2019 Annual Parish Meeting

UNAPPROVED NOTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING OF GREETWELL HELD ON MONDAY 1ST APRIL 2019 IN THE OLD SCHOOL, NETTLEHAM

Present: Councillor John Taylor (Chairman), Mrs C Myers (Clerk)

Mrs Jo Blackwell – representative of Lincolnshire Police Independent Advisory Group

6 members of the public

APPROVAL OF THE NOTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 9TH APRIL 2018 TO BE SIGNED AS  MINUTES

Proposed by Mike Taylor, seconded by John Taylor that the notes were a correct record of the meeting and that they be signed as minutes.

CHAIRMANS REPORT – Councillor John Taylor

The Chairman reported as follows:-

•   That the Garden Party and Produce Show had been very successful and it was proposed to hold another this year.

•   That the Litter Picks were ongoing and were keeping the roadsides in North Greetwell clear of litter.

•   A Neighbourhood Plan Working Group had been formed in order to produce the Plan for Greetwell.

•   It had been sad to report that former Councillor Tony Melrose had passed away, having served 34 years as a Parish Councillor for Greetwell. Tony had had a good knowledge of the Greetwell area.

•   It was encouraging to see the progression of the Lincoln Eastern bypass and that he looked forward to its completion.

•   He thanked all Council members for their efforts throughout the year and also the Clerk for her hard work keeping the Council on a straight path.

CLERKS REPORT – CHRISTINE MYERS

The Clerk stated that the beginning of the year had been dominated by the new General Data Protection Regulations which came into effect last May and which involved much additional work for Parish Councils.

The Parish has been fortunate in securing funding from our District Councillors for a new gazebo for parish events and financial assistance towards items for the Garden Party and Produce Show last summer.

Interest had been shown in the production of a Neighbourhood Plan for Greetwell and this is now in the primary stages of production.

The Parish Council is currently a member short and it is hoped that the vacancy will be filled after May.

Financial Report at 31.3.2019:-

Parish Council Current Account – Co-op Bank = £6933.26

This amount Includes:

Contingency Fund = £200.00 Events Income = £803.96

The Parish Council had lived within its budget for the financial year 2018/19. The accounts would shortly be published and available for public inspection.

COUNTY COUNCILLORS REPORT – COUNTY COUNCILLOR IAN FLEETWOOD

Cc Ian Fleetwood reported that the Lincoln Eastern Bypass bridge for cyclists on Hawthorn Road was currently being constructed. It was expected that Hawthorn Road would close for access to Bunkers Hill during the autumn.

CC Fleetwood also stated that he had been litter picking from Lincoln to Bardney and assisting in the Community Speed Watch in Cherry Willingham.

DISTRICT COUNCILLORS REPORTS

Cllrs M Palmer and A Welburn - It has been a busy year for West Lindsey many items have been reported to the Parish Council monthly but some of the Highlights are as follows:

The Green waste collection has proved successful once again with the uptake higher than expected following the introduction of charges. West Lindsey has maintained its level as one of the top recycling districts in the country. The Trade Waste scheme has also proved popular with our businesses and is growing steadily, not only paying for itself but also making a profit.

We have successfully spent all of our Councillor Initiative Fund with all our parishes benefiting from various projects, including a gazebo for North Greetwell, the local painting club at Reepham, planters in Fiskerton, a projector at Langworth, benches in Cherry Willingham and bulbs for the whole area.

Once again WLDC is supporting “The Great British Spring Clean” campaign, providing, bags and grabbers as well as rubbish collection.

The CCTV cameras have been a success with 2,384 incidents were monitored across the district on council owned CCTV cameras last year. A total of 242 reviews for the police, to provide evidential footage and support criminal prosecutions

As part of West Lindsey administration, we have developed a self-sufficiency model which has enabled the District Council to balance the budget, deliver value for money, and work towards being cost neutral and not dependent on the ever-decreasing money from central government. Profits from these initiatives will go towards support services for local people.  One such item is the Leisure contract. The contract currently costs the Council approximately £300,000 a year.

A new contract has been issued and the benefits are a full refurbishment of the West Lindsey Leisure Centre into a health and wellbeing centre rather than a traditional leisure facility, also a District wide outreach service and the development of dry leisure facility in Market Rasen. In terms of the finance gains, there will be £2 million income to the Council over 15 years of the contract as well saving on refurbishment costs.

District Councillor Chris Darcel – Councillor Darcel explained that grants would possibly be available towards proposed the village gateways for Greetwell.

ADDRESS BY JO BLACKWELL – LINCOLNSHIRE POLICE INDEPENDENT ADVISORY  GROUP

The Chairman welcomed Jo to the meeting and thanked her for offering to attend to speak on her membership of the above Group.

She explained that the group of twelve members seeks to improve two way communication between the police and their communities. The role is to offer advice on the impact of police activity. The group isn’t like a neighbourhood panel, where people would typically take their day to day concerns but it may, for example, get a sense of how the community feels about particular things and feedback how the police may be seeking to approach these things. The group’s aim is to engender trust and confidence in police activities. It meets every six weeks. She described it as a ‘critical friend of the Police’.

She stressed that members wanted to make local people aware that the group exists, that they are welcome to apply to join if they have an interest in policing matters.

PARISHIONERS ITEMS

A resident expressed interest in the Neighbourhood Plan and joining the Working Group. The meeting closed at 7.25pm and light refreshments were served.