January 2025 DRAFT Minutes
Timberland and Thorpe Tilney Parish Council Meeting Minutes (Draft)
Date Monday 20th January, 2025
Start time: 19:00
Close: 20.51
Meeting Location Timberland Village Hall
Attendees:
Councillors Lenton (Chair), Slater, Nash and Audis
Clerk – Kay Harvey
District Councillor Adrian Whittle
Apologies for Absence: None
1.
Parishioner open forum
There were two members of the public in attendance. No questions were raised.
2. Apologies for absence
None
3. Declarations of interest
None.
4. Minutes of previous meeting
Minutes of meeting on Monday 18th November 2024 were approved.
Proposed: Cllr Slater, Seconded: Cllr Audis. All Agreed
5 . District & County Councillor remarks
Cllr Whittle asked if we have an updated Emergency Plan. Cllr Slater has confirmed that the PC does, and it is registered with the LCC Emergency Planning Unit.
Cllr Whittle has also mentioned a concern from a resident in Walcott regarding speeding along the fen road and he will report this directly with highways as this doesn’t fall within the Timberland Parish boundary. The PC has agreed that the Clerk will also report this.
Action: Clerk to report speeding
6. Planning
The PC have formally responded to the four planning application notifications for the ‘Farmland @ The Barn, Timberland’. Info can be found at www.n-kevesteven.gov.uk/planningonline
7. Highways
• Cllr Kendrick has received from the Clerk, photographs of the damaged wall near the dyke at Church Lane. He has confirmed that it has been passed to the planning department and still no further forward on ownership.
• Cllr Audis has reported that the salt bins are half full but rock solid. Highways have come back to say they won’t refill them until they are nearly empty. Cllr Audis has broken up the salt in the bins and it is now usable.
• Cllr Lenton has advised there are still road signs leaning against the B1189 crossroads.
Action: Clerk to take more pictures of damaged culvert and the surrounding area and send to Cllr Kendrick.
Action: Clerk to contact highways to ask them to remove signage.
8 Standing Parish items
8.1 Timberland Green
• Cllr Audis advised that mower is due its annual service. The PC have approved this spend (approx. £130.00) and the Clerk will organise payment. Proposed Cllr Nash, seconded Cllr Audis.
• Cllr Nash has advised the gate from the church to the green needs some attention as it sticks when opening. Also, the entrance is very muddy and may pose a slip risk. This has been discussed before and the council agreed a resolution should be investigated.
• Clerk has written to Church Warden about their ongoing works list – this is still awaited.
• The PC have agreed to revisit the purchase of a new bench on the green, in the next FY2025/6.
Action: Cllr Nash to get quotes for cost of gravel at the gate.
Action: Cllr Audis to organise the mower service.
8.2 Timberland Village Hall
• PC still need to appoint a representative to support the Village Hall and attend the meetings, to support the VH and attend meetings to further build a strong cooperative relationship between the VH and the PC.
Action: Clerk to look through PC documents to see if there is any formal agreement between the PC/VH and report back to PC
8.3 Grounds Maintenance
• The Clerk has secured the contract for cutting the Bayfield Road grass for 2025/6 with Lincolnshire County Council.
Action: Clerk to contact LCC to ask for the bushes to be cut back on the footpath behind the Bayfield houses.
8.4 Family fun Day 2025
• FFD organisers reported that the preparations for the 2025 event were progressing well.
• For approval this meeting, TENS licence £21.00 cheque 100824 and Portaloo £132.00 (electronic transfer).
Proposed Cllr Slater and seconded Cllr Audis all agreed.
• FFD bank balance currently stands at £1549.81. PC discussed if a £300 donation is required given the state of the FFD funds, This will be reviewed at the next meeting in March.
8.5 Emergency Planning
Nothing to report
8.6 Social media
• A full review of the Timberland website is ongoing. The PC would like the site to be simple, with current documents and links to relevant places.
Action: All PC to review the website and send suggestions to the Clerk for updating.
8.7 Parish Council
• Following discussion, the PC agreed to co-opt Courtney Thompson-Ayerst and Shaun Ayerst as parish councillors. For the record this discussion took place at the end of the session when the hall was cleared.
Proposed: Cllr Audis, Seconded: Cllr Lenton, All agreed.
Action: Cllr Lenton to contact Courtney and Shaun to advise of the outcome of their application,
Action: Clerk to contact elections team to advise of new co-opted councillor and prepare paperwork. Elections will also provide the official notification to go on noticeboards.
Action: Clerk to organise new ‘Parish Council Guides’, Standing Orders and training courses for all new PC’s
8.8 Human Resources
• PC discussed the situation regarding pay rises for clerk and litter picker.
Action: Clerk to contact NKDC regarding expected salary increases in 2025
8.9 Correspondence
• The PC were contacted via a freedom of information request regarding Stream Bio-energy, The PC have responded declaring that no one has been contacted.
• The PC have been contacted by someone interested in using the village green for an event.
• The defib has now been fitted to the outside of the Penny Farthing Public house.
• National Transport Survey was sent to the Clerk asking for responses.
Action: Cllr Slater will complete the NTS.
Action: Cllr Nash to contact British Heart Foundation to get the new defib registered (with webnos) and arrange community training.
Action: Clerk to check Timberland Green lease regarding the use of the space for events.
Action: Clerk to check if current defib is included in the PC insurance.
9 Finance Status Update
9.1 Accounts Status / Finance update
• Bank Balances – Community Account £3057.69, Reserve Account £8677.51 (inc £2003.71 CIL), Family Fun Day Account £1,549.81
• Remaining spend for 2025/25 is forecast at £1,851, and includes items for approval. Total spend for the year is expected to be £7,838, which is an overspend of £66 against the full year's forecast budget of £7,772. Remaining spends to be charged against the Community Account.
9.2 Payments for Approval
The following payments were discussed and agreed by the PC:
• Clerk Salary £540.45
• Clerk Expenses £20.00
• Clerks PC expenses £17.00 toner & £5.00 paper
• Litter Picker £102.96
• LALC subs £245.56
• Cllr Audis £21.00 fuel for mower & £2.49 litter bin bags
• Cheque 100823 for HMRC £14.60
Proposed Cllr Audis, Seconded Cllr Slater, ALL agreed.
Action: Clerk to contact Barclays to ensure G Sharplin has been taken off mandate for approvals
10 Supplementary Items
10.1 Precept
• Cllr Lenton reported that the PC Finance Committee met in January to review the PC finances for 2024/25 and to calculate a precept for 2025/26.
• Spend for the current year is on target and is expected to hit the budget.
• Finance Committee proposed that the precept for 20225/26 should be £7500. This represents a reduction on the previous year.
Proposed Cllr Slater, seconded Cllr Audis, All Agreed.
Action: Clerk to forward precept request to NKDC before the deadline of the 24th January 2025.
11 Agenda items for next meeting (17th March 2025)
Parish email addresses
Meeting closed at 20.51