2024 Annual Parish Meeting

FALDINGWORTH PARISH COUNCIL
e-mail: faldingworthpc@hotmail.com
https://faldingworth.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL FALDINGWORTH PARISH MEETING
Memorial Hall
Faldingworth
Wednesday 15 May 2024

PRESENT   D.Waine (Chair), D Whelan (Clerk), D.Dickinson, P.Gregson, W.Green, J. Land, A. Bradbury

APM24/25 - 0501 Minutes of Previous meeting

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 17 May 2023 were approved and signed.

APM24/25 - 0502 Matters arising

There were no matters arising that were reported.

APM24/25 - 0503 Chairperson’s Report

The Faldingworth Parish Council has this year been joined by two new Parish Councillors, John Land and Adrian Bradbury. During the year Cllr Mark Thompson resigned due to other commitments.  Mark Thompson made a highly valued contribution to the Parish Activities and we thank him for his efforts.

An issue regarding the Parish Clerks wages and payments to HMRC was resolved by Cllr Wendy Green and we thank her for her efforts.

It was agreed that a lamp would be purchased by the Parish Council to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Day Landings. The lamp will now be loaned to the Village Hall Committee to be displayed at the D-Day event. A new battery and defibrillator pads were purchased and fitted to the Faldingworth Parish Council defibrillator, which is located on the front wall of the Village Hall.

A grant was received from WLDC for Christmas Tree lights to be positioned on the tree on the Triangle. Unfortunately, the grant was received too late for them to be fitted for Christmas 2023, so they will now be fitted for the Christmas of 2024.

To ensure comments could be made on Planning Applications that would pass before the next Parish Council meeting, a procedure has been drawn up to enable any issues on which Faldingworth Parish Council wish to comment on to be raised and enacted. This will now be included in the Parish Standing Orders.

The speed of the traffic through the village has again caused concern to the parishioners and the Parish Councillors.  To help facilitate new initiatives and if possible, cooperate with other local parish councils, the Parish Clerk contacted WLDC Councillor Swift and is currently in discussion with him regarding the meeting and grants.

The Parish Council’s existing Speed Monitor had fallen out of use due to is weight and the age of the Parish Councillors remaining to service it. Fortunately, Cllr John Land has agreed to accept the responsibility for its battery recharging, and it soon should be back in operation. The Parish Council has also purchased a Solar Powered Speed Indicator, to remove the requirement for regular recharging of its battery. The exact procedures for the installation and location are being reviewed and this may involve discussions with other road authorities.    

The Playing Field and Children's Play Area have been one of the main areas of Parish Council activity this year. On the Playing Field the A106 land, where parishioners have access to walk through the trees, had become a problem due to trees and bushes over growing and obstruction to an area of the playing field. The owner of the land Jim Backus, kindly arranged for these obstructions to be cut back to the boundary fence and he also cut back the hedge between the Playing Field and the Estate. The cutting back of the hedge showed how badly overgrown the drainage ditch had become. The overgrow and two other obstructions to the drains which impede free water flow, were kindly removed my Mr Paul Raynor.

The fence adjacent to the access gate of the Playing Field has rotted and is at present held in place by ties. Negotiations are currently in hand for the replacement of this section of fencing. The access gate to the Children's Play Area had some cross timbers failing and the slide had some bottom side panels that were rotting The repairs to the gate  and replacement of the side panels was kindly undertake by Mr Peter Krakow,  who also provided the material to enable the work to be undertaken.

The 2022 to 2023 Wicksteed Safely inspection raised a concern that the wooden supports on the Children's play equipment may be rotting below ground. These were all excavated down to the concrete, and found to be sound.

The Wicksteed Safety report for 2023 to 2024 highlighted a number of issues with regard to moss and the cleanliness of the play equipment. This is a problem that has well been appreciated by the Parish Council, but previous attempts by a number of the Parish Councillors to carry the recommendations had only slightly improved their condition. The situation is exacerbated by the fact there are no water or electrical supplies to the Playing Fields and contactors are therefore not willing to quote for the work. A contractor was finally found who would undertake this work on the Children's Play are and apart from one outstanding issue the work has been completed in a fully satisfactory manner.

APM24/25 - 0504 Clerk's Report

The year has been active, with a number of changes to the Council. Cllrs Adrian Bradbury and John Land were co-opted and towards the end of the financial year, we received a resignation letter from Cllr Mark Thompson. We acknowledge with sincere thanks all the work the Councillors undertook during their time in office.

In the past year we have had six ordinary meetings, one Annual Parish Meeting and two extraordinary meetings to discuss the end of year audit and the plans for cleaning the playground equipment.

Finances:

The financial duties for the end of year audit were carried out by the Clerk and the final internal audit completed by Carl Thomas. 

The financial year opened with a balance of £42,065.84 comprising the carryover of £11,833.50 in our General Reserve and £30,235.04 held in the Section 106 Reserve. Our income for the 2023/2024 financial year was £10,953.21 in the General Reserve comprising the precept of £9,553.00 and the balance two VAT returns for 2020, 2021 and 2022, as well as monies paid in as reimbursement. We earned £579.62 in interest on the Section 106 Reserve.

During the course of the year, £6777.83.14 was spent, resulting in a final balance in the General Reserve of £16445.57. The year closed with the balance in the Section 106 Reserve being £30,814.66.

On 17th January 2024 a precept of £9,561.00 was RESOLVED which resulted in NO INCREASE for the residents of the Parish in the budget for the new financial year.

Our significant financial commitments in the last year have been the purchase of a solar powered speed indicator, a new battery for the defibrillator, and cleaning the playground equipment in line with recommendations by Wicksteed.

APM24/25 - 0505 Public Comment

There were no members of the public present.

Next Meeting 14th May 2025