draft minutes APM 2024
Minutes of the Maltby le Marsh Annual Parish Meeting held on Monday, 11 March 2024 at 7.00pm in the Village Hall.
1] The Chairman of the Parish Council, Cllr D Whitehouse, had sent his apologies as he had not recovered from a recent operation. In his absence the Vice-Chair, Cllr Jane Gray, chaired the meeting and welcomed Cllrs B Williams, A White, S Hill-Andrews, County Cllr N Sear, District Cllr T Hesketh, the Parish Clerk and one member of the electorate to the Annual Parish Meeting.
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 read by Cllr Gray;
I Thank my fellow Councillors for your help and support in the last year. At the Annual Meeting of the Council Jane Gray was elected Vice-Chairman and Brenda was sincerely thanked for her years in that role and previously as Chairman. She has been a Councillor since 1983 and I am pleased to say remains heavily involved. I thank Jane for standing in for me at the September meeting. Last May’s elections saw all Councillors elected unopposed for another 4 years. Thanks also to Noi Sear for her regular attendance, keeping us abreast of what is happening at County and has pursued several local issues for us. I am sure the road to Mablethorpe will be repaired before long. Thanks also to Travis Hesketh for his involvement following his election in May, replacing Sandra Harrison as our District Councillor. We look forward to seeing more of him in the coming year. Personally, I hope his efforts to prevent the proposed network of National Grid pylons is successful.
We have held 5 meetings during the year and Graham, the Parish Clerk, ensures our meetings run smoothly and we thank you for what you do so efficiently and expeditiously. The saga of footlight 20 was finally resolved although not until after a flashing hiccup.
The Garden Competition for the Anne Graves Cup was judged again following last years cancellation. Winners for the fourth time were John and Rosemary Clark of Dovecote House. The police camera van has made regular appearances during the year and I am sure has a positive effect. I still have a supply of slow down stickers if anyone wants to replace a faded one or has not got one on the pink bin. The pavements, or at least the majority, were I think you could say, repainted in November but unsurprisingly weeds are already coming through.
Kimberly Pickett, the new area co-ordinator of the PCC’s Safer Together team, attended February’s coffee morning at the Village Hall. She gave an excellent presentation and agreed to pursue matters of concern.
Pippa and ben Williams opened their café in April and with so few facilities in the village it is pleasing to see a new one. The Village Hall Committtee has organised several functions during the year and are hoping to restart the short mat bowls. I wish them success as Kevin Proctor and his committee work hard for the Village.
We continue to administer the Anne Bolles Educational Foundation. Sadly, despite local advertising there were no applications for grants again. The Clerk has reregistered with the new Charity Commission set up. John Alldridge continues to produce an excellent newsletter, many thanks to him and those who help deliver it. Thanks also to Anthony for his regular articles giving a realistic insight into farming in today’s world.
We have considered several planning applications and responded accordingly. One wonders whether ELDC take any notice of our views. Further property development in the Village continues apace. In conclusion, I thank Robert Aldrich for his work in the Village and John Clark for auditing our accounts.
5] The clerk reported the Parish Council thought it prudent to increase the parish precept this financial year by more than normal to cover the increased costs of most things. With careful spending the Council will come in under budget again this year. A boost to finances was received by a one-off payment from Anglian Water for use of the bus shelter to house their recoding equipment. This has allowed the Parish Council to minimize increases for the next financial year and with the increase in the tax base a band D property should pay 0.5% less than the current year, although your overall Council Tax will increase because of LCC, ELDC and Police increases.
6] There were no questions from the floor.
With no further matters put forward the meeting closed at 7.17pm.