2021 Annual Parish Meeting

MINUTES OF THE SWINDERBY ANNUAL PARISH MEETING held at 7:30pm on 19 July 2021 at SWINDERBY VILLAGE HALL, Bulpit lane, Swinderby

APM1.Apologies for Absence.

Apologies have been received from:

Cllr N Marris

Cllr  G Beales

Apologies noted

Cllr M Thompson (LCC), Cllr P Overton (NKDC) and 2 members of the public were in attendance

APM2.To receive and approve the minutes of the Parish Meeting 15 April 2019.

The minutes of the meeting were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting and signed by the Parish Council Chairman.

APM3.Chairs Report on Parish Events.

The issues that have dominated the agenda over the past twelve months have been the pandemic and the development of the brownfield site. Therefore, it may come as no surprise that the first meeting of the parish council was held remotely on June 8th, 2020. The meetings in April and May having been cancelled because of the pandemic. Subsequently 10 ordinary meetings of the council and 3 extraordinary meetings have all been organised remotely. The extraordinary meetings have addressed the proposed largescale development of the village, and this is still an ongoing major challenge for us all.  The Link Up and our Facebook page have been used to provide any relevant updates but suffice to say progress has been slow.

The dedication and the ability to embrace new ways of working by the parish Councillors and Clerk with the support of Cllr Overton (NKDC) and Cllr Thompson (LCC) has resulted in Swinderby Parish Council being able to continue to successfully address the operational procedures for example, grass cutting, tree survey, play area inspections, financial record keeping, planning applications and public footpaths, and in addition to complete a number of strategic projects. This report  gives a brief insight into a successful parish council working within the restraints placed upon it by the pandemic and other constraints.    

It has also been possible to attend courses and meet with others including NKDC on planning issues and Network Rail on the grade 2 listed signal box via computer links saving valuable time in terms of travel and associated costs. Plans have been submitted to upgrade the railway line between Lincoln and Newark and this will involve automatic gates being installed at Meardsall Crossing.

As a community we were fortunate that many of you volunteered to help others during the past twelve months and one of our recurring agenda items was the help we could provide to this group of volunteers. Because the group was extremely well organised the support from us was mainly financial and the opportunity to discuss possible strategies with the coordinator to make certain all aspects were covered.

In response to your concerns regarding speeding traffic we purchased and installed two speed indicator devices and have worked with Highways on signage to try and reduce the numbers of HGVs travelling through the village.

Concern has been expressed by several residents over the fact that some land viewed traditionally as parish land was no longer under our jurisdiction and therefore, we are working with solicitors to ensure all the land owned by the parish is registered. This is a drawn-out procedure, but we are making progress albeit very slowly.

There was a need to buy a new defibrillator and we were fortunate that residents coupled with fund raising by the Kisimul School covered the costs.  A new notice board was purchased and installed on the village hall and three new bins strategically located in the parish. We decided to create a Facebook page to keep residents updated and receive feedback. Our new website was launched at the start of the year. It is here that you can find the agendas of all meetings and the minutes.

The Playing Field on Station Road was made more widely available to our residents, and we continue to nurture the orchard located at the entrance to this field. We spent time with the community planting trees and a highlight of the year was working yet again with our primary school pupils planting trees and developing a meadow.

We were overwhelmed with the response to the litter picking appeal and thank you all for your contributions. This led us to launch ‘Pride in Our Parish’ initiative and the response to adopt a planter or an area to maintain within the parish was fantastic. There will be more opportunities on the way for you to participate in this initiative should you so wish.

We have been rationalising our operational procedures to ensure they are fit for purpose and circulating the key documents to ensure key information is well embedded into how we function and to support succession planning.

As you might expect, there were other developments all well documented in the minutes on our website as always. These include reviewing all planning applications and responding, if need be, in detail, as in the case of the rendering plant. Financial transactions and records are updated monthly. We try and ensure the grass we are responsible for is maintained to an acceptable standard and inspect the Play Area on a regular basis. There is also a need to look after the saplings planted in previous years if they are to mature. Agendas must be constructed and displayed within the legal framework and minutes available to all.  A busy year and I conclude this report by thanking yet again the team for all their hard work and to you for taking an active part in parish life.

APM4.Financial Report 2020/21.

Due to the pandemic, there were some changes to the expected income and expenditure for the year.  However, the Parish Council spend remained within the set budget and excellent feedback was received form the internal auditor.  The Parish Council were exempt from an external audit due to income and expenditure both being under £25,000.  The Annual Governance and Accountability Return is available for all to see on the Parish Council website.  The notice for the exercise of public rights to view financial records this year is until 23rd July.  However, the Clerk can be contacted at any time of the year to answer any questions about Parish Council finance.

APM5.Open Forum for Parishioners comments and questions.

No comments or questions raised

The meeting was closed at 7.55pm.