May 2026 Draft Minutes
Timberland and Thorpe Tilney Parish Council Meeting Minutes (Draft)
Date Monday 19th May, 2026
Start time: 19:19
Close: 20:40
Meeting Location Timberland Village Hall
Attendees:
PC Councillors Thompson-Ayerst (Chair), Audis, Lenton, Slater, Ayerst, Nash, Clements.
Clerk – K Harvey
Apologies for Absence: District Councillor S Lawrence
1. Parishioner open forum
Two parishioners attended the meeting.
One parishioner advised they have had to make an application to take down a substantial sycamore tree in their garden boundary and wanted to explain why. The tree in question has a disease- sooty bark - that is air borne and can be contagious to others around it. The tree is under a TPO. The application has been made.
The PC have no objections and will await the official request.
2. Apologies for absence
District Councillor S Lawrence.
3. Declarations of interest
Nothing to declare.
4. Minutes of previous meeting
Minutes of meeting held on Monday 16th March 2026 were approved.
Proposed: Cllr Lenton, Seconded: Cllr Audis. All agreed.
5. District & County Councillor remarks
Cllr Kendrick attended the meeting.
6. Planning
• The PC have received a letter from a Town Planning Consultancy firm regarding the unauthorised works on Martin Road. Currently there are no planning permissions for adjustments to the gravel driveway and paddocks. As per our planning policy the PC cannot comment until the planning permission has been requested.
• Cllr Kendrick has advised that this is only a County Council issue when there are significant issues with increased traffic and or highways.
• The PC has reviewed the current planning guidelines and considers them adequate for its needs. Individual parishoners have the right to raise an objection to any planning application if they believe there are valid grounds to do so.
Action: Clerk to check planning portal to see if anything has been submitted.
7. Highways
• There is an ongoing issue with significant amounts of potholes along Church Lane and Hallams Lane. Cllr Kendrick has offered to contact Highways to see if a site visit can be arranged as they are now so bad that they are causing damage to vehicles. As always potholes and highways issues should be reported to Fix My Street.
Action: Clerk to contact Cllr Kendrick to liaise with highways regarding site visit.
• Highways have responded to the Clerk regarding the width of the footpath between Timberland and advised there are no funds available to expand this.
• Highways have also responded to the Clerk regarding the request to investigate putting yellow lines in some blind spots in the village.
Action: Clerk to contact Cllr Kendrick with areas that the yellow lines would be beneficial and he will discuss with Highways.
• A road sign on the way to Metheringham has been damaged
Action: Clerk to report damaged sign to highways and Fix My Street
8 Standing Parish items
8.1 Timberland Green
• Cllr Lenton has purchased the agreed shelter and awaits delivery, once this has arrived the PC will decide on exact location and who will erect the shelter.
• Cllr Audis has noted that the small swing needs tightening at the top
• Cllr Audis has contacted NKDC regarding the emptying of all of the dog waste bins, including the new one on Fen Road and the current bin on the Village Green, this will now be included in the weekly schedule.
• 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. Cllrs Audis and Nash will attach the rubber.
• Cllr Kendrick has suggested that there may be some spare volunteer works
Action: Clerk to contact Cllr Kendrick regarding volunteer works
Action: All PC to attend Village Green to decide on location for new shelter
8.2 Timberland Village Hall
• Cllr Lenton has emailed the PC and the VH Chair following their meeting just to cover what was discussed. The on going relationship will continue but no further discussions required at this time.
• The VH have received a copy of the insurance policy that covers the insurance of the outside / the building.
8.3 Family fun Day 2026
• Cllr Thompson-Ayerst provided an update on the preparations for the FFD. All is progressing well and activities are under control. Raffle licences are in place, so ticket sales have commenced.
8.4 Grounds & dyke maintenance
• The Clerk is in touch with the flood team to organise training for the flood information app. As yet the dates for training have not been suitable.
• Cllr Thompson-Ayerst has noticed that LCC are advertising flood awareness roadshows on various social media platforms.
• Cllr Nash noted that a flood monitoring sensor in the Bayfield dyke has been damaged and has confirmed this has been reported.
• The Clerk has contacted LCC to ask for the Bayfield footpath to be cut when they can and remove hedge cuttings that a resident has left.
Action: Cllr Thompson-Ayerst to send Clerk details of where she saw the flood awareness roadshows
8.5 Emergency Planning
• Cllr Slater advised that, as he will soon be leaving the PC, he has identified a volunteer who is willing to take over the role of Emergency Coordinator. He will brief them on the emergency plan and add them to the relevant contact and communication groups. Their contact details will be circulated to those involved.
• Cllr Slater suggested that the Emergency Planning agenda item be moved to earlier in the meeting to allow updated to be provided with out requiring attendees to remain for the entire meeting. The PC agreed to this proposal
8.6 Social Media
• The Webmaster has left and LCC are interviewing with a view to have someone in role asap
• As Cllr Slater is soon leaving the PC someone else needs to have access to the PC FaceBook page
Action: Cllr Thompson-Ayerst to change permissions on PC Facebook
8.7 Parish Council
• Clerk is looking at relevant training courses for those that require it as and when LALC release these dates.
Action: Clerk to send dates of the training courses to new PC when they have been released.
8.8 Human Resources
Nothing to discuss.
8.9 Correspondence
• The Clerk has received an email regarding planning on Martin Road, please see Planning agenda point 6.
• The Clerk received an email a little while ago regarding the ongoing issue with speeding on entry to the village. As this is an ongoing issue we are unable to provide further solutions at this time.
9 Finance Status Update
9.1 Accounts Status / Finance update
Bank Balances on 19th May 2026 as follows:
|
Community Account |
£7155.91 |
|
Reserve Account |
£6596.41 |
|
FFD Account |
£2682.68 |
9.2 Payments for Approval
The following payments were discussed and agreed by the PC.
Proposed Cllr Ayerst, Seconded Cllr Nash. All agreed.
|
Payee |
Amount |
Details |
|
Clerk |
£587.25 |
Salary – 9 weeks |
|
Clerk |
£20.00 |
WFH expenses |
|
Printer Ink |
£18.57 |
Reimbursement to clerk |
|
Litter Picker |
£109.89 |
Salary – 9 weeks |
|
HMRC |
£24.20 |
HMRC employers NI (cheque) |
|
Cllr Audis |
£49.70 |
Mower fuel |
|
Cllr Audis |
£5.50 |
Concrete mix for post |
|
Clear Council insurance |
£836.27 |
|
|
Village Green rent |
£250.00 |
|
|
Cllr Lenton |
£542.99 |
Shelter at VG. Bank transfer already made. PC agreed at last meeting to reimburse |
|
Total |
£1907.38 |
|
9.3 Audit
The clerk has completed. The Chair will sign the audit report in the meeting, and this will be submitted by the Clerk to the external auditor.
Action: Clerk to prepare notice board documents to advise parishioners on audit completion
Action: Clerk to compete the VAT refund with HMRC
10 Supplementary Items
10.1 Meeting dates 2026/7
The PC have agreed on the following dates for the next PC year.
Monday 20th July 2026
Monday 21st September 2026
Monday 16th November 2026
Monday 18th January 2027
Monday 15th March 2027
Monday 17th May 2027 (including Annual Parish Meeting).
10.2 Calendar of events
The calendar of events has been circulated with the meeting packs before the meeting. Cllr Slater feels that the calendar should be a regular agenda item. This document needs to be reviewed again, and its outcome will be discussed in the next meeting.
Action: Cllr Lenton to update and then forward to Cllr Thompson-Ayerst to update and circulate
11 Meeting Close
Meeting closed at 20:40