Annual Parish Meeting 2021

Agenda
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Minutes

WILDMORE PARISH COUNCIL

Clerk: Mrs Angela Appleyard

Marlborough, Old Fen Lane, Scrub Hill, New York, Lincoln, LN4 4XD

Tel: 01526 342512 or 07879044667 Email: angela.wildmorepc@outlook.com

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Tuesday 4th May 2021 at 7.00pm on Zoom

Cllr A Everard, Chairman of the Parish Council, welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Present: Cllr A Everard, Cllr R Kirk, Cllr P Bargh, Cllr M Jones, Cllr J Lawes, Cllr A Harrison, Cllr M Foster, Mrs M Casey and Mrs J Harrison

Apologies: Cllr S Avison and Mr B Farrington

Minutes of the previous Annual Parish Meeting

The minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Monday 13th May 2019 were accepted as a true record.

To receive a report from the Chair of the Parish Council

Cllr Everard reported that the Parish Council had been meeting every 2 months on Zoom. Regular items on the agenda has been Highways, Speeding and Potholes. Our County Councillor and our District Councillors have kept us informed of what is going on and have attended meetings on a regular basis.

Due to being short staffed, the police have not attended meetings but have sent through reports.

The churchyard has been kept neat and tidy and work has been carried out on some of the trees. Further work is to be carried out later in the year. It is hoped that work will be carried out to the War Memorial in the next year or so. Hopefully grants will be secured to pay for this work.

The new hall committee has been hard at work, with improvements being made to the car park and within the hall.

Cllr Everard thanked his fellow Councillors for their continued support.

To receive a report from the Chair of the Village Hall Committee

Mr Farrington was unable to attend the meeting but had sent through the following report:

From a turnover point of view, due to Covid, this has obviously been very poor, however, the last bike night before the second lockdown, we turned over in excess of £300. We are attempting to restart the bike nights on the 3rd June. A risk assessment will be in place.

We have also received a couple of Government grants, which have been very useful. Janet Harrison has also managed to ‘magic’ a couple of additional grants, so financially, we are now in a very strong position.

We have fitted a new moving door partition between the hall and committee room. Fencing and gates have been installed. The original car park has now been fully tarmacked, the flat roof has been fully refurbished. We have also several other improvements to discuss as a committee when we next meet, Covid permitting, on Saturday 22nd May at 10am. These include a new cooker, an outbuilding, fridge/freezer and refurbishment of the committee room.

Thanks, were expressed to Mr Farrington for his report.

To receive a report from the Headmaster of the School

Cllr Bargh, headteacher, gave a report on the school. Pupil numbers have dropped but there are still 38 children within the school. Ten children left but, since Christmas, six have started.

The school is currently financially secure and has the backing of two secondary schools in Horncastle and is part of their academy.

The building work which was due to take place is currently on hold, awaiting builders. The old shed and toilet block have been demolished.

Last year would have seen 140 years of the school which opened in 1880. Due to Covid, celebrations had to be put on hold. It is hoped to celebrate later this year for the 140 + 1 years with a street party in the playground. If anyone has any old photos of the school Cllr Bargh would love to see them.

Thanks, were expressed to the staff, children and parents for being so brilliant during the past few months. Also, thanks were expressed to the Lions Club for the food parcels generously donated, parents were extremely grateful for these.

To receive a report from the Churchwarden

Mrs Casey thanked the Parish Council for their continued support in organising the grass cutting and for the tree management. The damage to the stable still hasn’t been repaired.

Thanks, were expressed to Cllr Everard for organising and leading the Remembrance Sunday service.

There has been no progress on sorting out the dyke problems between the Animal Sanctuary and the Church. There are still animals at the Sanctuary and in the field the other side of the church and the number of tyres in the field keeps increasing.

The church roof has been renewed and should therefore last for several years.

The Diocese is in dire financial difficulties and whilst no church will be forced to close, if they can’t make substantial financial help, they won’t have the clergy to lead services. The church is 2 years into a 5-year consultation period where they are looking at the options of it being in a rural group or moving into an urban group in Boston.

Mrs Casey felt that because the church was on the edge of the Parish rather than in its midst, it didn’t get the community support.

Mrs Casey will send a full report through to the Clerk in the next few days.

To receive a report from the County Councillor

Cllr Ashton joined the meeting.

He apologised for being late, but three of his six parishes had all had their meeting that night.

It has been a challenging year for the County Council to try to maintain their level of service. Things such as road repairs have suffered due to less funding being available.

The Council have targeted Covid funding to support Community Groups, particularly those who have done a lot of hard week to keep the County going. They have also tried to help fund businesses who have slipped through the net for Government support.

Government Funding has been received to help places such as Skegness, Mablethorpe and Boston. It is thought that this may be the last Government funding we see for quite some time.

There are major road building programmes currently around the County such as Holdingham Roundabout, Spalding Western Relief Road, with many more waiting in the queue.

To receive a report from the District Councillor

Cllr Foster will chase up with the enforcement team about the animal sanctuary again. He will see what can be done about removing the tyres and why there are still animals in the yard and field when there shouldn’t be any. The number of vehicles outside the property is also becoming a problem.

ELDC staff have had to take on different roles this year to help in areas where people have been unable to work due to shielding, illness etc. Many have been working from home and remotely. Many businesses within the District have received financial support from ELDC. Cllr Foster also mentioned the money received to help improve Skegness and Mablethorpe, £50 million between them.

ELDC are doing a review of the local plan. Many developments are going ahead in Coningsby. ELDC have joined with Boston College to utilise land off Mareham Road in Horncastle.

A new fleet of bin lorries, yellow bellies, have taken to the roads this year. They have managed to keep up with collections during the pandemic and thanks must be expressed to the teams. The Street Teams have been working in the early hours or later in the evening to avoid the public and keep within the social distancing guidelines.

New waste bins have been purchased by ELDC and these will be replacing the current ones, majority of which are over 20 years old, within the next few weeks.

New car parking machines have been installed in various car parks and these will now take card as well as cash. There had been a significant increase in thefts and vandalism to the cash only ones.