Parish Council Minutes 2025

Wainfleet St Mary Parish Council,

Annual Parish Meeting Monday 9th June 2025

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of Wainfleet St Mary held in The Community Hall at 5pm on Monday 9th June 2025.

The meeting was attended by 5 members of the Public and 6 members of the Council together with the Clerk, ELDC Councillor W Bowkett and LCC Councillor M Hume.

Cllr C Alexander, Chair of the Parish Council, presided.

Welcome and Apologies – The Chairman welcomed Councillors and the public to the meeting. Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr M Rendall.

Chairman’s Introduction and report - Cllr C Alexander welcomed all to the meeting and introduced the detailed Annual Report on behalf of the outgoing Chair to the meeting and thanked all Councillors, Officers and Volunteers for their work and contribution over the last year.

Chairman’s report - Annual Report 2025

As the incoming chair of the council, I present this report for the year during which Cllr Iain Hyde was our Chair. 

During the year, 2 of our councillors stepped down.  The first, Cyd Charisse-Bradford continues to work with us organising events and activities for the children and families of WSM.  She organised 2 movie nights for the children, a sports day event and other activities for children as part of the council’s activities.   We thank her most sincerely for her continued support for us as a council, and her service to the community.

We also saw Barry Adams step down this year.  Barry has been a tremendous support with the work the council does maintaining the walkways, fences, playgrounds, as well as masterminding the conversion of the storage area in the hall. Barry has the sincere gratitude of the council as he continues to support us with managing events, DIY and general marshalling and the continued litter picking which keeps St Mary’s looking clean and cared for.

It is worth noting that the varied skills of our councillors, new and former, plus the support of volunteers, creates the great teamwork needed to support our community. 

The 2 councillors who joined the council this year are Jan and Trev Ward.  Both have made a valued contribution already, with Trev taking on responsibility for the children’s play area and Jan continuing her support chairing the Community Hall Committee and providing administrative support for Maureen our clerk.  Both Jan and Trev are central to all the community activities organised by the council, behind the scenes as well as at the various events.  We thank them both for their support and contribution. 

The Jubilee Orchard on Low Road is coming into its own.  There has been more planting and the addition of raised planters with thanks to Outer Dowsing for their financial support. Elton, the rock crocodile designed and created by the children of Wainfleet and the Rocking Around Wainfleet, team is fairing well in the grounds of the orchard. We thank Cllr Dr Clive Shrubsole for seeing and realising his vision for the orchard and his ongoing involvement in maintaining the area, the trees and the plants. 

Over the Christmas period we enjoyed Tea with Santa at the hall…and a Christmas lunch for the luncheon club customers at Woodthorpe Garden Centre.  These events were all free for our residents thanks to grants and funds raised by the Hall Committee. We hope to provide these events again for Christmas 2025 such was their popularity.

We celebrated D Day with the lighting of a beacon, tributes read by community dignitaries and refreshments including hot dogs, tea and cake and a bar.  It was very well attended by the community, and we were grateful for the support we received.  We offer our thanks to the Hall Committee, Pete Whiley for his help with the beacon, the RBL and the Fire Marshall volunteers all of whom made the event possible. VE Day was similarly attended and supported in May.

We now have an annual village show which is a huge success.  The entries this year, for all the competitions tripled from the previous year with some superb entries.  The photo competition was exceptional, and we created a calendar again from the winning shots…. This year’s event is on 31st August, and the plans are well in hand for another great and successful day. 

The Lunch Club continues to be a sell out and contributes to the Hall funds which allows it to be self-supporting. Increased storage created by Barry Adams has meant a doubling of space for all the overspill from the kitchen cupboards. The Lunch Club would not be possible without the efforts of the volunteers who work so hard to manage the event and provide the wonderful meals. 

A new automatic screen, projector and speaker PA system were fitted last year – all funded by a successful Lottery bid…. and a local Community Grant (thanks to Cllr Mick Rust). It has proved to be an invaluable addition to the hall and has made the hall attractive to those wanting to hire the hall for parties, meetings and events….It has also enabled council meetings to go paperless, reducing the council’s reliance on paper for meetings. It has also provided the backdrop for VE day and children’s movie afternoons with plans afoot for film nights with refreshments for the winter months when we all spend less time outside.

WSMP Council holds in trust agricultural land which we rent to local farmers. We have a 5-year plan to improve drainage on this land resulting in the need to raise a precept for the first time in 6 years. It results in about £4 a month for our parishioners…but maintaining this land creates an income stream for the council which allows the Council to meet all its obligations without passing the costs on to the residents of WSM.

It is noteworthy that funding from grant applications this year has been £3140 for the Jubilee Orchard, £500 towards VE Day, £7210 for the screen and projector and £758 for Christmas… plus a contribution from Tesco who provided all the food for Tea with Santa and VE Day free of charge.  We offer our thanks to the councillors and hall committee volunteers who have helped us write the bids and applications that have resulted in this funding. 

Finally, I conclude by thanking our parishioners for their support and interest.  We could not hold these events and activities without their support.  We are committed to continuing our work to support this wonderful community and hope that we can depend on the continued support of our residents. 

East Lindsey District Councillor - Wendy Bowkett Annual Report

To introduce myself - I am Cllr Wendy Bowkett, I have a brief report for the past year both district and county, and obviously this will be my last county report.

For East Lindsey it was a busy year, the last years district councillor grant was £2000 and I gave donations to Wainfleet Town Council, St Marys Council and the Theatre Club.

The coming year I have £4000; this can be to nonprofit organisations, so I look forward to helping local groups so please spread the word.

Local government reform is still going through, all districts, county and the greater Lincolnshire councils are drawing up proposals that we hope will bring improvements to our area. All -parties have to work together which is part of the ask by government and have to agree on the proposal.

The dog warden and traffic warden are attending Wainfleet at regular intervals, the traffic warden will alternate days and times.

The fishing platforms have now been completed, it has been a long journey, but they look fantastic. This will certainly help with access down the banks for some of the less mobile. The fishing club is going to try and set up a fishing group for children, which should hopefully keep fishing going for years to come in Wainfleet if successful. Wainfleet River Steeping fishing club have helped pay for a portion of the platform. This account will now be closed.

The sec 19s from the storms of 2023 and 2024 have been continued to be worked on by LCC. Some bank works have been completed on the relief channel; culvert surveys and bank surveys have been carried out by the EA. Hopefully government will allow capital programmes to recommence this coming year so funding can be put in for the works needed for in the coming year.

Grass cutting has seen the second cut on the riverbanks on both the relief channel and the steeping.

Repair works to the riverbank/ footpath on the Low Road, are still being costed. Highways have asked the drainage board for quotes, hopefully these will be more realistic in price. Once a plan has been drawn up  and financed the long-awaited works can take place.

Boston Road will see the carriageway surfaced dressed from the 30th of June. This will be done alongside Main Road Friskney, Silver Street and Market Place, Wainfleet will be Resurfaced from the 28th July.

I have, as reported to you previously, been working on the A52 speed issues between Wainfleet and Skegness with the road safety team, highways and Cllr Macey. The works were agreed in principle which would mean extra signage, road markings and average speed cameras. We are awaiting news from the Road Safety team to see if the plan will be approved and financed. Finance was available before the recent election.

I would like to thank you for your continued support and as usual any issues please get in touch.

Following the report from Councillor WB the Chair asked all to offer a Vote of thanks to Wendy for her unwavering support and commitment to the Community of Wainfleet and as a gesture of appreciation and thanks the Clerk presented a patio tub of plants and card with good wishes from all present.

Chair CA invited Cllr M Hume to make her introduction.

Introduction of LCC Maria Hume

Cllr Hume introduced herself and shared her background as an NHS accredited mental health therapist. She expressed her commitment to serving the community as the new LCC Councillor, elected on May 1st, 2025. Recognizing the significant contributions of her predecessor, Wendy Bowkett, Cllr Hume acknowledged the challenging transition period due to her lack of prior council experience. The preceding 3 weeks have been a steep learning curve - however, she noted that she is adapting quickly and plans to regularly attend Parish and Town Council meetings during her tenure and is available for any questions or queries any resident has or wishes to make

Councillor W Bowkett requested to leave the meeting, expressing gratitude for the gift and thank you card.

The Chair thanked everyone for their introductions and reports and asked the Clerk to present the Financial Statement for the year.

Finance report – The Clerk read out the detailed annual finance reports giving a full account of monies received and submissions included in the Annual Governance statement which had been agreed at the Council Meeting Monday 19th May and submitted 21st May. All the figures are available on the WSM web site and public rights apply from 2nd June to 10th July inclusive.

Public Suggestions and Concerns

Cllr M Hume was asked a little more about herself and responded with the information requested.

Public discussion.

The public had no further issues or concerns to raise and thus the Chair moved to close the meeting if no further comments.

Close of Meeting – Chair C Alexander thanked everyone for contributing and closed the meeting at 17.30.

I confirm these minutes are a true record of the Annual Parish Meeting held Monday 9th June 2025

Signature...................................................................................... Chair WSM Parish Council

Date...................................................................................................