2021 Annual Parish Meeting

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING OF GREETWELL HELD REMOTELY ON MONDAY 12 APRIL 2021 COMMENCING AT 7.30PM

PRESENT:  Councillor John Taylor (Chairman, Christine Myers (Clerk)

4 residents

APOLOGIES:  District Councillor Anne Welburn

1   APPROVAL OF THE NOTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 1 AP[RIL 2019 TO BE SIGNED AS MINUTES (NO MEETING HELD IN 2020 DUE TO COVID 19)

That the notes be signed as minutes unanimously Resolved.

2   CHAIRMANS REPORT

The Chairman reported that he was hopeful that matters were progressing towards North Greetwell Having a pedestrian crossing installed across the A158.

The Chairman extended thanks to the Clerk for her work during the last year.

3   CLERK/TREASURERS REPORT

Through this last challenging year the daily work of the Parish Council has continued, all members and myself working together as a team to ensure that legislation relating to Covid 19 has been adhered to.

The Council held two face to face meetings in a Councillors garden, since then meetings have ben held remotely.  These are working well.

Despite restrictions the grass in the parish continued to be cut and kept tidy; the play equipment, although closed for three months during the first Lockdown, was inspected and maintained; the planters on Westfield Drive were replaced and continue to be cared for by a local resident.

The Parish Council has commented on 8 planning applications during the year.

A new website for the Parish has been set up by a resident of Sudbrooke of which thanks must be extended for his help and continuing support with this project. The website is a huge improvement to the old site.

Grants have been received from District Councill Mrs Anne Welburn’s Community Fund for the Community Speedwatch equipment, new planters and for a new seat (site yet to be agreed).

The Council has spent within its budget during the year having a balance at 31.3.2021 of £10,625.33 which consists of the following:-

Events Fund = £973.96
Parish Enhancement from Precept - £1,000.00
Parish Enhancement from Cil payment - £644.20
Funds for seat from DC A Welburn = £341.09
Sale of land, Hawthorn Road = £1000.00

The Chase account stands at £12,248.15

4  REPORTS BY COUNTY/DISTRICT COUNCILLORS

DC Mrs Anne Welburn

I am one of the three District Councillors representing the ward and I am a member on the two decision making committees of West Lindsey District Council. Firstly, the Corporate Policy and Resource Committee, of which I am Chairman, dealing with Finance and secondly the Prosperous Communities Committee which deals with the people decisions.

I am sure no one will disagree that 2020/21 has been a challenging year but there are still some highlights to report, and West Lindsey is in a strong position going forward.

Trinity Arts run by WL Council was forced to close its doors in March 2020 due to Covid-19. But the venue has been awarded £196,690 from the Culture Recovery Fund, aimed at mitigating the devastating impact the virus has had on arts and culture nationally. The venue will also feature in a brand-new paranormal documentary series commissioned by the Discovery Channel. The £20 million series will be broadcast on the Discovery Channel and Freeview channel ‘Really’ this coming winter.  The Arts Centre team were interviewed, and historians descended to bring to life a unique and compelling story, with all activity culminating in an all-night paranormal investigation.

Auditors have said they have a ‘high level of confidence’ in West Lindsey District Council in the following areas.

•   housing benefit procedures.
•   Key Controls Testing Debtors and Creditors in the following areas:

Adequate authorisation processes in place for raising a purchase order.
Setting up of new creditors and debtors within the system.
High-value payments
Monthly control account reconciliations are completed.

•   Food safety, environmental protection, and enforcement practices  
•   Treasury management.

And finally, West Lindsey District Council’s financial accounts for 2019/20 have been given a clean bill of health by an independent watchdog.

COVID-19 Community Fund the Council has allocated more than £53,000 to groups across the district supporting local residents.  The Council set up the fund in April in response to the issues created by the national lockdown and the impact this was having on local communities.

Heritage Grants work has begun this year to restore the ‘historic heart of Gainsborough’ with thanks to a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund of £1.25 million this will be invested as part of a major project to restore historic buildings and heritage assets in the town centre.

Green Waste an extra collection was added to the West Lindsey Garden Waste service in December and the price of yearly collections has not been increased for the coming year. 

Waste Transfer Station A brand-new purpose-built central operational services depot, located near Caenby Corner, will secure the future of waste collection and street cleansing services in the West Lindsey District Council area and has been designed with everyday operations and visitors in mind. It is due to be completed later this year.

Lea Fields Crematorium The crematorium has now completed more than 350 services, supporting countless local businesses and bereaved families since its opening in January 2020 and has made a positive impact on the local community despite a challenging first year due to Covid-19.

The £6 million state-of-the-art facility, which was funded by West Lindsey District Council, has provided local mourners and funeral directors with an ultra-modern centre to host services for loved ones closer to home. It was also crowned the ‘Best Service Team of the Year: Cemetery and Crematorium Service’ at the Association for Public Service Excellence annual service awards in December 2020. The Crematorium has also been awarded with a Civic Trust Award, for demonstrating ‘excellence in architecture or design, whilst being sustainable, accessible and providing a positive civic contribution

West Lindsey District Council remains committed to keeping and strengthening West Lindsey as a place where communities can thrive and reach their potential, following the approval of a strong and well-planned financial budget of £13,279,100 for the 2021/22 financial year, and acknowledged the good financial position the council is in despite the uncertainty in the current climate surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic and future Government funding.

Councillors also approved a Council Tax rise of £5 – or 10p a week – for the 2021/22 financial year, to maximise every opportunity to help with the current uncertainty and now expected longer term recovery of the Council’s income streams. This is a rise of 2.3%.

Climate Change A commitment to moving the Central Lincolnshire area towards carbon neutrality has been strengthened through a decision to review local planning policy in order to better address climate change.

The Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee, which sets the overall planning framework under which planning applications are determined across North Kesteven, West Lindsey and the City of Lincoln, has begun a process to ‘demonstrably assist’ Central Lincolnshire in becoming a carbon net-zero sub-region as soon as is practicably possible.

Building on the climate action position of each of the partner councils, the committee has proposed a series of policies. These will be subject to at least four rounds of public consultation and input within an eight-stage process before potentially forming the core of an updated Local Plan, to act as a blueprint for Central Lincolnshire through to 2040.

The suggested principles – which also build on a large level of previous consultation feedback that the Local Plan needed to do more to reduce emissions – give a very clear steer of how the committee wants the Local Plan to tackle climate change. They broadly cover:

•   Regulate new building standards to improving the energy efficiency of homes and other buildings to reduce energy demand.
•   Facilitate appropriate levels of renewable energy generation consistent with achieving net zero compatibility.
•   Support wider infrastructure improvements, such as energy storage.
•   Facilitate wider transition to a net-zero carbon position.
•   Establishing and protecting areas that are, or could become, carbon sinks.
•   Encouraging and facilitating wider improvements such as in how we travel, use materials, and distribute growth.

These six strands form a complete package of measures to meet the net-zero target. 

Waste More than half a million tonnes of household recycling was rejected at point of sourcing because of non-recyclable material being placed in household bins, each tonne of waste collected from a household bin that cannot be recycled costs approx. £93 to dispose of which is £48 million per year of avoidable costs not to mention the impact on climate change of waste itself.

5.   PARISHIONERS ITEMS – None

The meeting concluded at 7.40pm.