July 2025 Minutes (draft)
Fulbeck Parish Council
Minutes for Ordinary Parish Council Meeting held on 10 July 2025 at 7.00 PM
Location: Village Hall, Lincoln Road, Fulbeck, NG32 3JW
MINUTES
Welcome and open the Council meeting. - The meeting commenced at 7.00pm. - Present: Councillors Alix Fane, Nick Harrison, Peter Hughes, Ollie Crowder (Chair); Dermot Daly (Clerk); County Cllr Ken Banford; District Cllr Penny Milnes; 12 members of the public.
25/26/054
Suspend Standing Orders to allow the Public Forum (limited to no more than 15 minutes). - Road safety: Washdyke Lane / A607 – hedge obstructs the view if turning right on to main road, and poor parking does not help; together with other entrances such as Brant Way. - A sign in a field opposite the Hall is not very readable and could be a distraction. - Suggestion of placing the agenda on the village Facebook page.
25/26/055
Receive County and District Councillor reports and reinstate Standing Orders. - County Cllr Ken Bamford: Local Government Reorganisation is under review with a decision in November; dogs on leads is a topic in a meeting with the Police – there should be an update at the next meeting; roadworks proposed on the Grantham side of Caythorpe, with closures and diversions, in September - to be investigated with County Highways in order to minimise impact. Cllr Ken Bamford left the meeting at 7.26pm.
District Cllr Penny Milnes: Local Plan moving forward; target sites have been defined and looking at land put forward for development - SKDC no longer have a 5-year land supply (currently 4.1 years) - this means that there will be less refusing of applications; there will be a demise of the District Council; Food waste caddies (2 off – one for kitchen (bagged) and one for outside) – it will be collected every week and go to AD plant for energy and digestate back to agricultural land. A reminder that batteries can be placed alongside the bins.
25/26/056
Receive and approve any apologies for absence. - Apologies have been received from Cllrs Jane Hodcroft, June Hutchinson, and Rosie Siddans. Approved unanimously.
25/26/057
Receive disclosures of interests from Councillors on matters at this meeting. - Cllr Nick Harrison declared an interest on the Scotts Hill item. - Cllr Alix Fane declared an interest in item 068, stating she would move into the public gallery rather than leave the room (the latter is stated in the adopted Code of Conduct).
POLICY & PROCESS
25/26/058
Receive suggested changes to the Communications Policy. - Internal communications: Anything that is only on the weekly planning list – the Clerk is to identify the application number. - Cllr Penny Milnes identified a better report that is sent to her - she would look at sending it through. - With the above change it was unanimously approved to accept the updated policy.
25/26/059
Review and agree the current asset list. - War memorial: post-2000 minutes are to be checked by Cllr Peter Hughes. - The Village Hall should be added. - Land off Lime Tree Close identified by the auditor needs to researched through the land registry. - Defer this item until next meeting.
25/26/060
Discuss and confirm the relationship between the Parish Council and the Village Hall & Playing Field Committee. - Deferred to next meeting due to so few councillors in attendance and not having the access to the document in time. - All relevant documents to be shared in plenty of time. (Would prefer it to be early on the agenda at the next meeting).
MEETINGS
25/26/061
Approve the Minutes for the Annual Parish Council meeting held on 8th May 2025. - It was RESOLVED unanimously to approve the minutes as circulated.
25/26/062
Approve the Minutes for the Parish Council meeting held on 29th May 2025. - It was RESOLVED unanimously to approve the minutes as circulated with a modification to 25/26/050.
PLANNING
25/26/063
Discuss and agree response to any last minute planning applications and provide any updates on planning decisions.
i)
S25/1190 - Little Becks, Bulby Lane, Fulbeck, NG32 3JG - Non-material amendment to planning permission S24/0929 to replace smaller bifold and window in extension (south side) with a larger bifold. Change external finish to the west gable of extension from part render and part timber cladding to be all timber cladding. [non-material amendment - info only]
FINANCE
25/26/064
Review the Financial Report for the period. - Clerk presented the finance report.
25/26/065
Review and approve the Accounts for Payment. - It was requested to investigate Microsoft 365 (free version) rather than subscription based and to remove the auto-renew. - It was RESOLVED unanimously to approve the Accounts for Payment as circulated.
GENERAL
25/26/066
Agree details of a Facebook page and WhatsApp group to be created for the Parish Council. - It was RESOLVED to set up the Facebook Page and defer the timing of creating the WhatsApp group.
25/26/067
Discuss and agree purchase of equipment for Community Speed Watch. - The circulated proposal was presented by Cllr Ollie Crowder. Local businesses have already been approached to provide donations toward the initiative. It was RESOLVED unanimously to purchase the kit on the understanding that confirmed donations are received from local businesses.
25/26/068
Discuss and agree related actions on possible impact to Parish boundary. - No change has been received to move the existing parish boundary. - There may be a dispute regarding land boundaries by different owners but this is not a Parish Council issue.
25/26/069
Discuss and agree associated actions regarding foliage protruding on to Scott's Hill. - Advice from the County Councillor at the time was for a soft letter to be sent by the Parish Council in the first instance. - Failing action by residents then escalation would be through the County Highways. - It was RESOLVED for the Clerk to send a letter to the two residents. - One resident has a hedge extending over a wall; the other resident has placed rocks on the highway Pickers Manor; hedge extending into highway. The letters will be sent when the addresses have been provided by Cllr Ollie Crowder.
25/26/070
Discuss and agree the option of the PC taking responsibility for the mowing of all areas of verges currently mowed and maintained by Lincolnshire County Council within the village boundary. - This item was not discussed.
REPORTS (for information only)
25/26/071
Update on the Airborne Trail. - No update, remove for next agenda.
25/26/072
Update on VH&PF Committee. - The car boot was well attended (just under £400 income); the Fete was well attended although it was cut short due to hot weather; thanks went out to the organiser; a grant received from SKDC of £2,640 plus 20% contribution from VH&PFC to replace the flooring material (play bark) under the play equipment -the work is to be done before the school holidays. - There was a question as to whether a new noticeboard could be funded by VH&PFC.
25/26/073
Update on domain name provision and email setup. - Still awaiting transfer for Cllr Peter Hughes and June Hutchinson to move over to the new email addresses. - Thanks were given to Cal for the support.
25/26/074
Update on Community Speed Watch and Road Safety matters. - The Stop Line is missing from South Heath Lane – it has been reported on FixMyStreet.
25/26/075
Update on Biodiversity initiative. - There was no report.
25/26/076
Clerk's Report (including correspondence). - External Audit submitted. - Reminder of importance of following procedures and abiding by policy. - Attempted phone calls to Mid UK Recycling followed by online submission (as no email address) but still awaiting response. - Email received from resident on status of litter and litter picking for the village. - South Kesteven District Council is consulting on their new Housing Strategy (2025-2030) draft; survey closing date is Thursday 31st July.
NEXT MEETING
25/26/077
Consider agenda items for the Parish Council meeting on Thursday 11th September 2025 commencing 7.00pm. - The deferred items.
25/26/078
The Chair to move that the press and the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of following items on the grounds that it involves the likely discussion of exempt information as defined in section 1 of the Public (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960. - At 9.02pm the Chair excluded the public. - At 9.14pm the Chair called for order to continue the meeting.
25/26/079
Discuss items of process that have likely impact on the terms of employment for the Clerk. - There were discussions regarding the production of minutes within 7 days of a meeting. - The Clerk highlighted the fact that two weeks worth of contracted hours are expended in preparing and executing an Ordinary meeting. So it is not possible to produce the minutes in that timescale but reasonable endeavours to produce them in 7-14 days. - There was also a challenge in respect of the format of the contract, why mileage is paid for meetings, and why homeworking allowance is not paid. The Clerk stated that the national template for the Clerk's contract can be made available.
Close meeting. - The meeting was closed at 9.51pm.
LEGEND
AD - Anaerobic DigesterCllr - Councillor
SKDC - South Kesteven District Council
VH&PFC - Village Hall and Playing Fields Committee