Minutes

WALESBY ANNUAL PARISH MEETING

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held Tuesday 16th May 2023 at 7.00pm.

PRESENT: D. Thurman, J. Sweny, S Wilson,

In attendance: V Davies (Clerk, RFO),

5 Members of the public

 

Minutes Of The Meeting Held 6th May 2022:

The Parish Council resolved that they be signed as a true record. Proposed J Sweny, Seconded D Thurman. Unanimously approved by all councillors.

 

Chairman’s Report

 

The Chairman reported the following:-

Firstly I would like to give a big thank you to my fellow councillors in a year that has seen a number of major projects come to fruition.

A special thank you goes to Cllr Ashton who sadly has resigned. She always contributed significantly to our debates and to correcting our minutes. In the last couple of years she headed up the steering committee for the Broadband project-a difficult job that brought a lot of unforeseen difficulties for the group. She dealt with those difficulties with professionalism.

In January Cllr Wilson was co-opted to the council. We welcome him as he will be invaluable in our future debates.

With regard to planning applications there continues to be more extending the Poplar Farm Country Park( was Sunnyside). We continue to object to them.

Other planning applications were quite small and uncontentious. We either had no comment or we approved them.

Highways issues particularly of flooding and blocked drains continue. Cllr Norgrove does an excellent job chasing Highways for action with tenacity. She reports monthly in detail and keeps us well up to date. She has an unenviable task for which we thank her. Issues with Anglian Water now seem to be going away.

The broadband project was started in the autumn. As I said previously many unforeseen issues arose. However the team of Jeanette, Andrew, Sara and Joe kept on top of them all and found solutions for residents. Recently we have had confirmation from BT Openreach that the project to put in the infrastructure was coming to a close and the project had been paid for in total by redeemed vouchers from DCMS. This meant that the project was totally successful and there was no residual cost to be picked up by the council. That fact is testament to the very hard work put in by the team to whom we all owe a huge debt of gratitude.

In an effort to tackle speeding though the village we purchased a Speed Indicator Device paid for partly by a grant from WLDC, donations from villagers and the balance from council funds. Thank you to Dave Norgrove who has taken on the task of periodically moving it around the village and to Paul Day who undertakes data analysis from the machine. We continue to lobby for all our other wish list items- lower speed limits, speed retarders, weight limit and relocating some 30mph signs.

We continue to give grant support to village organisations- the PCC for Old Church clock maintenance, Walesby in Bloom to paint the phone box, Neighbourhood Watch for sign renovation, Trevor Rudolph for defibrillator training. All this with the investment in the Speeding Device meant that we have overspent for the year. So further requests for grants had to be refused.

Finally despite a significant increase in election expenses from WLDC we resolved that for the benefit of villagers it would be wrong in the current austere climate to increase our precept. Our ability to make grants and to invest in projects in the coming year will be reduced.

 

.Responsible Financial Officer Report:

The RFO presented the accounts as at 31 March 2022. Reserves to be carried forward are £4841.40.

 

4Open Meeting:

A parishioner asked what the opening balance on 1.4.22 was. This was £5361.81.

 

WALESBY PARISH COUNCIL Annual Bank Reconciliation

1.4.2022-31.3.2023

Bal bf 1.4.22 £5361.81

Plus income £4679.37

£10041.18

Less Expenditure £5,199.78

£4,841.40

 

Discussion took place regarding the flooding and the clearing of the gulleys. A parishioner advised that a jetting company was required to resolve the issue. Cllr Norgrove worked tirelessly to resolve issues with highways. The parish council would ask for the drains to be jetted, rather than merely clearing the gulley. The parishioner would liaise with Cllr Norgrove.

 

 

The meeting closed at 7.30pm