2021 Annual Parish Meeting

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING OF SUDBROOKE HELD REMOTELY BY ZOOM ON THURSDAY 1 APRIL 2021

PRESENT:  Councillor Peter Heath (Chairman), Christine Myers (Clerk)

Bridget Solly (Treasurer)

8 members of the public

APOLOGIES:  Ian Russell

1.   APPROVAL OF THE NOTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 2ND APRIL 2019 TO BE SIGNED AS MINUTES   (NOTE: THERE HAD BEEN NO ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD IN 2020 DUE TO COVID 19)

That the notes be approved unanimously Resolved.

2.   CHAIRMANS REPORT – COUNCILLOR PETER HEATH

Despite a global pandemic your Parish Council has been able to carry out the essential duties to keep the village facilities operating. From August the Government permitted councils to meet via Zoom. This has enabled us to meet, discuss, and make decisions concerning the village whilst maintaining Covid protections.

During the last year we have had the departure of two long serving councillors, Paul Rignall and Lyn Etheridge, along with Barbara Bingham and salute their contribution to the village. They have been replaced by Cllr Tracey Bowman and Cllr Bhikhu Mistry, both are long term residents of the village and committed to the future of our community.  I have also been informed today that owing to work and family commitments Mike Turnbull has regretfully resigned. We shall therefore be looking to recruit a new Parish Councillor.

Our Neighbourhood Plan has been tested by a resident for an answer to a proposed development by the use of a consultation. The Parish Council has used the protections of the Neighbourhood Plan to oppose one application on Wragby Road that would have potentially impacted on the character of the village. We have also sought to ensure that the environment is protected through the use and enforcement of Tree Preservation Orders. We have continued to liaise with the management of the new Parklands development to try to minimise the impact of traffic on our quiet residential streets. Our community is growing, with at the time of writing, 12 new households having taken up residence in the Parklands and more to come in the near future.
 
In the wider community we have been approached by Nettleham Parish Council to cooperate between our communities. The aim would be to improve transport, create and promote cycleways, footpaths and reduce the impact of pollution on climate change. 

The next year will present its own challenges, one of which is to provide a new burial ground for the church as the current one is close to capacity. We need the involvement of our residents if we are to continue to thrive as a medium village and remain a desirable place to live, work and play.

3.  CLERKS REPORT – CHRISTINE MYERS

Through this last challenging year the daily work of the Parish Council has continued, with the Treasurer and myself working together to ensure that legislation relating to Covid 19 has been adhered to.

The Council held a face to face meeting in July in the Village Hall car park, since then meetings have been held by Zoom which has proved to work well with some residents joining in the meetings.

Despite restrictions the grass in the village continued to be cut and kept tidy; the play equipment, although closed for three months during the first Lockdown, was inspected and maintained;

Seats and notice boards were varnished and shortly two seats will be replaced; the Christmas tree lit up the verge on Scothern Lane; and liaison continues with the contractors at The Parklands.

The Parish Council has commented on 14 planning applications during the year.

Volunteers have worked together during the year to ensure that residents requiring help due to Lockdowns and vulnerability were given assistance with the Village Support Group springing into action.  They are still assisting villagers and the Food Bank set up to receive donations in the Village Shop continues to be well supported.

A new website for the Parish has been set up by a local resident of which thanks must be extended for his help and continuing support with this project.  The website is a huge improvement to the old site and village organisations are welcome to submit articles to me for publication.

4.  TREASURERS REPORT – BRIDGET SOLLY

The council received a Precept (Budget) of £26,900.  

The Council has worked hard to ensure that invoices have been paid in a timely manner during the current pandemic with cheques being passed to signatories and then posted off to suppliers.  All payments have been agreed by members of the Council as per our Standing Orders and Financial Regulations.  

This year the Council spent £5,955 on grass cutting and received a contribution of £1,504 from the County Council – our net spend on grass cutting was £4,451.

The Council spent £2,565 on printing and preparing Sudbrooke News with £432 generated in advertising revenue.  As in previous years, the Council recognises the importance of the Sudbrooke News and continues to support it financially.

A full copy of the accounts will be available to members of the public in due course as per instructions from the External Auditors.  The Council have lived within their budget this year.

5.  COUNTY COUNCILLORS AND DISTRICT COUNCILLORS REPORTS 

a.    County Councillor Mrs Sue Rawlins 

In the last twelve months we have all seen extraordinary changes to our way of life which we may not have envisaged possible previously. The lockdowns and restrictions of the pandemic have caused much sadness and worry but have meant that families and communities have played an even more important role in our lives. I would like to thank all those individuals and groups who have reached out to offer help to others in our villages.

At the County Council and at our Parish Councils, we have embraced remote working like many other organisations to get the work done.  It has been difficult not seeing people face to face but everyone has made valiant efforts.

The County Council has continued to keep Council tax low, whilst caring for the most vulnerable. The budget this year includes over £500m for day-to day services residents rely on, including £200m for adult care, £75m for children’s social care, £50m for highways and £20m for the fire service and emergency planning.  A further £5m for third phase superfast broadband has just been launched aiming to connect the hardest to reach homes and businesses.  Having reserves in the bank for a rainy day has meant the Council could balance its budget.

The A46 Dunholme / Welton roundabout project is making impressive progress with the north section being used by vehicles and the focus is now on completing the southern section as well as finishing the construction of the newly-aligned Lincoln Road.  The roadworks have caused significant traffic disruption but we look forward to this spring’s completion and the reaping the benefits of the project. The scheme is being part-funded using £2m from the DfT with the remaining funding from third party contributions and the County Council. It is designed to reduce the number of collisions and improve congestion and visibility, whist accommodating future development in the area. This is an impressive feat of engineering and will bring much needed benefits. I want to thank everyone for their patience whilst these safety improvements are being made.

£2.2m funding has been allocated to resolve priority flooding issues throughout the County, hopefully rectifying some long standing drainage issues.

The footpath/cycleway at Danby Hills is planned for upgrade for a 1km length, the current design is planned for reconstruction with a minimum width of 1.8m. This upgrade is planned for Summer, 2021 and this takes it to Nettleham but not all the way to Welton. To tie in with this improvement the County Council will be looking at the section between Welton and Nettleham, making minor repairs where necessary and undertaking siding to expose the full width of the footway/cycleway for its length. This is a very welcome proposal.

In light of the economic impact of coronavirus, the County Council’s budget uses some of its carefully-managed reserves to provide a £12m package of support for the local economy. There are estimated to be between 1,000 and 2,000 county businesses who were unable to claim government support. If there was ever a time small businesses in Lincolnshire needed our help it’s now. 

b.  District Councillor Bob Waller

Work at West Lindsey District Council has carried on, albeit in a different manner.  I would like to give you a few facts of activities that have been performed over the last 6 months;

•   The Planning service determined 672 applications and received 721 new applications.
•   Processed and paid £17.5m to support 1,608 West Lindsey businesses in the first round of Government grants.
•   44 households were prevented from becoming homeless through council intervention.
•   23 community groups have been supported through the Covid-19 community grant scheme to a total of £53,109.
•   819 building control inspections have taken place, with the vast majority taking place in person in line with Covid guidelines.
•   8  businesses have taken advantage of discounted membership of the Federation of Small Businesses
•   In total the council have dealt with 22,030 telephone enquires
•   No waste collections were missed due to Covid
•   Adapted the approach to running virtual Council meetings. Training Councillors and facilitating online meetings
•   Completion of the Market Rasen leisure centre and the start of the new waste depot at Hemswell Cliff

Meetings of the Council have been held remotely which due to Government legislation will not be permissible after 6 May 2021.

6.  LOCAL ORGANISATIONS REPORTS

Village Hall – Mrs Gill Rignall

As for everyone, 2020/21 was a strange year for the Village Hall.  The first lockdown began shortly after the 2020 AGM.

The Covid-19 regulations have made life very challenging for the voluntary Committee. There has been as much work for the Secretary, Booking Secretary and Bar Manager during closure periods as there is when the hall is open. 

Committee meetings continue by Zoom, thus fulfilling the requirement of the Constitution, and it is testament to the adaptability of the committee as a whole that these have worked well. We were able to have one socially distanced face-to face meeting between lockdowns.

Community Links/Lincs YMCA continued the cluster meetings by Teams or Zoom. I was able to attend some of them. All managers of halls have the same issues and I am reassured that we are interpreting the regulations correctly.

All the annual checks/services: Gas, PAT, fire appliances, intruder alarm and CCTV were completed on time. The Charity Commission return for 2019 was submitted on time.

The hall has a registered QR code for NHS Track and Trace. 

The toilet refurbishment is a major improvement. This was protracted because of supply chain issues during lockdown. Thanks go to Dave Rowley for his very time consuming project management.

Soap and sanitiser dispensers were fitted throughout the hall by Paul and these are replenished weekly by Kram contract cleaners.

The Hiring Conditions have been modified to keep the hall and users Covid safe.

The Committee agreed to give priority to the safety of Preschool and they have been the only users in accordance with government guidelines. This has had a major impact on our income from both the bookings and the bar but we are in the fortunate position of being financially secure for the next year due to the stewardship of the previous and current treasurers. Business Interruption Grants have helped to keep the hall financially viable when there has been very little revenue.

All notices are now laminated to enable them to be cleaned. 

The anti-climb paint was renewed and the roof was repaired where tiles had been smashed by intruders.

The Facebook page and website are kept up to date.

Unfortunately the car park attracts litter and residents have been using the wheelie bins for domestic/business rubbish. Some may not realise that the bins are for hall/field users and not a village tip. Requests for this to stop have been placed in Sudbrooke News and around the site. The bins are needed for hall users and volunteers have to sort the rubbish as the blue bins are often misused.

The Committee will be discussing improvement projects, particularly the need for a new heating system, for 2021.

Appointments at the 2021 AGM were: Chair- Mrs L Hill, Vice chair- Mrs E Chapman, Treasurer-Mr G Green, Secretary- Mrs G Rignall.

Village organisations are entitled to be represented on the Committee so they should contact me if they wish to send a representative.

Thanks go to all the Committee for their support, especially Dave and Paul, who put in an inordinate amount of time to keep the hall available for users. Thanks also to Chris Myers for her help.

Active Seniors' Program – Julian Gunnell, Liaison for "Everybody Active"

This very light exercise activity specifically focuses on the over 65 age group. The government had identified this age group as being particularly at risk.  Therefore, at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 I took the decision to suspend the program as the risk to attendees was very high.  Under current government restrictions it remains suspended.

It is too early to anticipate a return to the normal weekly routine, even though the R number is significantly lower.  I would prefer to view the data on the anticipated spike in infections (3rd wave) that is expected on the cessation of all restriction in June 2021.

To this end, I propose to maintain the suspension of the Friday activity until at least September 2021, when the situation can be reviewed to see if we can resume in a safe and meaningful way.

Carving club - Mrs Coral Evans

There is not much to report for Carving Club as we have been unable to meet in 2020. We hope to resume some carving when covid rules allow...possibly outside in the garden if the weather warms up. Sadly, we are unable to take on new members until Covid rules allow more than 6 in an indoors situation.  As with other groups we miss our get together and do hope to resume in 2021.

Gardening Club – John and Iris Whitaker

Not much to report really on what has been a very quiet and different year – everything we have done has been documented in Sudbrooke News and membership has remained unchanged apart from the death of one member.  All subscriptions have been carried forward and we are looking towards recommencing our activities as soon as government advice permits.

7.  PARISHIONERS ITEMS

A resident had offered a suggestion for discouraging diverted drivers attempting to use Nettleham Lane as a shorter diversion route with a view to keeping traffic moving and minimising damage and danger, and offering to provide folding signs, road cones and sandbags.

This suggestion would be pursued through the Parish Council.  

The meeting ended at 7.24pm