Minutes APM 2022
Minutes of the Maltby le Marsh Annual Parish Meeting held on Monday, 14 March 2022 at 7.00pm in the Village Hall.
1] The Chairman, Cllr D Whitehouse, welcomed Cllrs B Williams, A White, J Gray, County Cllr N Sear, the Parish Clerk and one member of the electorate to the Annual Parish Meeting. Apologies were received from Cllr Hill-Andrews. There was a minute’s silence in respect for the sad passing of former councillor Philip Baildon who died on the 8 March.
2] Notes of the last meeting were resolved as the minutes, signed by the Chairman.
3] There were no reports on outstanding matters.
4] Annual report from the Chairman of the Parish Council;
The Chairman was pleased to present his 10th Annual report, yet concerned that time has passed so quickly. After last year’s Covid upheaval things are slowly getting back to normality. We have held 5 meetings during the year, May’s being the last virtual one. Parish Council meetings have changed to the second Monday of alternate months at 7pm due to the availability of the Village Hall.
He thanked his fellow Councillors, in particular Brenda the Vice-Chair, for their participation during difficult times. Former councillor, Philip Baildon, resigned in September suffering with a rapidly debilitating illness, sadly passing on the 8 March. In the 6 years as a councillor Philip did so much for the community, chasing Broadband, raising funds for the defibrillator as well as pursuing road safety issues from speeding to potholes. His efforts and presence are very much missed. Steve Hill -Andrews was co-opted to replace him in November. Steve was already involved in the community as secretary of the Village Hall Committee and will surely be an asset to the Council. The Chairman thanked the Parish Clerk, who keeps us in line, for promptly and efficiently dealing with Council business.
The Council have been pleased to see Councillors Sandra Harrison and Noi Sear at our meetings, greatly appreciating regular updates from ELDC and LCC. Noi replaced Graham Cullen at the elections held last May.
Several planning applications have been considered throughout the year and comments submitted accordingly. Despite objections from several residents, the School Farm project received permission and currently another application at the site is being considered by ELDC.
Councillors continue as trustees for the Anne Bolles Educational Foundation. There were no grant applications received at the Annual Meeting and the funds have been reinvested for a further 12 months.
The annual Garden Competition for the Anne Graves Cup was held again after last year’s Covid break. Winners were Paulette and Gordon Pack of Shepherds Dene with runners up Harold and Julie Marshall of Back to Front. Thanks were expressed to Woodthorpe Hall Garden Centre for their continued sponsorship and impartial judging.
Walkers will have noticed another footpath has been cleared nearly doubling its width, another example of the fine work Robert Aldrich, our grounds contractor, does for the village. It is also pleasing to see the long-promised pathway from Grange Leisure Park to Mablethorpe was finally completed in December.
Mr Thorndike kindly repainted the seat near the bus stop at Dyling View. The “welcome to Maltby” leaflet has been revised and several have been delivered to new residents, being well received. Following Philip’s efforts, we are now receiving regular visits from the mobile police camera van and hope it has a positive effect. Replacement defibrillator pads and batteries have been purchased and were finally delivered and fitted in December after a 3 month wait.
Investigations into who owns the structure fitted to the bus shelter at Hodgetoft Lane in May have not been successful, if anyone knows we are keen to find out. John Alldridge was thanked for his excellent quarterly newsletters, including the regular contributions from Anthony giving a valuable insight into farming life.
5] The clerk reported the Parish Council have kept precept increases to around 2% (band D £28.08) and with tight controls have come in under budget again, slightly adding to the general reserve. However, should there be an unexpected parish byelection the cost could virtually wipe out our reserves, so it may be prudent to increase the amount budgeted towards elections.
6] There were 3 questions raised from the floor. Firstly, in September 2020 the Parish Council agreed to lobby Highways for an extension of the 30mph limit on Strubby Road, what was the outcome? After speaking with Highways, the Council was advised the request had to be made through our County Councillor so all the information had been passed to Cllr G Cullen and despite requests for updates nothing further was received. Cllr Sear then volunteered to pursue the matter if details could be passed on to her, which the clerk would do.
Secondly, now a pathway from Grange Leisure Park to Mablethorpe had been provided what are the chances of it being extended to Maltby le Marsh? Given the costs involved it is extremely unlikely that would happen.
Thirdly, would it be possible to hold a public meeting regarding the proposed Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) at Theddlethorpe so that residents could be fully aware of what is going on? There is information available on the internet at; theddlethorpe.workingpartnership.org.uk and face to face events are currently advertised at various venues in the local area where anyone can attend and ask questions about anything bothering them. The Theddlethorpe GDF Working Group are proposing to hold regular monthly virtual meetings with local parish councils and County & District Councillors in the Search Area so that everyone to kept informed of current developments.
With no further matters put forward the meeting closed at 7.42pm.