2024 minutes

Draft Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Tues 23rd April 2024 at 6.30pm

Present Cllr C Ashton (Chair), Cllr P Golding, Cllr M Kinning, Cllr J Oldfield, Cllr F Parish (Vice Chair),

Cllr R Brabbin, Cllr C van Straubenzee, ), LCCllr C Vernon, Mrs H Sandon (parish clerk),

7 residents in attendance

Apologies for Absence Cllr C Hodgkin, Cllr L Hughes, Cllr A White

To approve the minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Tuesday 4th April 2023

The notes of the meeting were approved by the Council and signed by the chair in acceptance of minutes.

Chairman’s Report of the past year, Cllr Ashton

Cllr Ashton read out his report on the Yr 2023/24, to forward to the clerk for her records and to publish on SWPC’s website. Cllr Kinning to post on SW Facebook page.

Questions from the floor

Discussion took place on the following matters;

Speeding through the village and in particular the High St, LRSP Community Speed Watch Scheme, SKDC maintained play area and the maintenance of village troughs.

All to be considered by SWPC at future PC meetings.

Meeting closed at 7.30pm

Chairman’s Annual report 2023/24

Delivered 23rd April, 2024

Once again may I take this opportunity of welcoming you all to this our Annual Parish Meeting.  At this meeting the Chairman presents to members of our Village Community a report of the work undertaken by your Parish Council over the past twelve months. It is nowhere near as comprehensive as you might think as much has been undertaken and it would be impossible to cover it all here this evening.  I have tried to pick out the salient parts for you. This then is my report of the past year in no order of preference. All our Parish Council Meetings take place on the first Tuesday of each month commencing at 1830hrs.

During May our Annual Audit or accounts for the previous year takes place. By law accounts must be audited (AGAR forms) before submitting them to PKF, the external Auditors, for final signing off.

The South Witham Council return for 2022/23 was internally audited once again by Mr Gordon Andrew and signed off by him. Mr Andrew never charges but in lieu he does ask that the Parish donates an agreed amount to the Memorial Reserve Fund. This was done by The Clerk.

The Clerk displayed the relevant notice of intended external audit before submitting the accounts and later in the year we received notice that everything was in order. Here I should say, on your behalf a huge thank you for the onerous and thankless task our Clerk does in preparing these on your behalf. Thank you again Helen.

I am sure many of you will have noticed that the flooding we have experienced over the years on Thistleton Lane under the bridge seems to at last been cured. It has taken many letters and telephone calls to eventually get the Highways to come out and dare I say fix the problem. The flooding experienced on Great Close is no nearer to being solved and flooding is now appearing on Moor Lane. You can rest assured we are treating this very seriously will carry on badgering all parties concerned both directly with SKDC and LCC, through our representatives on these two authorities, until we get a successful outcome (which we will) as we did on Thistleton Lane. Here I would like to thank the efforts being made on the Villages behalf.

The general upkeep of the Village Hall (owned by the Parish Council) continues to be a constant drain on our limited resources. Work is ongoing as and when required.  The building was carried out in the 1960’s and consequently there are areas that need attention to comply with the latest regulations for public buildings. Many of the fixtures and fittings purchased when new were not of commercial quality being the type of thing you or I would fit in our own homes and as such these have been replaced and have been upgraded to meet modern day requirements. This year we have fitted a new Gas boiler, replaced one flat roof and new fire doors, and main entrance to the Village Hall. We are now in the process of checking the other flat roof as we appear to have a water ingress. New security cameras have been fitted to the Hall having first sought advice from the local police and security people. The Parish Council have agreed in this financial year to replace all the outdoor lighting on the Hall with more efficient units and this should be in place in the near future. A full list of what has been carried out can be seen recorded in the minutes of each Parish Council monthly meeting which is posted on the two notice boards outside Great Close Stores and at the approach to the Village Hall.  The PC’s application for a grant towards the cost of our major work was granted and I am pleased to report that this has meant that we were able to keep the Parish Precept the same as in the past few years. This precept is the extra amount the Parish Council agrees to increase the amount you pay in Council Tax.

 As you are all aware the cost of Gas and Electricity is rocketing, and we need to do everything we can to keep the Hall running costs down to the minimum. We have a finance sub-committee constantly reviewing the situation along with guidance from the Parish Clerk. The fixed term agreement has expired and thanks to a great deal of effort the Parish Clerk has been able to gain the Parish a very good deal.

 It is becoming a thankless task for them due the increased cost of services and also to the negligence of others who use the Village Hall. Constantly the thermostats are altered by users who then leave without turning the setting back to where it was before they started changing it.  This means that the temperature is high all night and during the day until someone goes in to check. We do not have a caretaker/premises officer and it is unfair to expect the councillors who look after the fabric to constantly be checking the situation. Please can I ask in these belt tightening times that each and all of you that use these excellent facilities to check before you leave. The Finance Committee has now set a more realistic fee for the Village Hall Management Committee to pay this year.  The VHMC agreed and the new Contract was signed at the last Parish meeting.  

The Commemorative Tree for the Queen’s Platinum Anniversary was planted on the island between Water Lane and Church Street and we must thank Councillor White for removing the Crab Apple tree which had stood for many years. Children from the Village School planted the surrounding area with bulbs which we hope will provide a lovely display later in the year.

A commemorative plaque was purchased from The Royal British Legion and can be seen at the base of the tree. This will only happen however if people refrain from driving or parking over the piece of land in question. In order to stop this the Parish Council put stakes around the edges but even these have been ignored and several of them have been knocked over by vehicles.

This I am sure is not done intentionally but could I ask you all if you are dropping children off or picking them up,  please use the Village Hall Carpark and then the footpath and gate to the school field which the Parish Council provided some years ago.

Talking about the parking outside School I am pleased to say that at last our voice has been heard and acted upon and you will no doubt have noticed the yellow markings now outside the school. It is nowhere near enough but at least it is a start.

The Cemetery and allotments continue to be monitored by Councillor Van Straubenzee.   Following the number of thefts that were made from sheds on plots we had last year the Parish Council has undertaken various safety measures to alleviate this.  To date this seems to have worked as we have had no further thefts reported.

Councillor Oldfield continues to monitor the junior play area and the skateboard equipment.  These were installed in 2005 and are beginning to show wear and tear.  Repairs are becoming more necessary and he continues to keep on top of the work.  Yet again another thankless task I am afraid. The ROSPA report on the condition of these two areas has highlighted some work that is urgently required and Councillor Oldfield has undertaken this work on our behalf. He cannot continue to keep this up and I am sure he would at least like to have a list of people he can contact if help is needed.

Councillor Oldfield continues to collect drinks cans, crushing them and selling them for their scrap value. The monies received may not seem worthwhile but over a period time  the monies available for repairs to these two areas is constantly being added to. If you would like to help please make contact with him. His telephone number can be found on the South Witham PC web page. Please crush them before handing them over. I personally on your behalf wish to thank Councillor Oldfield for the work he does for the Village.  I know he will not thank me for saying this but people like him are few and far between and yet if it was not for them the Village would be a sorry state.

Whilst dealing with the play equipment some of you may be wondering what has happened to the play area at back of the houses on Moor Lane. This play area belongs to SKDC and they are responsible the upkeep of the equipment and the area in general. SKDC offered the land to the Parish Council plus what was left of the equipment on it. After thorough investigation the Parish Council turned down the offer as the cost of new equipment and the constant upkeep of  equipment and the field was something The Parish Council could not take on at this moment in time especially as there would be no financial input from SKDC.  At present we do know what will happen to it.

Last November saw the Annual Bonfire taking place organised by Councillor Kinning, her husband, family and friends. Congratulations to all the helpers as this turned out to be yet another rip-roaring success.  It is hoped that this will become a feature of our Village life. A donation was made to the play area account.

May I take this opportunity to thank the VHMC for organising once more the Christmas Dinner for our senior citizens. I know many of them really look forward to this yearly event.  We as a Parish Council really do appreciate this gesture as we do the attendance of the school children who provided the singing of Carols at the end if the dinner. May I take this opportunity of thanking our LCC representative Councillor Charlotte Vernon and our two SKDC Councillors Council Ben Green and Councillor David Bellamy for the sterling work they have done on our behalf. We as a Village have benefitted greatly from their hard work as we have from the work of your Parish Councillors’.

Finally I feel I must say a huge thankyou to The Parish Clerk (Helen Sandon) who spends hours working on your behalf. Her commitment to this position is more than words can express and the fact that she has been with for over 20 years shows this.

I have now concluded my report. If there are any omissions you feel should have been included I apologise to all Parish Councillors.

Before Closing I feel a need to comment personally on one or two things.

Last May we should have held elections for Parish Councillors for the new term of office. This however did not take place as we did not have enough people who were willing to stand for the eleven parish councillor vacancies. We have not been able to hold an election in the Village since May 2004 for the reasons stated above and so all nominees were automatically elected. You may feel this is fine but only three people on the present council were elected to the Parish Council by a people of the Village through the election box. I feel this is unacceptable.  Even though we can co-opt, your Council needs new and fresher blood on it. Please give this some serious thought before the next elections are due to take place.

For your information there are several ways of contacting Councillors and you will find a list of them on the Notice Boards and on the Village Website including telephone numbers. The Notice Boards are found by Great Close Store and at the entrance off Water Lane to the Hall.

We also have sub-committees dealing with various matters and if you feel approaching those directly would be better feel free to do so. This list is also on the Village Notice Boards

Lastly The Parish Council meets on the First Tuesday of each month at 19.00 and there is an open forum at which Villagers may raise topics they wish to discuss. This Open Public session takes place at 18.30. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Once again thank you for your patience.

Cliff Ashton (Chair of the Parish Council)