2022 Annual Parish Meeting

KEXBY PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 19th May 2022

Present:  Cllr. R. Gore (Chair), Cllr. D Edwardson, Cllr. D. Forrest, Cllr. C. Cuckson, Cllr. L. Hoggarth, Cllr. S Farrow, Cllr. J. Milne (WLDC) and 6 parishioners.

1, Apologies for absence; had been received from Cllr. C. Hunt

2, Minutes of meeting held on 19th May 2021 – these had been circulated to Parish Councillors, they had posted on the village website following the last meeting, and a copy had been posted on the village notice board for seven days prior to the meeting. Cllr. Forrest proposed that they be accepted, seconded by Cllr. Edwardson and passed unanimously. The chairman signed them off.

3.   Matters arising – several of the issues would be covered as agenda items

a)   Post Office – the Chairman had recently met with the local MP, Sir Edward Leigh, on another matter but had taken the opportunity to raise the issue of poor service once again. The service was still unreliable and no invoices had been paid since December 2021. It had proved impossible for the Chairman to identify a contact who would take responsibility. Sir Edward agreed the he faced similar problems but offered to follow it up once again.

4.   Chairman’s Report (attached) the Chairman thanked the Clerk and members of the Parish Council for their support throughput the year. Copies of the report were provided to those present and the Chairman briefly went through each topic. He expressed his thanks to Cllr. Hunt for maintaining the facebook forum which had proved very popular. One of the parishioners pointed out that not everyone used facebook and it was important to have alternative lines of communication. It was pointed out that all Parish Council business was recorded on the website and on the village notice board. A village magazine was also delivered to each household whenever there was sufficient news to justify its publication.

It was proposed that the meeting should thank Mrs Forrest for her efforts in publishing such an interesting magazine.

It was also proposed that details of the website should be provided at the end of these minutes and the Clerk offered to email copies to any interested parties on request.

5. Treasurer’s Report (attached) – a copy of the balance sheet had been posted on the village notice board for seven days prior to the meeting and copies were distributed to those present. The Clerk highlighted and explained a few issues and there were no further questions. The accounts had been approved by the internal auditor and details would be sent to the external auditors via the Annual Governance and Accountability Returns, these would be published on the website. A period known as “Exercise of Public Rights” when the public could inspect the accounts had been arranged to run from 13th June – 22nd July. Cllr. Cuckson had agreed to host the accounts and would make them available by request.

6.   Reports from village organisations;

a)   Village hall – Full programme of events running again following the shutdown through Covid. There were no plans to request funding from the Parish Council in the current financial year as plans to build an extension to accommodate a new committee room had been suspended. The village hall AGM would take place at 7:00pm on Wednesday 15th June in the village hall.

b)   Burial Ground -demand for temporary allotments increased considerably, 12 of the 14 plots currently let at
£25 per year. Maintenance costs around £1,000 per year, income from sale of burial plots, interments and allotments just cover these costs in an average year making the burial ground self-financing.
 
c)   Jack Bowles – from Upton was working towards his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, one component of which was litter picking across the two villages. Since October 2021 163 bags of litter had been picked up, including drug related items necessitating police involvement. He had also managed to secure two lots of funding from WLDC. One for a new dog waste bin to be sited at the north end of High Street where the footpath across the fields from Upton emerges and the other for a general waste bin next to the seat by the village hall.

d)   Playing Field – Paul Mann presented the accounts for the past three years and explained their desire to improve the play park facilities. Much of the children’s play equipment was in need of replacement and they would like to add some adult fitness equipment. Estimates had ranged from£40,000 to £80,000 which was a challenging target. It was agreed that the equipment could be purchased through the Parish Council who would then be able to re-claim the VAT.

7)   Energy Park – although there had been a consultation period this was not the statutory consultation which they would be required to undertake. This was scheduled to take place in the summer of 2022 for the Gate Burton proposal and around the turn of the year for the Cottam/West Burton proposal. Some residents had been approached regarding surveys, they were advised to consult WLDC if they had any concerns. Sally Grindrod-Smith, the assistant Director of Planning and Regeneration was the person to contact at WLDC.

8)   Jubilee Festival – Sue Roberts provided an update, the title, UK Crown Fest had been chosen to denote the Upton Kexby collaboration. Both Parish Councils had received the maximum grant of £700 from WLDC and had agreed to match-fund this. Several sponsorships had also been received and the event was currently coming in under budget which would allow for certain enhancements such as more bunting. Invitations had been delivered around the villages (although some properties appeared to have been missed). Posters were also provided for the village and the Clerk would hold a supply of wrist bands. Anyone attending was encouraged to obtain wrist bands in advance so that the organisers could monitor numbers.

9)   Broadband update – there had been a change of personnel at Quickline which had disrupted continuity. Although the Parish Council had been assured that, following the successful drop-in session, the scheme had gone to the planning stage there now appeared to be “procurement issues”. The Chairman had been in touch with WLDC’s Broadband Officer who had promised to follow this up and report back to the Parish Council.
Resident’s Forum –

a)   Jubilee Tree – the issue of a tree to mark the unique event of the Platinum Jubilee was raised again. WLDC had provided a tree jointly for Kexby and Upton but siting had yet to be decided. It was felt that the playing field was the only space owned by the Parish Council where this could be planted. “Bloomers” had already arranged to plant a Horse Chestnut tree on the sports field which limited the options. The WLDC tree was quite small and would benefit from remaining in a container for the time being.
There being no further business the Chairman thanked everyone for their attendance and closed the meeting at 9:15pm

Website address; http:/parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/kexby