July 2025 DRAFT Minutes
Grasby Parish Council
C/o Ash Grove Farm, North Willingham, Market Rasen, LN8 3RJ
Telephone 07890 238463 Email: grasbyparishcouncil@gmail.com
Minutes of the Council Meeting held Wednesday 16th July 2025, at the Village Hall
Present: Cllr R. Bennett, Cllr J Brown, Cllr S Riley, Cllr J Harris and the clerk.
District Councillor Cllr P Morris, County Councillor J Bean
0 members of the public.
Public forum- 1 member of the public attended.
Lisa Williams from European Energy attended to give a presentation regarding the proposed Twelve Months Solar Farm at Caistor which crosses into the parish of Grasby. Lisa explained the proposed project will cover 79 hectares. 35 hectares are in the parish of Grasby. The land will be leased from the farmer for 30-40 years and they estimate it will provide enough electricity for 14,000 homes. After this time period there is a clause to say the site will be reinstated to how it was. If planning is granted, construction would take approximately 9-12 months. During that time there would be heavy traffic to the site and large amounts of hardcore brought in. This would need careful planning and the roads would be assessed prior to construction taking place. No battery storage is planned for the site. All electricity would feed into the grid. The site would be fenced to prevent deer getting into it but could be grazed by sheep. A biodiversity plan will be produced. There will be some screening if permission is granted but the solar panels are fixed and should not produce glare. A one-off community benefit of £100,000 is offered and the 3 parishes can decide how this is distributed. This amount is set and non-negotiable. A number of questions were asked about finance and how the company would ensure the land was reinstated. Lisa was unable to answer and said she would find out. Questions were asked regarding subsidies should the solar farm need to switched off at any point. Answers to these questions were vague. The land is currently used as agricultural land. Lisa stated that it has been assessed as grade 3B. Panels will be imported from China and possibly Germany. They will not be produced in the UK.
49.25 Apologies for absence: Apologies were accepted from Cllr Grimes & Cllr Mead
50.25 Declarations of Interest –None
51.25 The minutes of the ANNUAL COUNCIL meeting held 21st May 2025 - were approved and signed as a true record.
52.25 Lincolnshire County Council Matters: - Cllr Bean apologized for not being able to attend the last meeting following the elections. He reported that Front Street is scheduled to be resurfaced in 2026/7. Caistor Town Council voted, by majority, that they are opposed to the proposed Twelve Months Solar farm. Cllr Bean is going to be attending a meeting regarding Local Government Reorganisation and asked for Grasby’s opinions on the matter. Grasby parish councillors would like to know what the benefits of the new system will be to local government and would like to see a transparency of cost. Cllr Bean to investigate the ongoing issues with the water mains on Main Street and Church Hill.
53.25 West Lindsey District Council Matters: -Cllr Morris reported that West Lindsey District Council are struggling to decide on their response to the Local Government reorganisation proposals. The Leader and Deputy Leader have left leaving no one with overall control. They are currently trying to resolve the issues asap.
54.25 Clerk’s report- nothing additional to report that is not covered on the agenda.
55.25 Highways Matters including waiting restrictions- the amended waiting restrictions are currently out for consultation until 28th July. The Council again expressed dismay regarding currently legislation not allowing for all school transport to use the bus stop.
56.25 Finance –
Schedule of payments and receipts:
(i) C Wright, salary June- £142
(ii) C Wright, salary July- £142
(iii) C Wright, expenses June and July £57
(iv) M Williams, grass cutting- £264
(v) LALC, website management- £216
(vi) Cassells, audit - £102
(vii) M Williams, grass cutting- £264
(viii) S Riley, cloud storage- £26.31
(ix) Planning with people, NP- £1643
(x) VAT reclaim 2024/25- £904.47
Reserve account balance 09.07.25- £13206.77
57.25 Neighbourhood Plan Update – Cllr Mead was unable to attend due to other commitments. He submitted the following report: -
The 6-week Regulation 14 statutory consultation period has now closed and the comments received are being analysed.
54 responses were received. Of these 25 objections were received, mainly regarding the allocation of site GSO.01 for future housing.
All responses will be reviewed with the planning consultant before deciding whether to make changes to the Neighbourhood Plan.
A meeting to do this has been set for 23rd July at 10:30 in the Village Hall.
The SEA screening report is being completed and will also be discussed at the above meeting. It will be used to decide if a full environmental assessment is required, hopefully not, but the Steering Group needs to complete the process.
Nev Brown, West Lindsey's Senior Neighbourhood Planning Officer had been asked to attend and it is
hoped to be able to discuss and set out the final steps needed to complete the Plan.
Financial support for Neighbourhood Plans has now been ended by the government. It is expected there will be further consultant time needed to support the Plan through its final approval steps. As soon as these details and the timescale are known the Steering Group will inform the Parish Council so we can discuss how to fund these final steps.
58.25 Planning applications & decisions: WL/2025/00676, Land off lane to Hill Farm, change of use to create secure dog walking area- no comments to make. WL2025/00664, 2 Front Street- planning to remove outbuilding, alter porch, change windows and erect boundary- no comments to make.
59.25 Correspondence-(i) request from North Kelsey Parish Council to form joint working group re proposed solar farm, Caistor. Cllr Bennett to contact the council. It was resolved that there is not enough information regarding the solar farm to make an informed decision yet.
60.25 To discuss Twelve Months solar farm, Caistor- following the presentation from Lisa Williams prior to the start of the Parish Council meeting it was resolved that there are not enough details available to make an informed decision. Council to wait until the planning application is submitted before forming an opinion either way.
61.25 Super Broadband: Cllr Harris reported that ultra-fast broadband is in the pipe line for 2026. Item to be removed from the agenda.
62.25 Parish Council Website: The website is now complete. There is additional cloud storage space if required. Due to local businesses not tsking up the offer of adding their details to the local business directory tab that area may be removed. Item to be removed from the agenda.
63.25 Additional items for the next agenda- none
64.25 Date and time of next meeting- Wednesday 17th September @ 7.15 pm
Meeting Closed – 21.37
These minutes are draft until approved at the above meeting.