Meeting Notes
Notes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Wednesday 28 April 2021 at 7.00pm
Under the Local Authorities (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority Meeting) (England) Regulations 2020, this meeting was held by video conference.
Members Present:
Cllrs Ashton Derry, Brown, Cotton, Crump, Harper, Hillman, Ives, Kenny, Loryman, Spurr, I Willox and J Willox
Absent:
None
In Attendance:
Elaine Atkin, Parish Clerk
Lydia Hopton, Assistant Clerk
There were 13 members of the public in attendance.
Meeting
01/21 To receive and accept apologies for absence
Apologies had been received from Anne Stafford (U3A) and from Chris Hewis (Saxilby History Group). These were accepted.
02/21 To receive Declarations of Interest in accordance with the Localism Act 2011
There were none.
03/21 To note the minutes from the 2019 Annual Parish Meeting (2020 meeting not held due to Covid-19)
Cllr Hillman proposed, and these were resolved.
04/21 To receive reports from various village organisations
Foss Focus - David Turner. A written report is available online, but the headlines are:
• Printed copies had to be suspended in April 2020 due to Covid, but continued online (without advertising)
• Printed copies were able to recommence in August 2020
• Thanks to all the contributors over the year and volunteers who deliver
• Distribution outlets are expanding
Saxilby History Group. A written report is available online, but the headlines are:
• Monthly meetings affected by Covid
• 20th anniversary of the group in 2020
• The group still managed to have active projects
• Moved to a new website, which supports mobile platforms
• Over 1,000 followers on social media
• Hope to commence meetings in September this year
Saxilby School. A written report is available online, but the headlines are:
• Community contributions of IT equipment which were loaned out to pupils
• 50% of pupils were educated in school, with the rest receiving remote lessons via MS Teams
• National voucher scheme enabled pupils continued to receive meals whilst at home
• Inundated with praise and thanks
• School numbers remain strong
• Post lockdown, they will be looking for volunteers to help with reading
• Raising funds for a daily mile track
Saxilby Mystery Group – Ray Parnell. A written report is available online, but the headlines are:
• Burns Supper held in January 2020, but no events held since then due to Covid
• Plans to hold a Barn Dance in October, Burns Supper in January 2022 and Murder Mystery in June 2022.
Saxilby Scouts and Guides – Neil Mellor. A written report is available online, but the headlines are:
• Weekly meetings held via Zoom (limited numbers)
• July 2020 permitted to meet outdoors
• Canoing on the Fossdyke in August 2020
• Operation Goodwill collected over 35 shoe boxes of items for the Nomad Trust
• Paper collection restarted in April this year
• Hope to return to some semblance of normality for meeting by the summer
WI – Bron Williams. A written report is available online, but the headlines are:
• Members kept connected via buddy phone calls
• Zoom used from September 2020 and monthly meetings held
• Newsletter for members has proved popular
• Members kept entertained and informed during the pandemic
Saxilby Voluntary Car Scheme – Maggie Laing. A written report is available online, but the headlines are:
• Continued to operate despite all the challenges of Covid
• Cancellation of hospital appointments and in-person GP appointments during Covid caused a drop in demand
• 51 trips April – August 2020 instead of the ‘normal’ 35-45 per month
• Thanks to all the volunteer drivers
• Recently lost some of the volunteer drivers and desperately need more drivers – Parish Council noted that they are promoting this on their social media
• David Turner offered to put an advert in Foss Focus
U3A – Roger Sellars. A written report is available online, but the headlines are:
• Meetings impacted by Covid like everybody else
• 180 members
• 28 group activities
• 10th anniversary this year – plans to celebrate this in July
• Meetings due to restart in August/September
Memorial Field Trustees – Sue Holgate
• £9,580.84 in the bank as of December 2020 (£20 increase on last year)
• £8,200 of this is allocated towards the MUGA
• 6 parishioner trustees willing to be elected again, 4 Parish Council trustee vacancies to fill
• Meeting held to discuss accounts required by Charity Commission agreed Council would provide separate accounts.
• (Clerk confirmed feedback from one of the Councillor trustees who attended the meeting in April, that the trustees would submit their return to the Charities Commission and would not ask the Council to submit historical accounts for the field and all activities on it).
05/21 To receive a report of Parish Council activities for the year
Cllr Cotton gave a presentation of the last year’s ctivities. This can be found online, but the headlines are’:
• It’s been a difficult and challenging year for the Council, as it has been for many others
• Fortunately, we had tested out our Emergency Plan just a few months prior to Covid and were able to put this into action
• We’ve learnt a lot about communication, we know we haven’t got it right yet, but we believe that we have made significant improvements, via the introduction of a proactive Communications team
• The Council embraced the use of Zoom very early on and has managed to hold a full programme of meetings throughout the pandemic – quite an achievement as some councils held very few meetings at all
• The Community Centre fire in May was a further blow
• Following extensive works, the Community Centre was handed back to us earlier this year and facilities are being re-instated in a phased manner
• Stringent checks on our finances continue, with monthly scrutiny from our internal auditor and the annual external audit
• We often get criticised for having the highest parish precept in West Lindsey, but few parishes provide as many services to the local community as we do
• Remember that the parish council element of your precept is spent in the parish; whilst your precept contribution for West Lindsey or Lincolnshire County Council can be spent anywhere in the district or county respectively, and not necessarily in the parish
• The Big Community Survey took place at the start of this year, with over 50% return rate
• The Survey provided Council with a true picture of what was important to residents, and this, alongside the Neighbourhood Development Plan, will help the Council to formulate budgets and services to concentrate on
• Residents set the priorities, and Council delivers them
• There has been lots of vocal opinions concerning the Pavilion Bar, both for and against
• The Survey has now given Council a direction to follow, and new methods of operating the Bar are being looked into, and will be communicated as appropriate
• We thank those Councillors who have left during the year, and welcome a new batch of Councillors on board
• The Community Support Scheme, which saw the Council support the Saxilby & Ingleby Good Neighbour Scheme (SIGNS), provided valuable support and assistance for the vulnerable in our community
• The Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP), which was ‘made’ in 2017, is due for an update in 2022
• Projects as identified in the NDP following public consultation are progressing, with real progress being made on the long-awaited wheeled park (due to complete in May) and commencement of the MUGA (Multi User Games Area) project
• Children’s cricket sessions are planned for the summer
• The path from Saxilby to the Saxilby Business Park is progressing
• Working with ACCESS Lincoln (Lincolnshire County Council) the final part of the cycle path from Saxilby to Lincoln (through the Daubeney Estate) is hopefully due for completion by the end of the year
• Regeneration of the Bridge Street Conservation Area was hit by the lack of fund-raising events due to Covid, however wildflowers have been planted along the towpath, a new avenue of trees has been planted on Bridge Street (thanks to local donations and sponsorship) and plans are underway for new Saxilby Waterfront gateway signs, noticeboard and bench near the bus stop near West Bank.
• We’ve made improvements to one of the rose gardens in the burial ground and hope to do the same for the other rose garden
• A mentorship scheme for new Councillors has been introduced
• Community engagement remains a priority
• We could not have achieved any of the above this year, without the tireless efforts of our staff and our thanks go out to them
06/21 To receive Parish Council financial report for 2019-20. (Please note 2020-21 year-end close down is not until May).
The Clerk ran through the 2019-20 financial position. Although there was a closing balance of -£10,325, the 2019-20 opening balance of £7,031 had erroneously been transferred to reserves and it shouldn’t have been. Council subsequently agreed to move this back to ‘working funds’ for 2020-21. The remaining -£3,292 deficit was acknowledged as due to the impact of Covid-19 in March 2020. (This was loss of room hires and bar takings).
07/21 To elect Village Hall trustees (6 parishioners and 1 Parish Councillor) and trustees of the Memorial Field (6 trustees – parishioners)
Cllr Spurr volunteered to continue as the Council representative on the Village Hall committee and this was resolved.
The Parish Council trustees will be elected at the Annual Full Council meeting in May.
08/21 To take any public questions
A comment was made about the iconic willow tree which has been cut back on the bank of the Fossdyke. Council was not given advance notice of this by Canal & River Trust. The tree was storm damaged, and it is possible that more dead branches were found than expected, so it was a Health and Safety issue which required more significant work. We have been told that willow will grow back quickly.
There were no further questions/comments.
Cllr Cotton thanked everybody for attending and closed the meeting at 8:04pm.
These notes of the meeting were taken by the Clerk and cannot be regarded as the official notes until they have been approved at the next meeting.