January 2026 DRAFT Minutes
Timberland and Thorpe Tilney Parish Council Meeting Minutes (Draft)
Date Monday 19th January, 2026
Start time: 19:00
Close: 20:45
Meeting Location Timberland Village Hall
Attendees:
PC Councillors Lenton (Chair), Audis, Thompson-Ayerst, Nash, Slater, Ayerst, Clements
Clerk – K Harvey
District Councillor A Whittle, District Councillor S Lawrence & County Councillor R Kendrick
Apologies for Absence: None
1.
Parishioner open forum
One parishioner attended the second half of the meeting.
2. Apologies for absence
None.
3. Declarations of interest
Nothing to declare.
4. Minutes of previous meeting
Minutes of meeting held on Monday 17 November 2025 were approved.
Proposed: Cllr Nash, Seconded: Cllr Audis, All agreed.
5. District & County Councillor remarks
Cllr Lawrence advised that the new Council Tax figures were being processed with planned increases of 2.96% and all parishioners would receive their new council tax statements in the coming weeks.
Cllr Whittle (and the PC) have been contacted by a resident concerned about the current planning permission (25/1523/FUL). The PC have previously contacted the Planning Department and voiced concerns over water course, drainage and increased flood risk arising from a previously approved planning application on the site. There is also a concern about the “piecemeal” approach to development of this large site. It is the view that small planning applications are more likely to be well received by the planning department and it also minimises the need to provide affordable housing. Cllr Whittle will investigate what else could be done to support the concerns of the resident and the approach to development of the site.
Cllr Kendrick has advised that the poles visible in the dykes are sensors provided by a County Council scheme which sends telemetric signals regarding water levels. The information goes to a central emergency room to alert problems. The County Council are looking to roll this out to all local PC’s so that flood alerts can be acted upon.
6. Planning
See section 5 for details of the current planning application. There are no further planning applications to discuss.
7. Highways
• The road sign pointing down Fen Road has been repaired. The signs near the fisheries have now been moved and now ones in their place, old signs need to be collected.
• Clerk has contacted highways regarding the path between Timberland and Martin and how narrow it is. No response yet.
Action: Clerk to contact Highways again to see if any response regarding footpath to Martin.
• The PC have noted that parking is increased on some dangerous corners around the village hall and the Penny Farthing. It was agreed by majority that a proposal will be sent to Cllr Kenrick with a request to have yellow lines painted where blind corners are being blocked by parked cars. Cllr Kendrick agreed to act when the request was received. Cllr Lenton did not support this action. All other councillors approved.
Action: Clerk to contact Cllr Kendrick with a map of the village and where the PC feels yellow lines should be painted.
8 Standing Parish items
8.1 Timberland Green
• Cllr Nash has investigated a free standing open fronted shelter to replace the broken and now removed old one. Prices range from £800- £1700 approx depending on size and quality of the wood.
Action: Those that have voted in favour for the shelter to be replaced are to investigate all options of shelter and have a proposal for the next meeting in March. The agreed budget is £1500.
• As agreed at the last PC meeting, the new mower has been purchased. As actioned, Cllr Lenton investigated the option of purchase or leasing. and the proposal of outright purchase was shared on email for review and approval by all councillors. By a majority decision, the option to purchase a new mower was approved. Cllr Thompson-Ayerst disagreed with the need to replace the mower. The trade in value of £1100 has been received into the reserve account and the new mower has been delivered. The VAT on the new mower will be reclaimed at the end of the financial year.
• The gate between the church yard and the village green is sticking and needs attention.
Action: Cllr Nash will plane the gate
• The ROSPA report has recommended that rubber buffers be installed on all village green gates to minimise the chance of parishioners trapping fingers between gate and post.
Action Cllr Lendon to look in to and purchase rubber buffers for the gates.
8.2 Timberland Village Hall
• An email has been received from the Chair of the VHC advising that the PAT testing was carried out in July 2025, also all the fire extinguishers have been tested by Lindum Fire Services on 14th January 2026. It was noted by Lindum Fire service that the VH should ideally have a fire alarm, the VHC are investigating this.
• The Keter box has been purchased and is in place for use in storing sandbags.
• The PC have purchased a post to make good the VH notice board and will be replaced when the weather improves.
• The old chairs are now in the container as per request from the VH.
• The responsibilities regarding maintenance and costs for the services provided by the VH need to be clarified and agreed between the two organisations.
Action: Cllr Lenton to investigate how this can be achieved.
8.3 Family fun Day 2026
• The FFD Committee have started the planning and booking of events. Advertising is underway.
• The FFD have received a kind donation of £285.00 from the Grapevine Magazine.
• The PC have confirmed that the FFD will receive £300 by way of a donation from the PC to support this event.
8.4 Grounds & dyke maintenance
• The clerk has renegotiated the grass cutting contract for Bayfield Road grass section with an increase of £2.00 per cut.
• The flood team are carrying out ongoing investigations and recently have tried to put a camera down the drain to see what the ongoing issue is, they were unable to get further from a certain point. They are going to contact the Clerk with updates as and when they have them.
Action: Clerk to contact flood team in a couple of weeks if no contact made.
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 - ongoing
8.7 Parish Council
• Following the last PC meeting the chair contacted Sarah Clements and was invited to join the PC. Cllr Clements joined her first meeting and was welcomed by all councillors. The PC now have a full complement of councillors.
• Clerk is looking at relevant training courses for new councillor.
Action: Clerk to send dates of the training courses to new PC when they have been released.
8.8 Human Resources
• 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
• The Clerk has received an email from a concerned parishioner regarding the ongoing speeding issue, that the road from Timberland to Martin is getting worse and that the speeds coming out of the village are increasing and dangerous.
• The PC are aware of the speeding in the village and feel that most speeding vehicles are parishioners. We will again seek advice from Cllr Kendrick to see if anything new could be suggested.
Action: Clerk to respond to the correspondent.
9 Finance Status Update
9.1 Accounts Status / Finance update
• Bank Balances reported by the clerk as follows: Community Account £2902.24, Reserve Account: £6471.58 (includes £1737.80 CIL money), Family Fun Day Account £2912.72
9.2 Payments for Approval
The following payments were discussed and agreed by the PC.
Proposed Cllr Ayerst, Seconded Cllr Slater. 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 Precept
• The Precept proposal agreed by the Finance Committee was reviewed. The suggested precept request of £7929 was agreed by all.
Proposed Cllr Audis, Seconded Cllr Thompson-Ayerst All agreed.
Action: Clerk to send the precept request form to North Kesteven.
• It was agreed by all that any remaining money in the current account will be transferred into the reserve account at the end of the financial year.
Action: Clerk to calculate an estimate of outgoings from the current account and report back to the PC
10 Supplementary Items
10.1 Bus Service
• Cllr Kendrick advised that the regular bus service that once came through Timberland stopped some time ago due to lack of demand and that ‘Call Connect’ was brought in. There is a timetable in place that the PC will display.
• The PC feel there may be further demand for a more regular service and will investigate how a regular bus service can be restored to Timberland. Cllr Thompson-Ayerst suggested that a poll of residents be undertaken to identify if there is local support for this to be taken forward.
Action: Clerk to contact Cllr Kendrick to see if he can support or help with any details of bus services
Action: Cllr Thompson-Ayerst to devise a method to collect feedback from residents.
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. Cllr Lenton has committed to adding to this with our regular calendar events and will circulate to all PC for review before the next meeting.
Action: Cllr Lenton to circulate to all councillors for review.
11 Meeting Close
Meeting closed at 20:45