2025 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF WIGTOFT PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON the 4th of August 2025

Present: Cllr I Mills; Cllr S Baxter; Cllr K Redhead; Cllr S Collingwood; Cllr B Leggott; Cllr S Smith and Cllr S Brigham.                                                                            Also present: County Councillor Paul Lock. Borough Councillor James Cantwell. Two members of the public.

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 everyone present.

060/25  Chairperson’s remarks – none.

061/25  To receive apologies and reasons for absence - None.

062/25  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.

063/25  Notes of the meetings held on 7.7.25 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.

064/25  Financial matters: To resolve to accept the accounts for payment for August 2025, to be checked and signed by two Councillors at this meeting. Clerk to 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 list, confirmed as correct and  signed by  Cllrs Brigham and Smith. 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 £9409.61. The bank reconciliation for 1.4.26 to 30.6.25 was handed to Cllr Collingwood for checking.

ACTION: Clerk to make payments and add budget to website

065/66  Planning  - B/25/0316, Application to determine if prior approval is required for a proposed Change of Use of Buildings on Agricultural Units and former Agricultural Buildings to Dwellinghouses (class C3), which may include extension of the building and/or building operations reasonably necessary for the conversion at Off Spion Kop Lane, Wigtoft, Boston PE20 2PH.

Councillors comments included: Cllr Brigham – planning refused 1.4.25. What has changed since then? When was it used or not used for agricultural purposes? Was used at least 20 years ago; They have offered to demolish one end of the building just to qualify; Re access, Spion Kop Lane not a Public Right of Way but there are easements over the road for residents. There is no mention of access within this application; The application is being made about a building that is still the same size as when it was refused previously. It seems that this is just a way to avoid applying for planning permission; We need expert advice. Can we pay for this (clerk to find out); Comments from residents still stand; Track was originally used to give access to the fields (Strawberries).

Cllr Mills offered to see if he could get some advice. Clerk will try to do further research. Deadline for comments 19.8.25.

It was resolved that Cllrs Mills and Leggott would try and find out more information about when the last time the property was used for agricultural purposes. Clerk to collate and circulate replies.

066/25  Correspondence received since the June meeting.

25.6.25  LCC Parish Council Community Newsletter                                                               Emailed to Councillors. Posted on FB and Website 30.6.25.

27.6.25  LALC AGM Agenda 3.7.25                                                                                            Emailed to Councillors 30.6.25           

4.7.25    LALC e news                                                                                                                  Emailed to Councillors 14.7.25

7.7.25    Lincs Community Foundation Funding Flash Household Support Scheme             Emails to Councillors 14.7.25. Posted on website and Facebook.

7.7.25    Email from Ex County Councillor Michael Brookes thanking PC for their involvement in the lunch to mark his retirement as County Councillor.                                                                                                             Emailed to Councillors 14.7.25

7.7.25    Message received from resident about overgrown trees on Sleaford Road.          Logged on Fix My Street 11.7.25

9.7.25    BBC round up of social media posts.                                                                          Emailed to Councillors 14.7.25

9.7.25    Message received from member of the public asking to stop newsletter being sent to her mother who has passed away.                                                                                                                                 Advised editor of Newsletter11.7.25               

10.7.25  The Conservation Volunteer, I Dig Trees newsletter                                                Emailed to Councillors 14.7.25

15.7.25  Boston Parish News                                                                                                     Emailed to Councillors, added to Facebook and Website 22.7.25.

17.7.25  Temporary Traffic regulation Order                                                                           Emailed to Councillors, added to Facebook and Website 18.7.25.

18.7.25  LALC enews                                                                                                                   Emailed to Councillors 19.7.25.

**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

067/25  Councillors’ Reports

Cllr B Leggott – Lay by on the north side of the A17 still floods. ACTION: Clerk to investigate via Fix My Street.

Cllr S Smith – There are a lot of fallen branches in the park. One of the litter pickers mentioned about the issues regarding waste bag collection. The clerk advised that this was all sorted now. The erection of the new Noticeboard is now complete.

068/25  Borough and County Councillors reports.

County Councillor P Lock – will send the contact number for National Grid regarding trees in the playing field. August 6th is the deadline for comments about the proposed new pylons in the County.

Borough Councillor J Cantwell – I met with the new Superintendent of Boston Police.to discuss a new Community Partnership which will look at Community Issues. The 5 village Emergency Group have completed the Risk Assessment for Sutterton, Fosdyke and Algarkirk. The Risk Assessment for Wigtoft should be completed in September. This should identify any issues and any vulnerable residents in the village. I am leaving the Emergency Bag tonight. We are working on a role description for volunteers of the Emergency Group. The is a new Borough Councillor grant scheme with each Borough Councillor has £1000 to share between their ward parishes on application. Borough Cllr David Brown and I have pooled our money and will allocate £400 to each of our parishes subject to application.

069/25  Clerk’s report

A response about the Fix My Street report about overhanging trees on Sleaford Road has been received:

Fix My Street reference 2849312  from LCC “A quick note to let you know that we’re taking enforcement action. This type of action can take a long time to complete so whilst it might not look like we’re working on the issue, we’re being busy behind the scenes. Thanks for your patience. As this progresses, we’ll update you when we can.”

Clerk’s hours worked – update 29.7.25 – 7.5 extra hours carried forward from last month which is a reduction from the previous month. I will continue to report to you and work towards using up by Time Off In Lieu over August and September.

I have contacted National Grid (Western Power is now part of National Grid) about the trees in the playing field. I had a swift reply on the 28.7.25 to say my query has been forwarded to their South Lincs Engineering Team and they will get back to me within 2 days.

I have asked Pete Smith to quote for removing the excess soil along the fence around the toddler area in the playing field.

I received a call from one of the village litter pickers to say that the red bags had not been collected. She had called Boston Borough Council to be told that they had to phone each time they had bags to collect. I enlisted the help of James Cantwell, our Borough Councillor, and I believe the issue has now been resolved.

A vat refund of £ 756.72 has been received in the bank account.

070/25  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, 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.

071/25  To discuss the possibility of funding the purchase of a new roundabout from Grass Roots Foundation funding scheme.

Cllr SC commented that funding could be applied for to install some fitness equipment in the playing field. It was resolved that the clerk should find out if this is a possibility,

ACTION: Agenda item next meeting.

072/25  To discuss the email received on 11.7.25 from South East Lincs Partnership about a proposed parcel locker scheme in the village.

It was resolved that, as the Parish Council does not own any land suitable for siting the proposed locker, the information would be passed to the Village Hall Committee for consideration as the proposal could generate an income for the Village Hall. ACTION: clerk to forward information to the committee.

073/25  To discuss the quotes received for a domain name to be able to use a gov.uk email address for the clerk and Councillors. (Practitioners Guide 2025, assertion 10).

The clerk had received 3 quotes: Cloudy IT - £120 annual fee plus £23.26 monthly; Aubergine - £120 annual fee plus £31.08 monthly and Cloud Next £99.99 annual fee, free for the first year, no monthly costs. The clerk advised Council that Cloud Next has been recommended by other clerks in Lincolnshire. These providers were taken from the Governments list of approved providers. It was resolved to set up the gov.uk domain and email addresses through Cloud Next, cost as detailed above. ACTION: Clerk to complete application.

074/25  To discuss the email received on 11.7.25 from Greater Lincolnshire for All about Local Government Reorganisation.

Information had been circulated to Councillors prior to the meeting. The importance of keeping informed and giving feedback where appropriate was discussed. There are two dates offered for events specifically for  Town and Parish Councils, 28th July and 20th August. Councillors will book direct if they are able to attend.

Meeting closed at 20.20. Next meeting is on the 6.10.25 at 19:30 at the Village Hall. There is no meeting in September.