Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of Folkingham Parish Council 14th May 2015

  1. The Chairman welcomed members of the public Cllr Martin Hill, Leader LCC, and the newly elected and re-elected members of the Parish Council
  2. Apologies were received from Cllr Victoria Strauss
  3. The minutes of the meeting of March 15th were approved and signed by the Chairman
  4. Questions from the public – there were no questions at this point
  5. It was confirmed that the new playground is scheduled for completion at the end of June and that there will be a celebration and opening ceremony around this date
  6. The pavement outside the Greyhound House is due to be lowered on the 18th May in the interests of road safety for those residents who have to cross the A15 at this point
  7. Matters arising from the previous minutes:
  8. Mill House Cottage – the owner has been given notice that SKDC will take over the maintenance of Mill Cottage to ensure that it remains standing and that the costs of so doing will devolve to the owner
  9. Traffic calming on the A15 and West Street: Cllr Martin Hill advised the meeting that a number of traffic calming measures exist. Costs must be borne by the community, but Cllr Hill advised that a match-funding scheme may be available. Cllr Hill will ask the Road Safety Partnership to contact the Clerk, who will report back to the next meeting.
  10. Cllr Ray Wright will contact Haydn Wesley to ask him to mow the external north east corner of the playing field to improve vision on Walcot Lane
  11. Verge mowing in various areas of the village has not been adequately carried out in a number of places in the village. SKDC has been informed and will liaise with the contractors
  1. Financial report – the precept has been increased to £9,000. It is estimated that the reserve available after completion of the playground will be in the region of £3000. The latest Business Saver Account stood at £58,849.97 on 16/04/2015. Cheques were issued to the following:
  2. Rick Webster (grass mowing)£124.80
  3. Clerk £300
  4. Clerk £72 (printing of election Flyer)
  5. Litter Picker£169
  1. Playing Field update – the playing field is due to be completed at the end of June. There will be an opening ceremony on completion to thank all those people and organisations who have given generously and worked tirelessly on this project. Cllr Martin Hill indicated that a grant of £500 might be available to support this event.
  2. No reports have been received re the Village Green
  3. Allotments – all allotments are fully occupied
  4. Report from LCC – Cllr Hill reported that the public sector is likely to see continuing cuts over the next five years. In effect LCC expects to see an overall drop in its budget of 40% - some £12 million. Voters are urged to make their objections known – the issues facing rural areas are not thought to be fully appreciated in Whitehall. Lincolnshire is the second most sparsely populated English County with, for instance, some 30.000 miles of road to maintain. The possibility of introducing a unitary authority in Lincs is being considered, which, it is mooted, might produce savings of some £30/40 million per annum
  5. Planning –notices of approval were granted to 27 Market Place and 70 Churchfields
  6. Correspondence received:

i)Grant Thornton – annual audit forms

ii)LALC - post election edition

iii)Asset mapping support scheme - The Chair and Vice Chair volunteered to complete these forms

iv)SKDC – confirmation of Precept for 2015/16 at £9,000

13. A.O.B.

  1. Tony Seston is to be the internal auditor for the annual audit, now in preparation.
  2. Cllrs Simon Turner and Shelley Seston will compile a Folkingham Directory – a list of local businesses and amenities for inclusion on the County website.
  3. Footpath no. 3 on the A15 remains un-open to the public and is still very low down on the Counties list of contested footpaths.

ii) The rent due for the Pavilion is to be increased this year by £5. Cllr Seston will liaise with John Stanley re this issue

v)Village Funday: Folkingham Fun Day will take place on the 25th July,. Anyone wanting to book a stall for this event should contact Shelley Seston 07752 180992. There will be no charge for charities. The Funday will include a Spitfire flypast. As last year there will be the very popular dog show. Stalls will be available on the Village Green, the Market Place, the Old School yard and the Village Hall, where refreshments will be available. Low outgoings for this event are predicted. The meeting agreed an expenditure of up to £200 signage etc.

14. Diary dates – the next meeting of FPC will be on 16th July in the Village Hall at 7.30p.m. Further meetings this year will be held on the 17th September and 19th November

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.30 p.m.