2024 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF WIGTOFT PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON the 8th of April 2024.

Present: Cllr S Brigham; Cllr B Leggott; Cllr I Mills; Cllr S Baxter and Cllr K Redhead.

Chairman’s remarks – none.

Public Forum – none.

121/23  To receive apologies and reasons for absence. Cllrs Collingwood and Smith sent their apologies. It was resolved to accept their apologies. County Cllr Brookes and Borough Councillor Cantwell sent their apologies.

122/23  To receive declarations of interest under the Localism Act 2011 – being any pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest not previously recorded on Member’s Register of Interests

None.

123/23  Notes of the meeting held on 8.4.24 to be confirmed and signed as minutes.

The above notes were agreed and signed as minutes. It was resolved to accept the notes as minutes.

124/23  Financial matters: Accounts due for payment.

It was resolved to agree the payments in the schedules and the up to date budget figures. ACTION: Clerk to make payments and add budget to website. Cllr Redhead volunteered to check the year end bank reconciliation. The clerk will send it out to her once the March bank statement is received.

125/23  Planning – none.

126/23 Correspondence received since the March meeting.

6.3.24                   Wigtoft Newsletter                                          Emailed to Councillors 12.3.24. Added to website.

8.3.24                   LALC enews and training bulletin                   Emailed to Councillors 12.3.24.

18.3.24                 Invitation to the Prince’s Trust Graduation   Emailed to Councillors 21.3.24.

19.3.24                 Invitation from Cllr J Cantwell to a meeting with Sutterton and Algarkirk Parish Councils’ joint meeting about forming a resilience group.         Emailed to Councillors 21.3.24.

15.2.24                 Offer of a free portrait of HM the King.          Forwarded to the Village Hall Committee 15.2.24.

22.3.24  Email from National Grid about Grimsby to Walpole Section 172 notices (new pylons).                          Emailed to Councillors, posted on Facebook and website, 22.3.24.

22.3.24                 LALC fortnightly enews.                                   Emailed to Councillors 26.3.24.

25.3.24                 Free Community Networking Event               Emailed to Councillors. Posted on Facebook 26.3.24.

26.3.24                 LCC Town and Parish Newsletter                    Emailed to Councillors 1.4.24.

**NALC is short for National Association of Local Councils.  **LALC is short for Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils.   **BBC is short for Boston Borough Council.  ** LCC is short for Lincolnshire County Council

127/23  Councillors’ Reports

Cllr Redhead – asked if the sidings work on the footpaths could be done more often by LCC. The clerk advised that the Parish Council can ask when it needs doing but we have no control over the schedule and it would be unlikely that LCC Highways would agree to do an extra clean outside of their existing schedule due to budget constraints..

Cllr Leggott –  has been advised that invoice for the electricity used to power the Christmas Lights is now due to be paid to the PCC. ACTION: Clerk to contact the PCC.

128/23  County and Borough Councillors Reports

Borough Councillor Cantwell sent a message to remind everyone about his and Borough Councillor Brown’s surgery in the village hall on 20/4/24 at ???

129/23  Clerk’s report

The pothole in Burtoft Lane North has been repaired.

Clamps and hoops have been purchased and delivered to the Litter Picking Group.

A survey template regarding the purchase of a Speed Indicator Device has been sent to Sandra and Sally for use at the Saturday coffee mornings and to Kim for some doorstep surveys.

I have emailed Boston Borough Council to clarify the exact purpose of the loan offer for replacing street light columns. I will not place the order for the new lamps until it is clear what is happening with the lamp columns – agenda item 17.

The year end internal audit has been booked.

The end of year accounts has been completed – all balanced. The AGAR will be completed and signed at the next meeting.

The vat return has been submitted for a refund of £561.91.

130/23  To review the March play area inspection undertaken by Cllr Leggott and decide if any actions are needed including the application of the Wet and Forget product to remove the algae. April inspection – Cllr Baxter.

The inspection was discussed. Generally the playing field and play area is in good order. Algae in various places needs treating. Gaps in wetpour need attention and  repair to slide. Nothing is urgent. It was resolved to discuss again at the next meeting when the Parish Council may have a handyman to undertake these types of tasks.

131/23  To retrospectively agree the purchase of hoops and clamps for the Litter Picking group at a cost of £16.60 and to discuss buying an additional bin for the layby at the Sutterton end of the village. (Requested at the Annual Parish Meeting). The clerk arranged for grabbers to be provided by Boston Borough Council.

It was  resolved to agree to these payments.

132/23  To review the Code of Conduct, Communications and Social Media policies.

The policies had previously been sent out to the Councillors. The clerk recommended to the Councillors that they should read the Code of The Code of Conduct carefully as it contains some new items. The Code of Conduct was reviewed and it was resolved to adopt this policy. The clerk advised that there is a new policy – Social media and electronic communications. This will likely overlap the social media policy above. The clerk will review the new policy and present at the next meeting. Similarly, there is a new Financial Regulations policy template available during April and the clerk will follow the same process as for the Social Media Policy. ACTION: Clerk to update the website with the Code of Conduct.

133/23  To review the completed surveys about purchasing a Speed Indicator Device.

After a discussion about the surveys, it was resolved that it was not necessary to obtain any further signatures. ACTION: Clerk to submit these with the application for funding.

134/23  To discuss the request from Citizen’s Advice for a donation (previously donated £30).

It was resolved to donate £30 to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.135/23  To discuss the letter received from Boston Borough Council about the offer of a  loan for replacement street lights columns and the timing for purchasing the replacement LED lamps (spend already agreed).

The clerk advised that the letter was not clear about when Parish Councils would need to apply for this loan if they needed to . The Councillors felt that they wouldn’t want to borrow money  unless it was absolutely necessary. It was resolved that the clerk is to reply to the letter asking for clarification. It was also resolved that the replacement street lamps to LED would be put on hold until the above query is received.  ACTION: Clerk to query wording with Boston Borough Council.

Meeting closed at 20:25.  Next meeting 13.5.24 at 7.30pm is the Parish Council’s Annual meeting followed by the usual monthly meeting.