2026-27 Minutes

Grasby Parish Council

C/O Ash Grove Farm, North Willingham, Market Rasen, LN8 3RA, Telephone 07890 238463, Email: clerk@grasbyparish.gov.uk

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held Wednesday 29th July 2026, at the Village Hall

Present: Cllr S Riley (Chair), Cllr R Bennett, Cllr J Harris, Cllr J Brown, Cllr P Grimes, Cllr C Mead and Cllr. P Morris

0 members of the public

Public forum – 0 members of the public attended

56.26 Apologies for absence: The Clerk and Cllr J Bean

The Parish Council would like to extend their support to the Clerk, Charlotte Wright at this time and wish her daughter a speedy recovery. 

57.26 Declarations of Interest: None

58.26 Minutes of previous meeting: The minutes of the council meeting held 27th May 2026 were approved and signed as a true record with one addition under item 38.26:

The members of the Parish Council warmly thank Cllr R Bennett for his long tenure as chairman. Rob will remain on the Parish Council as vice chairman where his steady hand and sound judgement are still needed and appreciated.

59.26 Lincolnshire County Council Matters: Cllr Bean was not in attendance due to other commitments. We look forward to seeing James soon.

60.26 West Lindsey District Council Matters: Cllr Morris reported on the recent government decision on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in our area:

• Grasby Parish will become part of the ‘Rural Lincolnshire Unitary Authority’, a greatly increased area to that covered by the current West Lindsey District Council (see Greater Lincolnshire LGR).
• West Lindsey District Council (WLDC) will cease to exist from May 2028.
• The number of councillors in the region will fall from 5 to 2. Elections for new councillors will be held in May 2027. The newly elected members will shadow the incumbents for a year prior to taking on the full role.
• It has yet to be decided where the new administrative centre shall be located or which councillor will be responsible for the administration of Grasby parish (currently Cllr P Morris himself of Kelsey Wold Ward).
• This change could impact the responsibilities of Parish Councils in that additional responsibilities may be devolved to a local level. Peter will keep the parish council updated as things progress.

ACTION: Cllr Morris

61.26    Anglian Water Infrastructure Upgrade matters: The following points were raised regarding the start of the works in the last month:

• Residents have found it difficult to find Megan Sperryn deputy on days when she is away from work. Megan is our Customer Experience Specialist and main customer contact.
• It was felt the customer experience with Anglian Water needs improvement. For example:
  • work only appears to start at 11:30 and completes by 14:30 due to the long distances travelled by the engineers from their base of operation each day. It should be noted the engineers onsite from Trust and Clancy are doing a very good job and working well with the community while on site.
  • Although the agreement was for vehicles to be available to park back on home drives by 17:30, this appears not to have been the case in some circumstances over the last month.
  • Rubbish bin collection has been affected by Anglian Water barriers, meaning refuse workmen have been unable to access some bins for emptying.
• Megan sent a report to the council (see Anglian Water Status Report July 26). She looks to send a similar report prior to all future meetings. Megan also intends to attend in person for the scheduled September and November parish council meetings. Steve will contact Megan regarding this feedback.

ACTION: Cllr Riley

62.26 Highways Matters including waiting restrictions: Cllr Riley reported Grant Wight indicated that grants to help purchase the SID/SAM for Station Road should be available for applications in August. We look to raise £3,000 to support this purchase from Elan City as soon as possible given the increased traffic on this road caused by the water pipe upgrade diversions. Peter will keep the council informed of progress with Grant.

ACTION: Cllr Morris

63.26 Finance:

(a) Schedule of receipts:

• C Wright, salary June, £142
• C Wright, salary July, £142
• C Wright, expenses June & July, £64.50
• M Williams, grass cutting 6th and 21st May, £264
• ICO, data protection office, £47
• Smith of Derby, church clock repair, £366. Note: this payment was approved after discussion. Steve to see the PCC representative to ensure all future receipts for the clock are communicated in advance with the council for consideration of payment.

ACTION: Cllr Riley

(b) Schedule of payments:

• VAT reclaim, £466.73

The parish council approved the above payment of the receipts by the Clerk.

64.26 Parish Council Policies and Procedures: Those distributed by the Clerk have been reviewed and updated. All updated documents will be placed on our website for councillors to verify. Any comments or changes to be brought to the next meeting in September for readoption. The next policy and procedure scheduled review is July 2028. Potential additional policies and procedures to be discussed with the Clerk.

65.26 Neighbourhood Plan Update: Cllr Mead updated the meeting on the progress of the plan as follows:

• Since the last meeting in May, the Independent Inspector issued a clarification statement in June to which the Steering Group responded in July.
• We recently received the draft full response on the plan from the Inspector. This was discussed with Helen Metcalf (our planning consultant) earlier today. The changes, although numerous, are related mainly to clarifications and consistency in language. In general, the Inspector was pleased and supportive of the Neighbourhood Plan and the supporting supplementary documents submitted for his inspection.
• Chris, in liaison with Nev Brown (WLDC) will work with the Steering Group to complete a final version of the plan for the Inspector’s approval. This version is the one to be put to a referendum of all residents.
• A final public meeting will be held by the Steering Group prior to the referendum to present the document to all residents of Grasby and Searby cum Owmby. Note: the referendum is expected by the end of the year.
• The Steering Group will meet next on the 12th August to discuss the Inspector’s draft report, although it must be noted that his findings, in principle, are not open to change.

The parish council agreed to give full authority for Cllr Mead to act with the Steering Group, WLDC and the Inspector to complete the final version of the plan and progress its path through a formal referendum and potential adoption.

66.26 Planning Matters:

WL/2026/00180- Application for the installation of a 49.9MW capacity solar farm, Airfield Farm, North Kelsey. Decision pending. It was noted all comments and consultations had been removed from the WLDC Planning website. We need to make our views and comments known to the Planning Officer. Peter to investigate.

ACTION: Cllr Bennett to send the updated set of comments to the Planning Officer and European Energy forthwith.

WL/2025/00676, Land off lane to Hill Farm, change of use to create secure dog walking area, decision pending.  Clerk to contact planning officer for an update.

WL/2026/00527- planning for change of use of agricultural building, Bentley Lane – pending. The council have no comments on this application.

67.26 Correspondence: Items covered under this item as follows:

• Dog barking nuisance at Willow Farm. The noise made day and night by the dogs has become unacceptable. Peter to send a link so the appropriate authority can be notified should the problem continue.
• The public right of way footpath between Bentley Lane and Wilmore Lane needs to be clearly identified and kept clear of foliage. This will be checked by a councillor before the next meeting.
• Recent changes to the parish council website have not resulted in greater usage statistics. It is felt that the website needs to be better publicised to residents, potentially through the existing resident’s Facebook page. Chris to discuss with Grasby site administrator as a first measure.

68.26 Any Other Business: Cllr Riley proposed the following be considered by all parish councillors by the end of the year:

• To add a focus to meetings in 2027 which covers proactive steps to deliver the parish aspirations as described in the Neighbourhood Plan. The suggestion is; to prioritise the aspirations, form steering groups and empower such groups to assist in the delivery of the aspiration.
• To schedule regular parish council consultations, say once every 6 months, with representatives of the school, church, pub, local businesses and village hall (and potentially a separate consultation with land owners) to engender a collaborative approach to meeting joint objectives with parish council support.

The council requested a grant of £500 from Peter’s discretionary allowance to help with the additional receipt for the church clock and other general increased costs of parish administration. Peter will consider this request.

69.26 Items for the next agenda: usual plus: Policies and Procedure 2026 readoption decision.

70.26 Date and time of next meeting: Wednesday 16th September 2026 @ 7.00pm for public forum followed by Council meeting at 7.15 pm at Grasby Village Hall.

Important Note: These minutes are draft until approved at the above September meeting.

Meeting Closed – 20:35