May 2024 Minutes Annual Parish Meeting
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD IN LEVERTON VILLAGE HALL ON MONDAY 20 MAY 2024
Present: Cllr D Durrant – Leverton Parish Council Chairman
Mrs C Anderton – Clerk of the Council
Also Present:
6 members of the public
Chairman’s Annual Report
The 2023/24 year has been a relatively quiet compared to preceding years, although the Council has remained a member short, this has not hampered the completion of the statutory tasks.
Cllr David Durrant was again chosen to stand as Chairman for the 2023/24 administration period and Cllr Jo Self-Shutts was chosen to stand as Vice Chairman
During the year members kindly agreed to donate the old mower to Witham Country Park, various repairs were made to the playing field equipment and the inspection was completed without any majors works required. Once again Cllr Derek Horwat has continued with the upkeep of the park and kept members fully informed of any issues and I would like to extend my thanks for his time and diligence in this matter.
Cllr Fiona Osborne confirmed that Leverton Poors Land Trust has agreed that the playing fields were to be renamed ‘Jane Moore Playing Field’ in honour of all the goods works she did within the parish and a new gate was to be installed with a notice style board detailing the reason behind the renaming.
Unfortunately, potholes have continued to be an issue throughout the parish and with poor weather throughout the seasons it has been disappointing to see that Lincolnshire County Council have not been able to address these as they should have been able to.
I wish to take the opportunity to thank all the councillors for their commitment in attending the meetings and to the clerk for keeping us informed between meeting and ensuring business continues to run smoothly during the meetings. During the year we have had good support from our Borough and County representatives who have kept us informed with matters.
Poors Land Trust Annual Report
There have been three meetings held over the last twelve months, those being June 2023, November 2023 and March 2024.
There have been several issues regarding the Oldfield Lane allotments over the last year brought on by the poor weather however, hopefully these issues have now been addressed.
The trustees also completed their 3 yearly rent review with the result being a small increase across the board which will take effect as of the 2025 financial year.
In November the list of beneficiaries was discussed and 33 residents of the parish received a payment of £150.00 each.
The closing balance on the accounts stood at £12,721.49.
Simon Clark Charity Annual Report
The Simon Clarke Charity held three meetings during the last year all preceded by the Leverton Poor’s Land Trust.
In the June meeting it was agreed that the distribution payments be increased to £90.00 each and were made to two beneficiaries.
In the November meeting it was agreed that the 2nd distribution payments of £90.00 were again made to the two beneficiaries.
At the March meeting the clerk confirmed that one of the distribution recipients was no longer in the village and it was agreed to amalgamate the payment into one for the next financial year.
The clerk presented the accounts which stood at £559.44.
Leverton Church of England Educational Charity
The trust were able to distribute funds amounting to £10,480 last year to a total of 34 applicants. This was an increase of £1,980 on the year before with an additional 5 applicants. This was possible due to the upward trend, at the time, in the trusts investment income. It does, however, remain to be seen what funds will be available this year in what we are all only too well aware are much needed in these financially difficult times.
The trust has been able to recruit new trustees for two vacancies and we look forward to welcoming them to our next meeting in November and bringing with them additional knowledge and skills to ensure the future of the trust.
Boston Borough Council Annual Report
The town centre strategy was formulated . A 73-point action plan for the
town centre improvement,which is a live working document and is being
worked through at a good pace. Parish council liaison meetings have been implemented by Councillor Cresswell. The portfolio holder for communities and is going very successfully with a
close working relationship between BBC and the parishes, as the council are
very keen to point out it is Boston Borough not just Boston town.
A close relationship with the Wyberton wombles has seen 2 big Boston
Borough clean up events which will continue going forward. This also
Involved the cooperation with LCC departments too.
Prudent work from the finance team have saved the borough £6 million by
redeeming the public loans work board debt.
BBC and the South East Lincolnshire Partnership have been fundamental along
with other councils in lobbying government regarding the Internal Drainage
Board levies that are putting severe financial constraints on councils and this
work is ongoing
BBC have been successful in bidding for external funding with another £20
million being announced in December for the borough over 10 years.
BBC have been very transparent in the last year with live streaming of all
Council meetings on YouTube and also the meet the cabinet open sessions
where any resident can come before the cabinet meetings and ask any member
of cabinet any question and this has proved to be very successful along with
constant comms pieces on social media sites.
8. The Christmas event put on in 2023 was a massive success and gained very
positive local and national publicity for the borough and this year is looking
to be just as impressive alongside new events throughout the Borough.
This has been a very busy first year of the new administration at BBC and the
hard work will continue
Lincolnshire County Council Annual Report
In contrast to the situation in Westminster and many other parts of the country the
political situation at LCC remains stable.
Our services are in good shape and finances are very strong compared to many and
we are in the enviable position to be able to continue to put additional resources into
highways and major infrastructure which the public welcome.
Within the political arena, we have had 3 by elections last year, the first being the
very sad loss of Ray Wootten whose seat we held against the odds due to a very
strong campaign. Congratulations to Paul Martin in his success.
We also lost Rob Parker who from opposition led a prominent role in the council and
Julie Keilly both seats staying with Labour. I had the pleasure of working with both on
various committees.
Marc Jones held his seat with a greatly reduced majority.
In NE Lincs the conservatives lost 8 seats & control of the council but remain the
largest party.
The District Councils leadership remains status quo but with stresses emerging at
times.
The main political event has been the successful bid for devolution in Greater
Lincolnshire and although many of us have reservations about having a mayor, it is a
great opportunity to bring more money, assets and national influence to our area. We
must do our best to get the right individual elected to the role.
The Storm meetings continue around 860 Section 19 issued since October 2023.
More funding has been found for Potholes and Flood Investigations.
There were no comments presented to the meeting.
The Chairman thanked all those in attendance and the meeting closed at 6.45pm.