2020

A new Village Volunteer Group has been established - read more.