Minutes of the Meeting June 11th 2022
Wainfleet St Mary Parish Council - St Michaels Lane, Wainfleet St Mary, Lincs. PE24 4HB
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting of Wainfleet St Mary which took place on Monday 13th June 2021 at 18.00
in the Community Hall, St Michaels Lane, Wainfleet St Mary, PE24 4HB.
The minutes were approved at the Council Meeting Monday 11th July.
Councillors Present
Chair – Cllr M Rust, (MR) Vice Chair, Cllr I Hyde (IH), Cllr C Bradford (CB)), Cllr C Alexander, (CA), Cllr A Proctor (AP)
Cllr S Simpson (SS) joined at 7.30
Also present – Clerk M Clarke and LCC/ELDC Cllr W Bowkett
1. Public - No members of the public were in attendance
2. Apologies for Absence
PCSO J Richardson, Cllr P Garrad, Cllr R Picker,.
3. Police report
No report due to PCSO J Richardson being unable to attend
4. Declarations of Interest
None declared
5. Minutes of the Annual Council Meeting on 9th May 2021
Minutes of the Annual Council Meeting were agreed by all Councillors present – Approved and resolved as a true record of the meeting.
6. County and District Councillor Report
The Wainfleet Angling Club is to recommence on the River Steeping under the management of the Spilsby Angling Club.
A licence has been granted by the Environment Agency
7. Clerks report
The Community Emergency Plan had the first meeting 18th May with 3 councils involved – WSM, WASTC and Thorpe. This will be covered in greater detail in Agenda item 13.
An initial meeting with Mr Chamberlain with Cllr MR, Cllr AP, Cllr CA, and the clerk lay the foundations for further contact. Comments indicated he was considering the sale of the field but no direct reference to it. The land has the potential to be very valuable and is currently on a free lease to the Council on the basis the hedges are trimmed, the grass is cut, and the area cared for. The lease with the Council is held by the Clerk and it is suggested Councillors may wish to familiarise themselves with the conditions should the prospect of a sale be mooted.
8. Working Group Reports
To discuss and agree actions and associated expenditure for Working Group.
Concerns have been raised on the Queen’s Estate with regard to under age drivers racing cars on the roads in the Estate causing aggravation and noise to the residents – Cllr WB undertook to investigate and report back – in the interim residentts are advised to call 999 and report an incident if this continues.
Allotments – all in order – no issues
1. Grass Cutting, Trees and Hedges - Hedges on Queen’s estate require cutting back –both are in private ownership - report to FixMyStreet – clerk to action. Trees near the bus stop near Miller Court need trimming back (Grammar school property) report to FixMyStreet -clerk to action.
2. Play Area - General Painting required on equipment and action on the log roll to prevent it being used as a urinal – Clerk to contact P Whiley and ask for quote for painting and to fill in the logroll with soil and gravel top dressing.
3. Community Hall - All in order.
4. Planning - No application submitted
5. Open Spaces - Weeding arranged for 26th June to remove borage before excessive self seeding. Consideration to be given to purchase of composter and other items following receipt of £1000 grant.
Initial invoice rec’d for siting of new bench with slab to be allocated to grant spending.
- Proposal to set up a Community Hall Committee
To be formed with Councillors and members of the Public - Clerk to approach and invite. Cllrs already on the Committee are Cllr SS, Cllr PG – Cllrs nominated and agreement to sit are Cllr AP, Cllr MR, - clerk will advise in July meeting the public volunteers.
Proposal to offer a Jubilee Tea free of charge in late July agreed – to be undertaken by Cllr AP and Cllr SS with assistance from Lunch Club volunteers
Proposal to relaunch the Lunch Club in September agreed once all volunteers have agreed available to help – Cllr SS and Cllr AP will liaise – date to be agreed
- Proposal to set up a Summer Fete Committee
Proposal to form a committee for purpose of organising the fete for 2023 – following on from the planning of the Jubilee it was suggested a committee/working group to organise the fete for late July 2023 – all in agreement. Nominated and agreement to join the group are Cllr CB, Cllr SS, Cllr CA and Cllr MR. The first meeting was agreed as 6pm Wednesday 29th June in the Community Hall. All councillors are welcome to attend.
- Review of Jubilee Celebrations
The planning and hard work that went into the Platinum Jubilee celebrations brought around 220/250 to the lighting of the Beacon, and around 60/70 for the family Sports day which went well despite the weather preventing the Bouncy castle from being installed – this actually had a beneficial effect on all the children who became much more involved in the races. Refreshments from the Community Hall were sold giving a float for the Jubilee Tea and Lunch Club funds. Community feed back has been good, the event featured in the Skegness Standard and the drone footage of the event by Sea Lane Media has been shared to the community on the WSM Facebook page.
- Finance and Bank Accounts
Cheques for payment for May were presented for approval and payment – Clerks wages and postage (including arrears of pay from salary increase for y/e 2022) £653.55, Clerk’s PAYE £158.40, Grass Cutting £575.00, LALC Training £13.80, Gallagher Insurance £1159.19, Healthguard £576.00, Auditor, £35.00 LMDB £849.46, Haines Watts, £27.00, Bookers and Lidl for Beacon refreshments £154.94. It was agreed and approved to make a transfer of £5000 from the deposit account to the Treasurer’s account for payments due.
A new mandate to add Cllr CB to the authorised signatories was agreed and signed.
The monthly budget report was presented and reviewed. There has been over budget spending on he Beacon which was a late addition to the celebrations but unanimous agreement it was an excellent community event and was money well spent. There is under spend in other areas which will balance out at the year end coupled with the grant monies now received.
- Review of Meeting with WASTC and Thorpe – Emergency Planning Committee
Cllr IH attended the meeting on May 18th at WASTC Offices – Pack has been received containing emergency resources containing high vis vests, torches, and radios. Local authorities to deal with the first hour pending the arrival of the emergency teams. A first point of contact is nominated and then information disseminated down – a list of volunteers is required, points of safety and buildings that can be used, keyholders and similar. The individual councils to provide their own list following which they will be amalgamated, and one master produced for the Emergency Plan. The committee will correlate the names of volunteers and places of safety in preparation for the next 3 council meeting in July- date tba. WASTC have 1000 sandbags for collection for WSM - clerk to arrange.
- Community Projects
Projects under discussion are a Parish Sign – clerk to look at funding opportunities to enable this to become a project
The Community Hall Mural – Clerk to contact and arrange, if possible, attendance at the meeting in July for the second draft to be presented to Council
Low Road Bus Shelter – clerk to cost out paint, trellis, climbers, and cleaning equipment to renovate and improve the appearance the shelter
Best Kept Village – Clerk to identify criteria and sections appropriate to WSM to consider putting the village forward
Car Boot sale on the Hall Field – this to raise funds for sponsoring the Summer Fete. Is Licence required, (Cllr IH) days/date of sale, prices of admission for cars/stands and visitors (Cllr CB) Promotion (clerk) to be brought to the next meeting and to determine suitable dates.
- Councillors email addresses
Recommendation by LALC all councillors should have a specific email address for council business only and ideally a .gov.uk domain which all councils are entitled to use. This for the protection of Councillors private information should a FOI request arise. Cllr CA has been in touch with LALC, and the process is relatively straightforward with a recommendation to use a domain host already in use by a higher local authority or similar. Clerk to contact LALC or ELDC to enquire who they use. Advice and progress will be reported in the July meeting.
- Correspondence.
Cllr A Blackburn had tendered her resignation to the Clerk May 8th owing to external pressure. This was received too late to be part of the Agenda for the meeting May 9th. The resignation was forwarded to the Chair who accepted, and the Clerk issued a letter of acceptance and duly informed ELDC Monitoring Office. A vacancy has been advertised and it is hoped a new Councillor can be found. Co-option is permitted from June 24th.
- Items for Inclusion on the July Agenda
Update/review on Standing Orders and H and S policies,
Provision of gate in the Play Area
- To agree the date of the next meeting as Monday July 11th 2022 at 6pm.
All in agreement
- To resolve on whether the Council will move into Closed Session to consider the following confidential issues in respect of attendance at meetings in accordance with Public Bodies (Admission to meetings Act) 1960
Proposed and Seconded and agreed to move into Closed Session
Cllr WB left the meeting.
Close of meeting
The meeting closed at 20.30 with Chair MR thanking all for their attendance.
Email: wsmpclerk@btinternet.com
Website: https://wainfleet-saint-mary.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk