Draft August 2025
SWINSTEAD PARISH COUNCIL
Draft Minutes of the of the Parish Council held
Thursday 21st August 2025, 19.00pm in the Village Hall
Cllr L Underhill Chairperson, Cllr K Vardy Vice Chair, Cllr M Hoodless, Cllr M Robinson & C Hatch (Clerk)
- Public Forum (15 minutes maximum). No members of the public attended the public forum.
- Apologies for Absence. None
- To receive declarations of interest in accordance with the 2011 Local Government Act. – personal or prejudicial interest in any items for discussion. None
- Draft Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Thursday 15th May 2025 to be approved as the Minutes. Having been previously circulated, the Minutes were approved unanimously.
- Matters Arising. Cllr Underhill advised four residents responded to her request to form a Green’s Committee, together with volunteers from the Parish Council, the committee will identify areas of the village which will benefit from tidying up, weeding, grass verge cutting and so on. If other residents would like to become involved, please contact Cllr Underhill via the PC email address, swinsteadparishcouncil@gmail.com
- Discuss Co-Option request from Mrs M Longbone. The Clerk advised the Councillors, he had received an expression of interest from Mrs Longbone of High Street Swinstead in becoming a Parish Councillor for Swinstead. After discussion, under the Co-Option process ,the Councillors agreed unanimously, Mrs Longbone was then invited to complete the acceptance forms. Cllr Underhill welcomed Cllr Longbone to the Parish Council.
6.0 Chair’s Report August 2025
The planters at the village entrances and on the Bourne Road Green have looked particularly splendid this summer thanks to Chris Hatch’s regular care. Chris’s major overhaul of fresh compost in late spring and the overwintering of last year’s Begonias as well as buying in new stock has really paid off and the planters have been brimming with glorious colour for the past few months. Many thanks to Chris.
It was very nice to see a village gathering on the Green for the lighting of the beacon on August 15th to commemorate VJ Day and the official end of W.W.2. Thanks to the Village Hall Committee for organising this.
On a less happy note: There is no street lighting at Croake Hill now following a serious and seemingly senseless act of vandalism to the 4 street lights for that area of the village on August 11th. The matter was reported promptly to the District authorities and is now in the hands of the Police. The remaining lamp post stumps were made safe directly and the District Council will endeavour to replace them as soon as is possible.
6.1 County & District Councillor’s. Cllr Vernon advised the Councillors of the Lorry Watch program available on the LCC website. https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/parish.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/homepage/lcc-lorry-watch. Here you can report speeding or over loaded lorries.
Cllr Vernon advised, she is hoping to set up a local community meeting with the Rural Crime Unit, they speak to local communities advising on rural crime, burglary, personal safety and many other issues, Swinstead PC offered to host the meeting at the Village Hall. Cllr Vernon will liaise with Swayfield and Little Bytham Parish Councils and arrange a convenient date for the meeting.
Cllr Vernon also advised, LCC are actively encouraging towns and villages to get involved with their Community Resilience Scheme. It’s about neighbours helping neighbours—before, during, and after emergencies. From floods to power outages, resilience means being ready. It’s not about replacing our emergency services but working alongside them with local knowledge and immediate support. Cllr Vernon suggested this be discussed in ore detail at the next PC meeting.
6.2 Councillors Reports. None
Highways. The Clerk advised he emailed Highways requesting an engineer come to Swinstead and survey the roads in the village, with a view to resurfacing areas of the High Street, Cllr Vernon will follow this up with Highways, Cllr Vernon will contact the Clerk when the engineer is going to visit. The Clerk also advised Archer speed reporting equipment will be located in the High Street and Bourne Road in September, this will record the volume of vehicles and their speed during the month of September, after which a report is produced providing details.
Defibrillator. The Clerk confirmed both the new Defibrillators sighted in the Phone Kiosk in the High Street and the Allotment have been registered with the British Heart Foundation and East Lincolnshire Ambulance. Cllr Vardy to organise a CPR-Defibrillator training evening, date to be advised.
- Parish Clerk report.
7.1Position at Bank. The Clerk presented the PC accounts as at the 4th of June 2025 which were accepted. The precept balance at that time was £3.173.72.
7.2 Cheques to be signed. Clerks’ salary £521.30 (1st April to 31st August), Zurich Annual Renewal £214.00, Graytones Printers £90.00, (replacement village signs), J Kirby £75.00 (Orchard grass cutting). These were agreed and signed.
7.3 To declare Swinstead PC exempt from a Limited Assurance Review. The Clerk confirmed, the PC exempt from as turnover is less than £25.000.
7.3.1To Resolve the Approval of the Annual Governance Statement, for publication. After the presentation of the AGAR forms, they were agreed and signed by the Chair. The Clerk will publish them on the PC website.
- Planning. S25/0916, Mr Sebastian Miller, Erection of new detached beef cattle finishing shed and associated hard standings. Park Farm, Park Road, Swinstead, Lincolnshire, NG33 4PJ, Full Planning Permission. (Circulated to PC)
9.0 Other Items for discussion.
Cllr Robinson asked the Clerk to publish the new Community Resilience Newsletter on the Village FB page
Cllr Underhill requested the condition of the Monument at the junction of High Street and Creeton Road, be add to next agenda. Cllr Underhill also suggested the PC and Village Hall combine forces with the Church, supporting this year's Harvest festival.
The Clerk was asked to obtain quotes for painting the planters at the entrances to the village.
Date of next meeting
November 13th, 2025, 7.00pm at Swinstead Village Hall
https://swinstead.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/