2021 Annual Parish Meeting

Minutes of Waddingham Annual Parish Meeting on Wednesday 5thth May 2021 held remotely

The Annual Parish Meting was held remotely under the Chairmanship of Councillor Lauretta Williams.  Six electors were in attendance.

The minutes of the previous meeting were read with no response from the Parishioners.

The financial report was given with no response from the parishioners.

The Chairman gave her report for the year which included the following that had occurred in the Parish in the last year.

Chairman’s Report 

Cllr Williams reported that has been an unusual year due to the coronavirus. There was no Annual Parish Meeting in 2020 due to the virus.

Since the last meeting in 2019 the makeup of the Parish Council has changed.

Council members

Councillor Metcalfe resigned and was replaced by Councillor Stones.
Councillor Watson resigned and was replaced by Councillor Joan Thacker
Councillor Yates was removed due to not attending any meetings with no apologies given.
Councillor Stones resigned.

Councillor Williams thank Councillors Metcalfe, Watson and Stones for their service to the Parish Council and the community.

Waddingham Parish Council currently looking for two new councillors.

Meetings held

There were no meetings held in May and July due to the coronavirus regulations.

Four ordinary meetings were held during the year and one extraordinary meeting. All of these meetings were held online.

A request of £8500 for the Parish Council Precept for 2021-22 was made and granted by West Lindsey District council.

The council has adopted the red phone box in Waddingham village and Cllr Summers has agreed to provide a grant of £300 from his District Councillors Initiative Fund. Work will be done soon to create a community asset with a community led library in it.

The issue of the chafer grub damage to the village green is being investigated. It would have been dealt with chemically in the past but this method is now not allowed. Cllr. G. Thacker has tried some more traditional remedies.

The Parish council has been and still is working with LCC to finalise the handover of the riparian responsibility for the Flood defence channel.

The problem of road safety on Redbourne Road has been discussed at several meetings. A letter has been sent to a local haulage company requesting that their drivers more slowly through the village and LCC has been informed often of these continuing issues. As a Parish Council there is little we can actually do apart from continuing to raise the issues with the relevant parties. We have been investigating the costs of improving road signage as a Parish Council but have had no response yet.

We have been investigating who owns and is responsible for upkeep and repair of the War Memorial. There has been no response so far from the WLDC Conservation Officer. Cllr Summers has offered funding from his District Councillors Initiative fund towards the repairs once responsibility and permissions are clarified.

The proposed provision of a village play park has not been able to move on due to lockdown restrictions.

There have been no applications for projects to improve the environment of the Parish using the Far Ings Environment Fund.

Councillor Williams thanked the councillors and clerk for their continued hard work for the Parish this last year.

Finances 

WLDC Precept 2020-21 £9000

Of this we spent

•   £2024 on grass cutting and mole control
•   £3140 on staff costs for Clerk and training
•   £808 on general admin including the audit, annual subscriptions, insurances and village hall hire.
•   £150 on website hosting
•   £300 donation to Parochial Church Council to help with the maintenance of the Churchyard.
•   £250 to the Triangle to assist with ongoing costs.
•   £1500 on removing sludge and silt from village beck.

Total £7922 leaving a balance from the 2020-21 precept of £1078

This gives us a total carry forward of £5436.21

Flood Defence

Balance as of April 2020 £5059

Of this £3700 was spent on weed cutting and reprofiling of the banks leaving a balance of £1359.

This fund was given to the Parish Council in March 2011 in order to maintain the flood relief diversion channel for 10 years before riparian responsibility took over.

Constable Ings Environment Fund

Since the Annual Parish Meeting 2019 £2802.32 has been spent on fencing around the beck behind the Village Hall.

There is currently £14866.02 in the bank book for this fund.

Playground Fund

Nothing was spent from this in the current financial year. Balance £3291.52

The meeting closed at 7.25pm