November 2025 DRAFT Minutes
Timberland and Thorpe Tilney Parish Council Meeting Minutes (Draft)
Date Monday 17th November, 2025
Start time: 19:00
Close: 20:50
Meeting Location Timberland Village Hall
Attendees:
PC Councillors Lenton (Chair), Audis, Thompson-Ayerst, Nash, Slater, Ayerst.
Clerk – K Harvey
Apologies for Absence: District Cllr A Whittle
1. Parishioner open forum
Two parishioners attended the meeting. No Comments from either.
2. Apologies for absence
District Cllr A Whittle
3. Declarations of interest
Nothing to declare.
4. Minutes of previous meeting
Minutes of meeting held on Monday 15th September 2025 were approved.
Proposed: Cllr Thompson-Ayerst, Seconded: Cllr Slater, All agreed.
5. District & County Councillor remarks
In the absence of District Cllr Kendric, Cllr Lenton advised that he had been contacted by Cllr Kendrick and advised that an officer of Countryside Access will visit to review the access over the culvert. No date has been provided for the visit and, following review of the photographs provided, it has been identified as not requiring immediate action. Cllr Lenton has requested that the PC are advised when the visit will take place.
6. Planning
Nothing to report.
7. Highways
• The road sign pointing down Fen Road has been noted that it is rotting and needs repair.
• Road signs on the Fen Road near the fisheries need to be collected.
• The footpath from Timberland to Martin is overgrown and not very wide.
Action: Cllr Nash will report (to fix my street) street sign to be repaired and temporary street signs to be collected
Action: Clerk to contact Cllr Kendrick to investigate path details and who maintains etc.
8 Standing Parish items
8.1 Timberland Green
• The volunteer works have now been completed on the green.
• Cllr Lenton and his son have repaired the main solid gate post that was partially rotted. It has been treated and made good. The post is now half its previous height and is likely to need further attention in 2026.
• The basketball back board perspex has been replaced by Cllr Nash. The perspex was donated by a parishioner.
• The goal nets have now been taken down as always done previously in November. Following discussion, it was agreed that in future years the nets will be taken down in response to poor weather to protect the green surface. The poor condition of the goal nets was also discussed and the PC resolved to discuss replacements in 2026 depending on cost.
• The PC are still considering the replacement of the shelter on the green and are mindful that a decision needs to be made sooner rather than later.
Action: Cllr Nash will gain some quotes for an open front shelter and report back to the PC.
• The PC discussed the proposal provided by Cllr. Lenton to replace the 10-year-old mower. The cost of a new mower including VAT is £4250.00. The trade-in value of the old mower is £1100. Following reclamation of VAT, the cost to the PC of the replacement is £2442. The PC agreed (not Cllr Thompson-Cayerst)that it is the right time to replace the mower, but a lease option should be investigated to see if it provides greater benefit. Cllr. Lenton agreed to investigate and provide details to the PC to allow a quick decision to be made as the trade-in value expires at the end of Nov-2025. It was also agreed that some of the available CIL money should be used if the option to purchase a mower was approved.
Action: Cllr Lenton will investigate purchase and lease options for a replacement mower and email all councillors with details.
Action: Clerk to advice PC of CIL amounts after payments have been made.
• The key safe is now on the container and Cllr Audis will share the code with the rest of the PC and the emergency flood team. This was donated and fitted by Flawless Homes.
8.2 Timberland Village Hall
• An email has been received from the Chair of the VHC asking if the PC are able to provide storage for plastic chairs and sandbags currently stored in the village hall shed. The VHC have advised that the chairs will be disposed of if the PC is unable to provide storage elsewhere. The PC will investigate alternative storage solutions asap and report back to the VH.
Action: Clerk to respond to the VH Chair advising of our next steps.
Action: Cllr Slater to investigate an additional Keter box for outside storage.
Action: Cllr Audis and Cllr Lenton to look at potential storage space in the container.
8.3 Family fun Day 2026
• Cllr Thompson-Ayerst confirmed that she will lead the organisation of next FFD. She will once again work with Linzi to make the arrangements for the 2026 event. The PC welcomed the news and once again thanked Courtney and Linzi for their efforts in arranging such a fantastic event in 2025.
• A date of Saturday the 11th July 2026 was proposed for the next FFD. All agreed.
• Planning will now commence, and further details will be shared with the PC as and when they develop.
8.4 Grounds & dyke maintenance
• Cllr Audis confirmed that grass cutting has finished for 2025 and will send the clerk the final figures for the grass cutting invoice.
Action: Clerk to invoice for grass cutting and negotiate an increase in the rate per cut, this is due to increased fuel costs.
Action: Clerk to contact LCC to advise residents have been dumping garden waste and rubble behind Bayfield path.
• The dykes alongside Church Lane and Timberland Green are overgrown again. They continue to be an ongoing discussion. Cllr Audis has started to rake out the dykes that approach the green.
8.5 Emergency Planning
Nothing to report
8.6 Social Media
• The Clerk has received suggestions from some of the PC to improve the PC website which is out of date and disorganised. Any further suggestions on how to improve the PC website should be submitted to the clerk.
Action: Clerk updating the PC website as and when suggestions are coming in.
8.7 Parish Council
• Cllrs Lenton and Cllr Audis met with the two applicants for the vacancy on the PC. A summary of the discussions had previously been shared with the PC in preparation for a discussion on how to proceed.
• The PC discussed the applications in closed forum and agreed to coopt Sarah Clements as a PC councillor.
Action: Cllr Lenton to write to both candidates and advise of outcome.
8.8 Human Resources
• The PC discussed expectations of timing for responses to emails and WhatsApp messages. Work and private-time demands on different councillors mean the not all can respond quickly and as a result a “best endeavours” approach to timings of responses was agreed with responses to be given within a reasonable timeframe.
• It was agreed that WhatsApp is a good tool for communication but not an official route for decisions and important information.
• The PC have agreed that all contact information for each PC should be removed from public notice boards and website, apart from Cllr Slater who is the emergency contact for flood, Cllr Nash as the contact for the two Defibrillators and the Clerk who is the official place for contact.
Action: Clerk to update notice boards and website with the correct contact details.
8.9 Correspondence
• PC clerks have received official notification from LALC that all PC’s need to have .GOV.UK emails. There is a requirement for the audit company and will need to be in place before June 2026. However, the clerk has investigated and identified that it is not compulsory. The PC do not wish spend funds on a .GOV domain and will remain with PC named emails.
• There have been some amendments made to the Timberland Green Lease. The previous Vice Chair, who dealt with the original new lease, has been heavily supporting the PC in this matter. The modifications have received approval, and all relevant documents will be forwarded to the PC for their review. The PC recognise with thanks, the support provided by the previous vice chair.
9 Finance Status Update
9.1 Accounts Status / Finance update
• Bank Balances reported by the clerk as follows: Community Account £3911.11, Reserve Account: £9531.64 (includes £2,978.46 CIL money), Family Fun Day Account £2620.08
• Cllr Lenton has provided the financial tracking spreadsheet, and the PC is on track with spending for the financial year.
9.2 Payments for Approval
The following payments were discussed and agreed by the PC.
Proposed Cllr Ayerst, Seconded Cllr Thompson-Ayerst. All agreed.
|
Payee |
Amount |
Details |
|
Clerk |
£587.25 |
Salary – 9 weeks (paid at new rate) |
|
Clerk |
£20.00 |
WFH expenses |
|
Clerk |
£5.50 |
Paper |
|
Clerk |
£16.91 |
Toner |
|
Clerk |
£55.99 |
Wreath and poppies |
|
Litter Picker |
£109.89 |
Salary |
|
HMRC |
£23.09 |
HMRC paye contributions |
|
Cllr Audi |
£13.60 |
Mower fuel |
|
Cllr Lenton |
£17.60 |
CIL volunteer materials |
|
Eclipse Fencing |
£92.76 |
CIL materials |
|
HMLR |
£5.00 |
Cheque for land registry |
9.3 Community Infrastructure Levy
• All works agreed have been carried out by the volunteer scheme and Cllrs Audis and Lenton.
• The notice board at bottom of village green is unfit. Cllr Lenton reported that the cost of replacement Perspex would be in the regions of £37.25. The post at the village hall notice board also needs replacing, the cost for this is an 8x3 post at £7.29. The PC approved this spend which will be taken from CIL funds.
Action: Clerk to update the CIL funds and email all PC
Action: Clerk to circulate the CIL wish list to all PC.
10 Supplementary Items
10.1 Bus Service
• The regular bus service was stopped some time ago in Timberland due to lack of demand. There is a call connect bus.
Action: Clerk to contact Cllr Kendrick to see if he can support or help with any details of bus services
10.2 PC calendar of events
• A draft calendar of events has been created by the clerk. This will be used to identify and prepare for upcoming events.
Action: Clerk to circulate to all councillors for review.
10.4 Drainage survey
• There have been ongoing investigations in the village into the dykes, drains and culverts.
Action: Clerk to contact Highways to see if there is any update
11 Meeting Close
Meeting closed at 20:50