2025 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF WIGTOFT PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON the 7th of July 2025

Present: Cllr I Mills; Cllr S Baxter; Cllr K Redhead; Cllr S Collingwood and Cllr S Brigham.                                                                            Also present: County Councillor Paul Lock.

Public Forum. (The Public Forum does not form part of the meeting of the Parish Council) - None.

The Chairperson, Cllr Mills, opened the meeting at 19.30 and welcomed County Councillor Paul Lock to the meeting.

046/25  Chairperson’s remarks – none.

047/25  To receive apologies and reasons for absence.

Apologies and reasons for absence were received from Cllr Leggott (reason given to Council) and Cllr Smith (reason given to Council). It was resolved to accept the apologies and reasons for absence from Cllrs Leggott and Smith.

Borough Councillor James Cantwell also sent his apologies.

048/25  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.

049/25  Notes of the meetings held on 7.7.25 to be confirmed and signed as minutes.

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

050/25  Financial matters: To resolve to accept the accounts for payment for July 2025, to be checked and signed by two Councillors at this meeting and present budget figures for the year to date. Bank balance £9409.61 as at 28.7.25.

The accounts for payment were checked against the invoices to the lists and signed by  Cllrs Collingwood and Baxter. It was resolved to agree the payments. The clerk had circulated the budget figures up to date for the current financial year to the Councillors prior to the meeting. The clerk advised that there was nothing new to comment on or explain for the current year to date. It was resolved to accept the budget figures year to date as an accurate copy of the Parish Council’s receipts and payments  and the balance of the bank account at £9837.14. The clerk advised Council that she had completed an interim bank reconciliation to 31.5.25 which balanced.

ACTION: Clerk to make payments and add budget to website

051/25  Planning – none.

052/25  Correspondence received since the June meeting.

4.6.25    Email from Citizen’s Advice Bureau thanking PC for the donation of £30.             Emailed to Councillors 5.6.25

6.6.25    Fortnightly enews and monthly training bulletin from LALC.                                  Emailed to Councillors 7.6.25.

9.6.25    Notice of temporary traffic regulation order                                                            Emailed to Councillors 9.6.25

11.6.25  Boston and South Holland Neighbourhood Police Survey                                       Emailed to Councillors 16.6.25

11.6.25  Weston Marsh to Leicestershire public consultation.                                              Emailed to Councillors 16.6.25

11.6.25  County Councillor P Lock info about the Grass Roots Foundation funding            Emailed to Councillors 16.6.25           

12.6.25  National Grid, Grimsby to Walpole stage 2 consultation.                                        Emailed to Councillors 16.6.25

12.6.25  As above – details of briefings.                                                                                   Emailed to Councillors 16.6.25

12.6.25  Email from non-resident about the churchyard.                                                       Emailed to PCC and Councillors 16.6.25

13.6.25  Invitation to LALC AGM                                                                                               Emailed to Councillors 16.6.25           

13.6.25  Notice of temporary traffic regulation order for 13.6.25                                         Emailed to Councillors 13.6.25

20.6.25  LALC e news                                                                                                                  Emailed to Councillors 22.6.25.

20.6.25  Clear Councils Insurance Newsletter                                                                          Emailed to Councillors 22.6.25

20.6.25  BBC consultation about review of their Licensing Policy                                          Emailed to Councillors 22.6.25

20.6.25  Grass Roots Fund – announcement of new funds available.                                   Emailed to Councillors 22.6.25

**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. **FB is short for Facebook

053/25  Councillors’ Reports

Cllr S Baxter – There are trees overhanging the road from Clover Lane to Church Road which are causing a hazard to drivers turning onto this road from driveways and roads. The clerk commented that she had had a call from a resident about this and had reported it on Fix My Street.   

Cllr S Brigham – asked for an update on the purchase of the goal nets. The clerk advised that the matter was in hand, just waiting for further information to purchase the correct nets and accessories.

Cllr I Mills – the fly tipping he mentioned at the last meeting has been reported. I attended the meeting of the Five Villages Emergency Group. There will be two “Emergency Bags” for each village, one will potentially be stored at the village hall and one with a volunteer resident (ideally a First Responder, if there is one in the village). Up to five volunteers will be needed for each village. There will be a Risk Walk around the village sometime in September or October. ACTION: Speak to Cllr Cantwell about putting an item in the Newsletter.

054 /25 Borough and County Councillors reports.

• County Councillor P Lock – introduced himself as the new County Councillor for Boston Rural Division which covers Wigtoft. He gave a summary of his current areas of responsibility, which are:
• Audit Committee
• Corporate Parenting Panel
• Council
• Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education
• Executive support Councillor for our Children’s Services Executive Cllr Natalie Oliver.
• I also support the Exec for IT which is the leader of the council.

Cllr Lock advised the Council about the latest notice about the proposed installation of new pylons by National grid and that there is a new tranche of funding available through the Grass Roots Foundation. ACTION: Councillors asked that the Grass Roots funding be added to the agenda for August as a way of funding the cost of a new roundabout.  

055/25  Clerk’s report

The Insurance policy has been renewed and the Certificates of Public Liability and Employers Liability been posted on the website.

Clerk’s hours worked – as of today’s date (1.7.25), the clerk has worked 1 hour more than the monthly allowance. The cut off point is 15.7.25 which is a further 14 days away. It is very likely that this will reach something like 10 hours extra worked. I believe, as we do not have a meeting in September, I can reduce this significantly by taking TOIL (Time off in Lieu) providing that the Council agrees and no extra unexpected work comes to light. 

056/25  To review the Play Area inspection undertaken by Cllr Collingwood.

The clerk had circulated the report to the Councillors prior to the meeting. There were no new items of concern to discuss other than that the trees will need attention at the right time, there are two dirty benches which are in hand to be cleaned and there is a build up of soil around half of the base of the fence around the toddler area.  . ACTION: Clerk to find out when Western Power last trimmed the trees and obtain a quote to remove the excess soil.

057/25  To review and confirm that the current Data Protection Policy and the Subject Access Procedure are the up to date versions and to update the website accordingly.

The two documents were reviewed and it was confirmed that the versions were up to date. It was resolved to readopt the Data protection Policy and the Subject Access Procedure. ACTION: Clerk to add to website.

058/25  To discuss the new IT policy and to resolve to adopt.

The policy was reviewed and a resolution was passed to adopt. ACTION: Clerk to add to website.

059/25  To discuss and update the progress made on potentially purchasing a domain name to be able to use a gov.uk email address for the clerk and Councillors. (Practitioners Guide 2025).

The clerk advised Council that two quotes had been received from Cloudy IT and Aubergine. From information received from other clerks, these quotes looked far too expensive and will continue to search for a better price. ACTION: Agenda item next meeting.

Meeting closed at 20:10. Next meeting is on the 4th of August at 19:30 at the Village Hall.