Minutes

Langworth Group Parish Council   

 

Serving the grouped parishes of Barlings, Newball, Stainton by Langworth and Reasby

 

E:mail: langworthgroupparishcouncil@gmail.com

 

Draft Minutes of the Langworth Group Annual Parish Meeting held at 7.00pm on Tuesday 7th May 2024 in Langworth Memorial Hall

Present: Cllr M Herbert (Chairman); Mrs M Vail (Parish Clerk) and 3 members of the public.

Meeting started at 7.05pm.

1. Notes from the Annual Parish Meeting held on 4 April 2023:

RESOLVED to sign these as a correct record.        

 

2. Chairman’s Report:

A report was given by the Chairman (Appendix A)

 

3. Clerk/RFO’s report:

A report was given by the Clerk (Appendix B)

 

4. Reports by local County and District Councillors:

D/Cllr T Bridgwood noted the flooding concerns which are shared across the local community and advised that D/Cllr C Darcel has completed a desktop study showing that flooding matters extend at least County-wide. He suggested that the Neighbourhood Plan be signed off as being an effective way to help address concerns.

 

D/Cllr M Palmer advised of a change in WLDC’s administration, and that most WLDC activity is currently centred around Gainsborough. She gave a brief report on environmental and sustainability matters.  

 .

5. Local Organisations reports:

A report was read out from the Memorial Hall Committee (Appendix C).

A brief overview was provided in respect of The Meadows.

 

6. Parishioners Items:

No matters were raised.

 

  Meeting ended at 7.29pm.

 

9th June 2024

Mrs Michelle Vail

Parish Clerk

Langworth Group Parish Council

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX A

 

Chairmans Report for term 2023/2024

Firstly, I would like to sincerely thank the Langworth Group Parish Councillors for giving up their time and participating fully in these official parish meetings. Their contributions are invaluable. Not all of their work is recognised and appreciated, many Councillors carry out work outside of our monthly meetings on behalf of the community and seek no recognition for it. So once again, thank you to everyone.

I would also like to say a big thank you to our District and County Councillors. We are blessed that they frequently attend our meetings and often provide us with valuable insights and information from County and District. Considering how busy these ladies and gentlemen are very grateful for their time. Not every Parish Council benefits from such regular attendance.

I also would like to say thank you to our Proper Officer and Financial Officer, Michelle. Without her hard work this Parish Council would not be able to function. With her good nature she keeps us on the straight and narrow, carrying out the mundane tasks without complaint or hindrance and spoon feeds us with every bit of information that we may possibly need. Often making sense out of the complexities that comes along with Public Authorities. We are lucky indeed to have such a fine Clerk.

For many residents in Langworth and nearby villages it has been a difficult year. Costs are rising and incomes are struggling to keep up with the demands of the cost of living. Your annual Council Tax bill shows the small proportion which is the Parish Council contribution. That cost has increased slightly but is less than inflation. The Parish Council were very reserved in their budget this year and any increases in tax only really reflect the increase in the Parish Councils running costs i.e. grass cutting, playground maintenance etc. Some projects and 'like to have' ideas that would have cost money were held back. I ask residents to keep in mind that all the money that the Parish Council receive is all spent in Langworth and nearby villages. Parish Councillors do not get paid and their work in voluntary

Planning applications have been noticeably low this year. The vast majority of applications  have  been  about  property  extensions  and

rebuilds. No new major housing development applications have been received and the 20 properties that already have approval and are to be built on Barlings Lane have not yet started.

One of the major issues that Parish is concerned with is flooding. Last October, the Nettleham Beck and the Barling Eau overflowed and caused a lot of flooding in the area. Some properties on Scothern Lane, Station Road and Barlings Lane were damaged and some remain uninhabitable. So far, despite our best efforts and public meetings, no authority has yet said what they are going to do to prevent this frequent event recurring. If it wasn’t for the fact that the banks of the Barling Eau broke further downstream the situation here would have been much worse. My concern is by the time the investigations have been concluded, and recommendations have been made we then enter a period where the resources need to found to fix things and there are other more densely populated areas that are at greater risk where I think that money would go. It seems to me that the Environment Agency, Lincolnshire County Council and Witham 3rd Drainage have no plan, they have no money, and they have no intention of making local improvements to prevent flooding in our Parish.

The best that we can do is to put an Emergency Response Plan in place. It won't stop the flooding, but it will hopefully help those people who get caught up in these tragic events. To this end the Plan is largely developed but it needs to be finalised and practiced before the next heavy rainfall events.

The Parish Council agreed to develop a Neighbourhood Plan and then to take in to residents so that a referendum can take place. It has been slow to develop and currently only one Councillor is working on this. It desperately needs more people to get involved and disappointingly, despite best efforts, no one in the community has offered any help. For the Neighbourhood Plan to be realised it needs a small group of people in our community to volunteer a little amount of their time.

In the last year we introduced the idea of Parish Champions. Councillors volunteered to take a lead role in progressing issues which persisted within our Parish. The idea is that they could maintain focus on a particular subject with the objective of making progress. Topics such as Highways and Footways, The Station Inn, Neighbourhood Plan, Emergency Response Plan, Playground Equipment have all made progress and have achieved some significant results. Not as much as we had hoped for, but it has maintained focus and efforts are still in place to achieve positive outcomes 

 

 

 

APPENDIX B

 

CLERK’S REPORT

* The Council year began with Elections in May 2023, with all 9 Councillors being re-elected unopposed.  Until recently, the Parish Council then operated at its full complement of 9 councillors. However, there is now a vacancy for Newball parish following the recent resignation of Cllr Jack Machin.  Jack’s help and friendship; and contribution to the Council and local community are noted, and he will be missed.

 

* The Parish Council has commented on several planning applications this year. 

 

* Flooding matters have featured prominently over the autumn and winter months.  A Langworth Flood Public Meeting, attended by various agencies, was held on 7th February 2024.  The Parish Council is putting an Emergency Plan together which will encompass different emergency scenarios, not just flooding.

 

* Our Chairman has, and continues, to report many Highways issues to LCC via Fix My Street. 

 

* A Police Online Engagement session with Parish Councils has been attended. 

 

* Parish Champions have been established, where specific areas and responsibilities are championed by individual Councillors

 

* Neighbourhood Plan: WLDC have recently given approval for the designated area to be covered by the Plan to be amended to cover all the parishes.

 

* A joint Working Group party was arranged for April, to include members of the Memorial Hall Committee -  to whom we say thank you for your time and labour -  which carried out a general sprucing up of the play area.  

 

* We continue to financially support the production of Langworth Local magazine which has been expanded and developed into an integral community asset by the current editor.  

 

* The Parish Council has received £647.15 from Lincolnshire County Council towards grass cutting of the verges in the Group’s parishes.  This contributes towards the total costs of grass cutting, which came in at £4064.78 last year, and allows the Parish Council to undertake more cuts than the three that the County Council would offer us, helping to keep the village in a tidy condition. 

FINANCES

At year end, the current account balance stood at £1308.30, and the deposit account stood at £44057.40. 

Spend Against Budget 2023 – 24

Whilst there were some overspends within some individual budget heads, due to unforeseen higher than anticipated price increases due to the exceptionally high inflation rates, overall, the 2023 – 24 budget was underspent by £5225.32.

Audit:

The 2023 – 24 accounts are still to pass through the internal audit process and be signed off.  Once this is complete, they will then be examined by an external auditor. As the audit reports become signed off, they will be posted on our website.

 

APPENDIX C

 

Langworth Memorial Hall - Annual Parish Meeting Report – 07th May 2024

It has been a busy year for the Memorial Hall starting with an Emergency Meeting to reinvigorate the committee.

After the election of a new Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer plus a group of committee members new and existing, things have gone from strength to strength.

We did lose some existing members, Hazel, David and Simon who we thank for their efforts in coordinating the handover. Thanks also to Clive who stood down as a Trustee but continues to come along to coffee mornings and recently Deidre after decades of support has recently resigned, well almost resigned she still looks after the coffee morning organisation.

Coffee mornings continue on a weekly basis, Embrace is back on a monthly basis, Singing Group (paused at the moment for Emily to have a baby) also continues on a weekly basis.

Monthly we now have Bingo or the Quiz which are super popular with many villagers from Langworth and surrounding villagers attending.

The Summer Fete was a success as was the Produce & Craft show plus we introduced a Halloween event for kids and a Lest We Forget link up with the remembrance at the War Memorial which was well attended. On top of this there’s been a Jumble Sale and Christmas Lunch, we have been busy!

Plans are well in place to continue these through 2024.

The committee also stepped up in October when the village was flooded giving up their time to look after those who had to leave their homes. That support went on afterwards for flood victims helping them clear up the mess and arranging temporary housing in one case.

We have launched a website (which still needs work), a new email address for easy communication and stepped up our social media posts to keep everyone informed.

Our aim is to be the community hub of the village, providing entertainment and support where needed.

Finally, it should be noted that a handful of villagers have accomplished all of this to whom I thank them.

All are welcome, and if you haven’t been for a while please come along.

Steve Harper – Committee Chair.