Parish Council Minutes 2025

St Michaels Lane, Wainfleet St Mary,

Lincs. PE24 4HB

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting of Wainfleet St Mary which took place on Monday 10th March 2025 at 18.10 in the Community Hall, St Michaels Lane, Wainfleet St Mary, PE24 4HB, preceded by the Public Forum at 18.00

These are draft minutes and are subject to amendment until approved at the next Council Meeting Monday April 14th 2025, at 18.10.

Public; Three members of the public including LCC Councillor W Bowkett.

Chair IH and Vice Chair are currently on leave thus nominations for Chairing the meeting were invited by the Clerk. Cllr C Alexander received all nominations – proposed Cllr TW, Seconded Cllr AP – full vote to approve.

A/Chair CA thanked all present and opened the meeting at 18.05.

The public session opened with a welcome to the members of the public present and an invitation to LCC/ELDC Councillor Wendy Bowkett to make her monthly report detailed as under.

Lincolnshire County Council and ELDC report -

County Council Elections have been confirmed as going ahead on the 1st May by government. These will take place alongside the Mayoral Elections for Greater Lincolnshire.

Devolution has been signed and the first meeting of the greater Lincolnshire Combined Authority has taken place at Lincoln Cathedral.

The first of the Fishing Platforms have been installed with further additions through the course of the year with one specifically designed for disabled fishers - There will be a total of 20 plus steps on some of them.

The section 19s have now all been completed from the Storm Babet and Hank and the results are now being gone through. Officers have already brought some schemes forward to do works, we will work with all partners to bring these plans forward.

A/Chair C Alexander thanked Cllr WB and opened the meeting at 18.10hrs.

1. Members present 

Cllr C Alexander (Acting Chair), Cllr M Rust (MR); Cllr P Garrard (PG); Cllr A Proctor (AP) Cllr T Ward (TW); Cllr Mike Rendall (MRL); Cllr and Hall Chair Jan Ward (JW) . Also present – Clerk M Clarke

2. Apologies for Absence – Apologies were received from Cllr I Hyde and Cllr Dr C Shrubsole -  Council resolved to accept.

3. Declarations of Interest – No declarations were received.

4. Approval of the Minutes of the Council Meeting on Monday February 10th 2025

The minutes of the meeting held Monday 10th February 2025 were presented as a true record. Proposed Cllr TW; Seconded Cllr JW; – unanimous resolution to accept.

5. Community Hall Report

Chair of the Committee JW gave a full report of the Committee actions to date which are contained in the Hall Minutes and available on the web and in the Notice Boards. The proposal to join the YMCA Village Hall ACRE organisation was approved. A cost for the provision of a skip to be obtained for removal of the straw bales – clerk to obtain.

Chair CA thanked the Hall Chair for all the information and updates.

6. Clerk’s Report:

The Friendship Club continues to meet every 2nd and 4th Wednesday and will now include a 15 minute session at the beginning of each session to include IT issues with the demise of the Digi group through funding not being available.

Outer Dowsing funding -  Play Area planting agreed for 26th March – plants and paint to be purchased in readiness.

Plaques have been emailed round for approval to show the funding from Outer Dowsing. Approved for purchase.

Fences to be painted – Jubilee Orchard and Play Area....Dr C and Clerk to put a project together for the Community Payback scheme

The moles look to be in retreat.....but with grass cutting resuming in March the traps will need to be removed.

18th March – New Councillor (JW)

13th May – Play Area Inspections (TW- non core – tba)

3rd June – AI First session Cllr JW and Clerk

7. Working Group Reports.

a) Allotments – Cllr MR presented the recommendations from the meeting on the 17th February to Council for consideration and bring forward any comments to the April meeting for approval. Recommendations to consider are an Allotment policy to be drafted; application for CPH Numbers for the Sea Lane and Tofts plots; a regular tenants meeting; monthly drone pilot reports to monitor drainage and ditch maintenance, ( first report shared with councillor at this meeting) new contracts to include livestock grazing, freezing of current rents; and 2 letters of interest for the plots becoming vacant at the end of September – agreement for Cllr MR to invite the interested parties to the April meeting to determine allocation of plots.

b) Grass Cutting, Trees and Hedges – Grass Cutting has started for the new season – contracts are in place and new maps checked against the contracts.

c) Play Area – Report received from Cllr TW – some repairs required, and tables need renewing.  Litter and vandalism element of empty cans left with inappropriate liquids – all removed. Conversation with families reference the renewal of the equipment to be included in survey to back up future funding application – clerk will draft. Request made for NO DOGS sign – proposed Cllr A, Seconded Cllr JW – all in agreement- clerk to purchase. Earlier proposal to close off Area for painting and mole traps - amended to spraying the area of grass if any mole traps installed and painting to be managed to avoid closing off – which likely to be ignored it was agreed.

d) Community Hall –All checks completed and in good order. Rewrite Defib id – Cllr PG will arrange.

e) Planning – General conversation on the Ossian project which has cabling through Lincolnshire with the main wind farm being in Scotland - agreement to monitor and support LCC and ELDC in their opposition to overland Pylons.

f) Open Spaces – Nuisance motor bikes observed over the weekend creating noise and disturbance – agreement to monitor and attempt to identify and report.

8. Finance and Bank AccountsItems in blue require authorisation.

An additional item agreed was the payment from the Chair Allowance in memory of Mrs A Seymour.

 A proposal to purchase 3 hours of time at a cost of £54.00 through LALC to permit a cleaner and more user-friendly web site to off set clerk’s time to be used more effectively.

Payments, and finance report proposed Cllr TW, Seconded Cllr Ap – all resolved to approve.

9. Request to Graze the Hall Fields

 An application to allow 3 horses to graze the fields behind the hall was considered and discussed – but due to the practicalities involved in fencing and events planning it was felt this was not of benefit to either party and was thus agreed not to proceed – Proposed Cllr MR, Seconded Cllr TW – all resolved to agree to decline the application.

A second request to allow the presence of a pony for one of the Friendship Group meetings for interaction for the 2 hours of the meeting was agreed – Pony will be under the care and responsibility of the group – Proposed and Seconded as above – all resolved to approve.

10. Review of the works to be carried out at The Pinfold.

Covered in the public session of February an agreement to agenda for the March Meeting and to support Lincs CC in their proposal to use reserves to rectify the longstanding issue of the closed footpath along the Pinfold and Steeping. Proposed Cllr MR, Seconded Cllr AP – clerk to draft letter of support for approval.

11. Items for the Newsletter.

Items have been received and included in the draft newsletter with the addition of an insert to include dates of events in Wainfleet – include FixMyStreet link to encourage public reporting. Survey QR code to be included – newsletter to be distributed with VE Day flyer and show schedule – Proposed to go to print Cllr TW, Seconded Cllr AP – all resolved to approve. Clerk to process.

12. Correspondence

The Ossian Transmission Infrastructure Project

Acknowledgement of A52 support letter

Increase in Microsoft Subscription

Reduction in AWA monthly costs

LALC e-news with reference to devolution and changes to town and parish Councils

13. Items for Inclusion in the April Agenda - All items to be received by 7th April please – to include Agricultural recommendations

14. Date of Next Meetings: - Date agreed for the next meeting Monday April 14th@ 18.00.  

Annual Parish Meeting and Annual Council meeting agreed for Monday May 19th to allow for a period of time between the Elections and VE Day celebrations.

The Annual Parish Meeting will commence at 5pm followed on directly at 6pm with the Annual Council meeting.

Chair CA thanked everyone for a productive evening and closed the meeting @ 19.30hrs.

I certify these are a true record of the meeting held Monday 10th March 2025

 Signed                

                                                                                                                        Date

Chair WSM Parish Council.