2024 Annual Parish Meeting

Grasby Parish Council
C/o Ash Grove Farm, North Willingham, Market Rasen, LN8 3RJ Telephone 07890 238463    Email: grasbyparishcouncil@gmail.com

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held 15th May 2024, at the Grasby Village Hall.

Present: Cllr R. Bennett, Cllr. J Harris, Cllr J Brown, Cllr C Mead, Cllr S Riley, District Cllr P Morris and County Cllr T Smith.

0 members of the public were in attendance.

1.    The minutes of the meeting held 17th May 2023 on were signed as a true and accurate record.

2.    The Chairman presented his yearly report as follows:

Firstly, I would like to welcome everyone to the Grasby Annual Parish Meeting, thank you for attending.

The last annual meeting was held on 17 May 2023, when I also presented the Chairman’s report.

The last 12 months have again been active for the Parish Council and I would like to summarise the various activities that have taken place:-

Councillors

We have had some changes to councillors over the year, Aileen Sarahan was co-opted in May but subsequently resigned for personal reasons. Further co-options during the year included Chris Meade, also Chair of the Grasby, Searby & Owmby Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group (GSONP), and Steve Riley, secretary to GSONP. Therefore, there are currently a total of 6 councillors:-

Cllr John Harris, Cllr Janet Brown, Cllr Peter Grimes, Cllr Chris Meade, Cllr Steve Riley and myself, Cllr Rob Bennett.

This is more than we have had for some time which is really positive. I think that we still have room for one more councillor, anyone over the age of 18 can join the council and it would be great to see younger members of the community involved too.

Parish Clerk

We are extremely grateful to Charlotte Wright the parish clerk, who, as always has been proactive and efficient throughout the period. Charlotte keeps us up to speed on all kinds of matters and has ensured that we are up to date with our financial, governance and other policies. Unfortunately, Charlotte is absent this evening but will hopefully be back with us in due course, we send her and her family our best wishes.

District & County Councillors

I would also like to thank Cllr Peter Morris – West Lindsey District Councillor and Cllr
 
Tom Scott – Lincolnshire County Councillor for the help and guidance, they have been able to provide. Both Peter and Tom have been extremely supportive during the last year and regularly attend our meetings. They are useful contacts if any members of the public have any District or County issues to deal with directly.

Routine Parish Council Meetings

During the 2023/24 year 6 formal meetings were held, the full Minutes of each meeting are available for all to read on the PC website https://grasby.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/ and they are posted on the noticeboard once approved, until the next meeting. The PC noticeboard is situated on the wall next to the Old Post Office on Vicarage Lane. There is a further noticeboard outside the Village Hall.

17 May 2023 – Grasby Annual Parish Meeting and Parish Council Annual Meeting, 19 July 2023, 20 September 2023, 15 November 2023, 17 January 2024 and 20 March
2024.

Matters dealt with during the year include:-

A1084

Purchase of a second reactive speed sign which is to be installed facing the west bound carriageway, this follows the successful implementation of the east bound reactive sign. We await confirmation from the Road Safety Partnership on the positioning of the pole required for the equipment.

Highways

Parking in the village becomes congested at school drop-off and pick-up times, and this can lead to irresponsible parking. We have worked with LCC Highways to introduce a bus stand and prohibit waiting on areas of Vicarage Lane and Main Street between 8am- 4pm Mondays to Fridays. Despite some objections raised to the original Order, Lincs CC have overruled these and the restrictions will be put in place in due course. In addition to this the 30mph speed limit on Station Road was extended a further 80 metres out of the village.

Village Maintenance

The annual grass cutting contract was carried out by Dave Williams and his son, Andrew, of North Kelsey Moor, they continue to do an excellent job and the village is looking tidy. There was no price increase for this year’s work.

Daffodil Planting

2,200 daffodil bulbs were purchased with the remainder of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee fund. These were planted by volunteers in various areas around the village and will add to the streetscape in the early spring for years to come.

Planning

We have made comments to WLDC on numerous planning applications, the majority of which are usually uncontentious extensions, but quite a few have raised a lot of comment, such as the reserved matters application for 11 Clixby Lane, the Paragraph 80 application for a new home off Owmby Wold Lane, the appeal against refusal of application at Rhodesia on Main Street . During the year planning was refused for 2 additional houses off Station Road on the site that already has permission for 2 dwellings and the appeal for 4 houses to the south of Clixby Lane was rejected by the Planning Inspectorate.

GSONP

I am very pleased to report on the progress made by the GSNOP Steering Group over the last 12 months ably led by Chris Mead in the Chair, Steve Riley as secretary and Janet Brown as treasurer. The Steering Group has around 12 active members, although anyone is welcome at any of the meetings, and is currently meeting every two weeks. The Steering Group acts independently of the PC but ultimately the funding comes via the PC which is the sponsor of the plan, a MoU between the two has been signed. The plan area was enlarged to include the adjoining parish of Searby cum Owmby. A questionnaire was issued to all residents last summer which received a good response, the feedback that flowed from that and subsequent further community engagement has helped shape the plan so far.

Funding for the 23/24 year was received which enabled the engagement of planning consultant Helen Metcalfe to develop a draft NP based on the Vision Statement and Objectives drawn up by the group and based on public feedback. A ‘call for sites’ has been sent out to landowners in the parishes and responses are due by today. The responses will then be evaluated with a view to having the Pre-submission draft NP available by mid-June with a public consultation event on 26 June in the Village Hall to get further feedback on the draft plan. At the same time a Design Codes and Guidance document, which will influence design for future development, and a Housing Needs Assessment have been drafted for the NP Area by consultants AECOM, with direct funding from Locality.

Precept and Funding

Each year GPC applies for a precept (essentially funding) from WLDC to cover the running of the PC’s activities and for other identified expenditure. It is worth noting that the PC provides grants out of the precept to several local amenities including the village hall committee (to at least cover their insurance) and the repair and servicing of the church clock.

Financial Diligence

The GPC accounts are kept by the Charlotte Wright who is the responsible financial officer, as well as the Clerk. The accounts are sent off to a local accountant for internal audit each year.

Thanks

Once again, my thanks go to all the Councillors who have served on the Parish Council during the year and who have been an enormous help to me particularly as we are all volunteers and have busy commitments. And of course, to Charlotte, our Clerk who has guided us throughout, it is much appreciated.

3.    To  receive  a  report  of  Parish Council  finances  from the  Responsible Financial Officer

The chairman presented the annual finances to the parish council. The total annual income for 2023/2024 was £13531. A large proportion of this was a grant awarded for undertaking a Neighbourhood Plan. The Total annual expenditure for 2023/2024 was £5441. An internal audit has been undertaken by Cassels Accountants who confirmed the finances are run in the correct manner.

4.    Open Meeting- nothing to report.