2026 Minutes

DRAFT MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF WIGTOFT PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON  3rd August 2026.

Present: Cllr I Mills; Cllr B Leggott; Cllr S Brigham;  Cllrs Baxter and Redhead. Not present Cllrs Collingwood and Coomber. Also: Borough Councillor J Cantwell; County Councillor P Lock and two members of the public.

Public Forum – (The Public Forum does not form part of the meeting of the Parish Council)

A member of the public (MOP) raised their concerns about traffic exceeding the speed limit on Main Road between Wigtoft and Sutterton. The MOP told the Council that vehicles had been recorded doing speeds of over 100mph. The MOP wanted to know what the Lincs Road Safety Partnership and the Police are doing about it. Although the Council do not have to respond during the meeting to questions raised by the Public, the Chair advised the MOP that Wigtoft have not collected any speed data since June 2022 and suggested that the data shared by the MOP may be from another Parish Council. This data does not belong to the Wigtoft Parish Council so we have no access to it. The chair advised that this issue would be discussed with our neighbouring Parish Council.

052/26  Chairperson’s remarks – The Chairperson, Cllr Mills, opened the meeting at 19.30 and welcomed everyone present. He thanked Agrii UK for allowing the fire brigade to use their water tanks and F Craven & Sons Farms for allowing use of their irrigation reservoir.

053/26  To receive apologies and reasons for absence  - Cllr Coomber had sent her apology and reason for absence. It was resolved to accept her apology and reason for absence.

054/26  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.

055/26  Notes of the meetings held on 6.7.26 to be confirmed and signed as minutes.

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

056/26  Financial matters: a) To resolve to accept the accounts for payment for July 2026, to be checked against the invoices and signed by two Councillors at this meeting. b)To review the budget figures for the year to date. c) Bank balance £13663.26 as at 29.7.26. d) Letter to the clerk confirming the new mileage rate to be signed by the chair and vice chair and handed to the clerk. To hand the bank reconciliation for the period 1.4.26 to 30.6.26 to Cllr Baxter for checking.

a)The accounts for payment were checked against the invoices to the lists, confirmed as correct and signed by Cllrs Baxter and Brigham.  It was resolved to agree the payments. b)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 along with item c) the balance of the bank account at 30.6.26, £13941.31. d) The latter was signed and handed to the clerk. e) The bank reconciliation was handed to Cllr Baxter for checking.

ACTION:  Clerk to add budget to website.

057/26  Planning – none.

058/26  Correspondence received since the July meeting.

8.7.26    From LCC Highways, confirmation of work issued to restore road surface on Asperton Road.               Emailed to Cllrs 27.7.26

10.7.26  LALC enews                                                                      No action. Cllrs receive their own copy.

14.7.26  From LCC, details of proposed improvements to household waste recycling centres.                       Emailed to Cllrs 27.7.26

22.7.26  From LCC Highways, confirmation of work issued to cut back overhanging trees on Main Road      Emailed to Cllrs 27.7.26

24.7.26  LALC enews                                                                      No action. Cllrs receive their own copy.

** Cllrs is short for Councillors. **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

059/26  Councillors’ Reports:

Cllr Redhead – recent A17 road works, I  reported and obtained an incident number via 101 that local roads are being used as a rat run at the moment. The signage was inadequate.

Cllr Brigham – I have reported via Fix My Street that a discarded road sign was left by the junction of Bell Lane/ Clover Lane. The hedges on Sleaford Road have not been cut back well. I found a box of nitrous oxide cylinders .

Cllr Mills – As above, the hedge work on Main Road is not finished. Clerk to find out why. Following the last meeting, I checked the dyke on Church Road and there was no litter. The property known as 11 Church Road is in appalling condition. Cllr Redhead advised that some properties are owned and some rented. Clerk to try and establish who owns this property.

060/26  Borough and County Councillor’s reports:

County Cllr Lock – Local Government reorganisation information – there will be 65 Councillors for Lincoln and 100 for the rest of the County. The new app that LCC are setting up for County Councillors should be ready by September. The County Councillor Grant scheme is now live.

Borough Councillor Cantwell – I’ve been dealing with a Church Road regarding non maintenance of their garden. this is being chased weekly. Boston Borough Council Pride of Place £750k funding applications no open. Local Government Reorganisation shadow elections will be held in April 2027.

061/26  Clerk’s report.

The DPI and LCI forms signed by Cllr Coomber have been sent to Boston Borough Council as required. I will be booking her into a Councillor training course shortly.

I have sent a letter about the overgrown hedge on the corner of the Market Place and Asperton Road to the owner by email on 22.7.26.

I took photos of the poor surface on Asperton Road and sent them with a report via Fix My Street. Updates have been sent to Councillors via email. The required work has been ordered and the updates advise that the work is “in progress”.

In respect of sending apologies and reasons for non-attendance at meetings, if you are giving more than a day’s notice, please could you send them to me by email? If it is a last minute issue, either email, text or phone me please. The reason I need the information is to prevent a meeting being Inquorate on the night. It is better use of everyone’s time if we can cancel and rearrange the meeting beforehand.

I have replied to the email from LCC about the cutting of the footpath in Wigtoft asking when it will next be cut. Cllr Collingwood advised me that the path from Asperton Road to the side of the Church is a mess. Also, I have asked about the other path from Church Road to Clover Lane. I have received a reply asking for photos of the path from Asperton Road to the side of the church which I will send after the meeting on 3.8.26. The landowner should leave a clear path across the field for the other path. Once the crop has been harvested shortly, this will rectify the issue. 

It was brought to my attention that the donation of £300 for the Village Hall was sent to Sutterton Village Hall in error. The money has been returned and re sent to Wigtoft Village Hall. The bank details for Sutterton Village Hall have been deleted.

Due to my absence recently, I have not yet set up the signatories from the bank account with read-only access to online banking and Scribe. I will do this as soon as possible.

As above, I have not tried to find someone to repair, clean and treat all the benches in the village. Added 3.8.26 – I have asked the Grass cutting contractors.

I have received an acknowledgement and thanks from the Parochial Church Council for the £300 donation.

062/26  To review the playing field/play area inspection for July undertaken by Cllr Redhead. An update on any activities in the Playing field/play area and Wildlife Garden (fence repair, installation of sign in Wildlife Garden. cleaning of both gates and other items in the playing field, application of green mould and algae killer(to be completed when weather condition are met) and repairs and painting of all benches in the village. An update about any further activity in respect of scooters being ridden in the playing field. To arrange the next playing field/play area inspection by the clerk in conjunction with the annual inspection report.

Cllr Redhead reported that there are small amounts of corrosion on a few pieces of equipment; lifting of some areas of the wetpour surfaces; trees are overgrown in places at bottom of the park. Cllr Brigham added that a member of the public mentioned that the gate was closing slowly. Some footballers had pushed the gate wide open and left it open; there is a clip missing on the football nets; there is a seat with missing/broken lengths of wood and there are a lot of branches on the ground in the far right top corner which could be a fire risk. Cllr Leggott said he would look to see is he has any spare clips. It was resolved that the clerk should add the work on the bench to the list of seat repairs currently required in the village, check the requirements for the closing of the gate,  obtain a quote for a sign about closing the gate after entering and exiting the park and a quote to clear the branches in the field.

063/26  To discuss the recent fire at Red Roofs, Asperton Road in relation to possible business activity at the premises. (IM)

Cllr Mills advised that 8 appliances attended this fire. There were concerns as a residential property had a substantial amount of old cars and car parts, oxyacetylene tanks and possibly petrol tanks. It is unsure if there are relevant permissions in place for dismantling and disposing of certain hazardous substances. Plans not passed for commercial activity. He suggested the following actions – clerk to ask the Fire Service for a copy of the report from the fire. A resolution was passed for the above action to be made.

064/26  To discuss the reminder from Wicksteed about booking the next annual play area inspection at a cost of £150.

It was resolved to order the annual inspection from Wicksteed at a cost of £150. Clerk to request that the inspection is not undertaken before 5.1.27.

065/26  To receive the Declarations of Interest and Local Choice Interest forms completed by Councillors.

The completed and signed copies of the above two forms were received by the clerk.

066/26  To receive the completed GDPR security compliance checklist from Councillors.

The completed and signed copies of the above form was received by the clerk.

067/26  To discuss the method of including the minutes of each Parish Council meeting in Wigtoft Newsletter.

Currently, the minutes are condensed for the newsletter. The clerk has been asked to reduce them to no more than two pages. It was resolved that the May minutes of the Annual Meeting would not be published and, where possible, the condensed minutes would be kept to 2 pages. It was also resolved that the financial section is always included in the newsletter. A full version of the minutes is available on the website and noticeboard.

Meeting closed at 20:50. The next meeting of the Parish Council is on 5.10.26 at 19.30.