Minutes 2025-26

SWINSTEAD PARISH COUNCIL

Draft Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting

 Held on Thursday 15thMay 2025 Following the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council

Present were the members of the Parish Council.

1. To agree the Minutes of the 2024 Annual Parish Meeting:

Having been previously circulated, the Minutes were approved unanimously.

2.0     Chairmans Annual Report of the Parish Council:  A comprehensive Chair’s report was presented by Cllr Underhill. Please see below.

3.0     District and County Councillors' Reports:   District Councillor Nick Robins reported that the Mayoral and District Elections having taken place meant that there was little to report other than the results.  Lincolnshire is now a Reform County.

4.0     Financial report for year ending 31st March 2024.   In the absence of the Clerk the end of year accounts for the PC, which had been circulated previously, were copied and distributed to the residents present.  They will be signed off as accurate at the next Parish Council meeting.       

5.0     Electors’ concerns. 14 residents attended the meeting. 

• Mr Ian Windsor, reported a hole in the pavement as a danger to residents. Cllr Hoodless undertook to photograph the hazard and report it to Fix my Street.  Mr Winsor queried why Swinstead is getting no real road or pavement repairs, highlighting other villages that seem to be getting upgrades. District Cllr Nick Robbins pointed out that if a village is on a main road it would be more of a priority. Cllr Robins suggested on the Clerk’s return he email Rowan Smith and request an engineer walk about.
• Mr Tim Harrison, highlighted, as in previous meetings, that SKDC does not clear or maintain the path in front of his house.  He has to do it every year. Mr Harrison also pointed out that due to the path stopping short of the end of the village it encourages cars to speed up before they have left the village. 
• Mr Harrison encouraged the Parish Council to raise the precept. He said that all prices have increased and therefore there’s a need to pay extra. It would be better to gradually increase the precept each year rather than have to have a sudden substantial increase. 
• Mrs Isabel Skerritt, asked if anything was being done about the flooding in her road.  Cllr Underhill assured her that the Clerk chased this work on a regular basis. It is working its’ way up the District Council job list and will be completed at some point.
• Mrs Linda Harrison, thanked the Parish Council for their help when a fallen tree from their boundary needed clearing from the road while they were away. 

Date of the next meeting May 2026 TBA.

Website https://swinstead.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/

Chair’s Annual Report May 2025

I would like to begin my report by thanking my fellow Councillors for all their hard work throughout the past year.  I feel that we have worked well together as a cohesive team to uphold the best interests of the village.

At our last meeting in March we received the resignation of Councillor Annette Whitworth who has now stood down from the Parish Council.  We remaining Councillors would like to publicly thank Annette for all that she has done during her period of service on the Council and she will be sorely missed.   We would like her to accept this small token of appreciation.  I am very pleased to be able to tell you that Councillor Micky Hoodless will not be leaving us, something that we are very pleased about indeed.

So we have one vacancy to fill to make up the allowed number of 5 Councillors for Swinstead.  If anyone here tonight would like to put their names forward or would like to know more about what is involved in being a Councillor, we would be delighted to speak with you after the meeting.

We are indebted to our hard working and extremely efficient Parish Clerk Chris Hatch.  His help and advice is invaluable on all matters and he has kept the books in perfect order giving a detailed financial report at each meeting.  Chris told us last September that he would be retiring from the post at our March ‘25 meeting.  Although the post has been advertised widely Chris has very kindly agreed to stay on until a successor can be found – something we really appreciate.   As well as seeing to Parish Clerk duties Chris tends and fills the village planters, looks after the Jubilee Orchard and does everything to do with the village Christmas tree each year and probably a lot more besides.  We are so grateful to him for all that he does for the Parish Council and for the village.

I would like to thank County Councillor Charlotte Vernon and District Councillor Nick Robins for their attendance whenever possible at our meetings.  We have found their help and advice so useful.

Thanks must also go to Gail and Steve Clarke, our parish cleaners, for keeping the streets and verges free from litter.  They do a wonderful job and go the extra mile for us all covering an extensive area. 

I would also like to thank the Village Hall Committee members who have once again put on such a varied and enjoyable programme of events for the village to enjoy throughout the past year, starting with the wonderful D-Day street party in Bourne Road last June and ending with the VE Day beacon lighting just last Thursday.    A highlight for me is always the village firework display on the Green.  It is noticeable too how many come from other villages to Swinstead events because they know that if it’s organised by the Village Hall Committee it will be a good one. 

The village was very saddened by the death of George Brown last November.  George had served for many years on the Parish Council, often as Chair, and in more recent years as Chair of the Village Hall Committee.  Putting George’s bar into the Hall was a cause very dear to his heart which he ran with characteristic good humour and friendly banter.   George will be missed by all of us for a very long time to come.  He was one of Swinstead’s prominent characters and as the words on the commemorative bench to George given by the Village Hall and the Parish Council, says he was “everyone’s friend”.

Parish Council topics, concerns and projects over the past year include:

• Acquiring the telephone kiosk from BT.  This will be used to house a second, more centrally placed, defibrillator
• The installation of a dropped curb in Park Road enabling mobility scooters to cross safely
• The electronic village speed sign has broken and is too expensive to repair.  Perhaps the purchase of a new one can be a future fund raising project.  Meanwhile 30 mile painted road markings at village entrances will be pursued with Highways
• An agreement was reached with Creeton Quarry for stone lorries to observe a voluntary restriction of 20 mph through our village
• It was hoped to obtain a grant to improve the appearance of the traffic island housing the village cross with a stone planter and replica pump.  No grant being available a less ambitious version is hoped for when funds allow
• After the January floods an SKDC village deep clean was applied for and carried out
• Planning applications have been considered and commented on where appropriate
• Pot holes have been reported with results in some measure
• Donations on behalf of the village have been made to the Church to help with churchyard maintenance, to Johnny Hawkins for mowing the Bourne Road Green and also to our parish cleaners for taking on the 3 extra litter bins
• The Jubilee orchard continues to delight.   Hard standing under the pic-nic seating installed by Wilson Landscapes has helped with grass management.  John Kirby is regularly paid to cut the grass throughout the growing season.

To round off my report on a financial note, we have decided to keep the precept the same as for the last 7 years at £3363.00.  An increase would have meant an increase in everyone’s Council Tax.  All statements of accounts and minutes of Parish Council meetings can be found on the Swinstead PC page of the SKDC website which is maintained in compliance with the Transparency Code by the Parish Clerk.

Liz Underhill

Chair

Swinstead Parish Council.