Minutes 2023

Wainfleet St Mary Parish Council,

Annual Parish Meeting Monday 15th May 2023

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of Wainfleet St Mary held in

The Community Hall at 5pm on Monday 16th May 2023.

The meeting was attended by one member of the Public and the full 9 members of the Council together with the Clerk.

Cllr M Rust, Chair of the Parish Council, presided.

Welcome and Apologies – The Chairman welcomed Councillors and the public to the meeting. Cllr W Bowkett and PCSO J Stephenson had submitted their apologies.

Chairman’s Introduction and report - Cllr M Rust read out his detailed Annual Report to the meeting and thanked all Councillors, Officers and Volunteers for their work and contribution over the last year.

Chairman’s report – Annual Parish Meeting Monday 15th May 5pm.

Welcome to all who are here...and before covering the past year perhaps a vote of thanks to all who made the Coronation Big Lunch the success it was....hard work by 3 councils working together ....Wainfleet St Mary, Thorpe St Peter and All Saints. A great collaborative project enjoyed by all.

Building on what was achieved in 2021/22, 2022/23 has been another proactive year – our last Annual Parish Meeting had asked about the re-introduction of the Lunch Club – this is now up and running again and creating an income stream for the Hall and is fully attended every month to the extent places now may have to be limited.

As the larger organisations started to open up fully after Covid and staff returned to work we have been able to open a Bank Account for the Community Hall which operates under the umbrella of the Council. This has allowed for the formation of a committee for the hall to raise funds for the hall and community with volunteers and council members on the Committee all playing a full and active role.

The Committee has met regularly and put a bid together earlier in the year for a Lottery grant to fund a Village Event – this has been successful and a traditional Village Show is now being planned for September to bring all aspects of the Community together.

The Lunch Club offers monthly lunches for the Community – always heavily patronised to the point where numbers now have to be restricted – this also provided a free Jubilee celebration tea for the Community and a free Celebratory Coronation Lunch. These funds have purchased a new cooker, hob and automatic water boiler for the Hall volunteers making the provision of Lunches, easier, quicker and safer for the Volunteer chefs and organisers.

Car Boot sale organised for every Summer Sunday now receiving up to 20 cars every Sunday – funds raised for the Community – new FaceBook page to support and gaining followers every week.

Jubilee Celebrations –the Council worked with volunteers and members of the Community to resurrect and provide a beacon joining in with the Nations all lighting to celebrate 70 years of service - and a community celebration – at no expense to the Community.

This was followed shortly by the very sad death of Queen Elizabeth 2nd

A Condolence memorial service for Queen Elizabeth 2nd was arranged and well attended with a full Hall.

Provision of a new litter bin and purpose commissioned bench at the village boundary overlooking the fields of WSM.

Planter established from Visit Lincs Coast and placed outside the bus shelter on Boston Road. A 5 seater bench is currently awaiting a permit from the EA to be sited on the Steeping Banks.

Play Area – all equipment refurbished and painted in bright durable protective paint.

Community Hall commissioned a mural depicting WSM.

Christmas celebrations with mulled wine and buffet arranged for and attended by the Community – all free of charge.

And the crowning glory – the Jubilee orchard – Area cleared, levelled and membraned – Fenced and planted. Photos are on our FB page and web site - 50% grant funded 50% council funds – the grant fund is still waiting to progress from the EOI to a full application which has been delayed from an earlier date in March to early Summer now. The Funding group are looking at sourcing further funding to continue with the development to include raised bed planting and geocaching.

Worked with and supported by other partners....Platform, LCC, ELDC, and National Grid, to get to this point.

And all without raising a precept – All of these activities - as well as meeting general Council responsibilities such as Grass Cutting and general maintenance have been done without having to raise a precept using allotment income, local fund raising and grant funding.....which in turn helps in some small way each resident with the cost of living increases.

Supportive and respected cohesive working between Councillors....all of whom bring differing experience and knowledge to the meetings and are happy to share and get involved.

Sadly, WSM lost a long serving Councillor last year Rod Picker – whose knowledge and experience is greatly missed – it was Rod’s suggestion to use the piece of ground that is now the orchard so a permanent memorial to him.

WSM also lost another long serving Councillor who had retired earlier owing to ill health – Ron Abbott – the family have made a request to name the piece of woodland adjacent to St Mary’s church Abbotts Wood – this is under consideration by St Mary’s PCC.

Both Ron and Rod brought so much knowledge of Wainfleet to the Council and their contributions are very much missed. As a dedication to them it is proposed to have 2 shields purchased in their names for 2 of the Village Show competitions and presented annually.

And so we look forward to another year of activity with The Village Show, weekly car boots, Lunch Club, further development of the Orchard and Christmas celebrations....with a project to fund a purpose designed WSM Village sign and continuing development of the Jubilee Orchard.

Police report – PCSO J Richardson was away and thus no Police Report was available.

District and County Councillor Reports – Chair M Rust had received the report from Cllr WB and read out.

 Lincolnshire County Councillor and East Lindsey District Councillor - Wendy Bowkett Annual Report

It has been a pleasure to work with you over the past year, as always your support is greatly received and working together we can get things done.

I was fortunate to have been uncontested in my district election and as such will be your district councillor for the next 4 years.

I am working with the EA and the Spilsby and River Steeping Fishing Club to put in permanent fishing platforms as well as steps or similar to get down the bank safely.

In the Lincolnshire County council budget this year a total of £93 million has been put into highways, which includes an extra £7 million which LCC have added through the budget. This will help, in improving unclassified roads, which we know is well needed in some places.

21,387 reports in the last week on fix my street, 28,629 fixed in the last month.

Any issues you see around the community, with potholes, drainage, street lightening to name a few please report in fix my street or call highways on 01522 552222 or myself on 07917494478.

Coastal car parks now have the new payment system, it runs from Easter to 31st October. ,Anderby Creek, Chapel Six Marshes, Huttoft, Marsh Yard and Wolla Bank you can now pay by card and the ticket, as long as in time, can be used in the different car parks.

As my role in Adult Care and Public Health Exec Member, we have secured £4 million pounds to further the work with Alcohol and drug treatment across the county. This is very important work and am sad to say since Covid there is a real problem with excessive alcohol consumption, so hopefully this can reach even more people than before.

The adult care budget for 23/24 is £169 million and the budget for children’s services is £98 million, these are statuary services but just shows you how much money is needed to run our county services.

The latest Covid booster vaccine is now available for the over 75s and anyone with a weakened immune system, you should be contacted to book by the NHS app or a phone call or you can go on the NHS.gov site or call 119 free of charge.

Cllr Wendy Bowkett - Wainfleet and Spilsby Ward.

Finance report – The Clerk read out the detailed annual finance reports giving a full account of monies received and submissions ready for the Annual Governance statement.

Public Suggestions and Concerns

Public discussion.

Close of Meeting – Chair M Rust thanked everyone for contributing and closed the meeting at 17.45.