Draft Minutes Annual Parish Meeting 24th April 2024
DRAFT Minutes of Irnham Annual Parish Meeting
Held in St Andrew’s Church, Irnham, on Wednesday 24h April 2024 at 7pm
Present:- Cllrs Amanda Ayre, Jon Crook, Jenny Crow, Lynda Hall, Trevor Vanson.
Also in attendance: 5 members of the parish
Parish Council Clerk: Jenny Crow
1. Apologies for absence
1/1Tom Bagge, Andrew Crow.
2. Approval of minutes for Annual Parish Meeting 19 April 2023
2/1 In previous years the Minutes of the APM had been approved at the next PC Meeting. The Minutes were agreed on 10 May 2023. The Minutes were accepted as a correct record.
3. Matters arising
3/1 None
4. Chairman’s report on the work of the Parish Council during the last year
4/1 A full copy of the Chairman’s Report is available on the Irnham Parish website.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and began by saying how lucky we are to live in such a lovely parish where people all help to get things done. He remarked on how nice Irnham is looking following the renovation of several properties. The gardens are also looking well cared for.
The Chairman continued to mention the work of the Parish Council this year and in particular the very successful events connected with the Coronation; the parish lunch and the installation of the new village sign. He reminded people that Cllrs work closely with LCC and SKDC to request maintenance in all three villages.
At this point the Chairman also mentioned that the weekend of 7th – 9th June has been designated nationally as The Big Help Out. This follows D-Day commemorations on Thursday 6th June. The Parish Council are organising a Clean Up again in Irnham and Bulby followed by a BBQ on Sunday 9th June.
In conclusion, the Chairman said that later in the meeting residents would be asked for their views on future projects and listed achievements in the recent past:
• Installed a country seat by the stream in Bulby.
• Taken over the telephone boxes from BT.
• Planted daffodils in the verges.
• Installed a digital speed indicator in Irnham.
• Installed ‘gateways’ in Bulby and Hawthorpe.
• Recovered the old water pumps in Irnham as a feature.
• Installed the flagpole in Irnham in remembrance of our late Queen’s Jubilee celebrations.
• Held a Queen’s Jubilee lunch.
• Installed the ‘Knight’ village sign, to mark the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles.
The Chairman thanked all the Cllrs and residents for their support.
5. Finance report including the presentation of the accounts for 2023/24 and statement regarding the defibrillator account
The Clerk/Responsible Finance officer explained the following points and illustrated the figures for the main items of income and expenditure as pie charts.
5/1For accounting purposes the Treasurer’s Account has been kept separate from income and expenditure for special events, as last year.
Precept for 2023/2024 increased from the previous year by £300 to £1900. There had been no increase the previous year. This was a Band D Tax Rate change of £2.56 taking an annual Band D rate to £18.04 ie approximately £1.50 per month. During the Chairman’s report a question was raised as to why the precept is so low. The Clerk/RFO explained that traditionally this was always very low in Irnham Parish as the PC has not employed a paid clerk. There are limits on the amount the Council tax can rise and for 2024/2025 this is 5%. The PC kept the rise within this limit but the amount requested will need to rise, in the future, to fund a clerk.
Other Income received: SK Grants linked to the Coronation of £4145, £462 from SKDC to help maintain the environment, a further £250 donations for the sign making the total donated over the two financial years to the project of £596, VAT refund of £1067 and raffle proceeds for the air ambulance of £160.
Expenditure on Insurance, Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils (LALC) subscriptions and LALC web support was £540. Uncontested election recharge of £72. Major expenditure was: final payment for sign of £4061, Donation to Upkeep of the Churchyard £300, Donation to air ambulance of £160.
The balance at the end of this year is £3801. We need to build up the reserves again. An election would cost approximately £2000 and we don’t have a paid clerk.
5/2 Defibrillator Account
No major expenditure this financial year. New Child Pads need ordering in May.
Balance remaining £4589.28 an increase on last year due to a VAT refund and increase in interest, now monthly £5 rather than £0.05.
5/3 Coronation Event
Receipts totaled £1239 and Expenditure totaled £1150. The balance of £89 was transferred to the PC account.
5/4 The accounts have been prepared for internal audit.
6. D-Day 80 Events and the Big Help Out weekend
6/1 All residents have received a flyer advertising the events in full which include:
Thursday 6th June – beacon lighting behind the Griffin Inn
Friday 7th June – The Big Help Out in Irnham
Saturday 8th June – The Big help Out in Bulby
Sunday 9th June – Parish BBQ. The event will start at 12.30pm with BBQs provided. Residents are asked to bring their own food to cook. The PC is grateful to the Irnham Park Residents Association for their support to hold the event in Irnham Park.
7. Right Thing, Right Bin – Recycling at home in SKDC
7/1 LCC Waste Team had offered talks to answer residents’ queries about the new recycling arrangements but unfortunately no one was available tonight. Cllr Hall kindly attended a similar meeting at Castle Bytham and reported as follows:
The most important bin is the purple lidded bin which should contain CLEAN and DRY paper and cardboard. Paper should NOT have glue, glitter, paint, crayons etc on it. There should NOT be excessive tape on cardboard.
The silver bin is for CLEAN and DRY glass and plastics but NOT soft plastics eg film/crisp packets/food pouches/plastic bags. Soft plastics go in the black bin.
There is further information via a link on the Irnham Parish website https://www.irnham.parish. lincolnshire.gov.uk to LCC waste https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/directory/65/waste-a-z
7/2 A resident asked if it would be possible to have further information about recycling in Lincolnshire, possibly a visit to a centre or a video so that people can understand why the rules as to what goes in each bin are important. The PC will follow up this suggestion.
8. Public forum on matters of local interest and suggestions for future priorities for the Parish Council
8/1 Cllr Vanson offered the residents present the opportunity to raise any issues with the PC, in particular the PC were interested to know if there are any suggestions as to further projects to enhance the community.
A summary of the issues raised:
i) Residents discussed the Parish website and it was agreed we need more people to use it but there were no suggestions as to what else should be added.
ii) It was agreed the Christmas Sing Along last year was not as popular as we were unable to have live music and possibly the change of day to a Wednesday. Discussion centred around a venue where residents were not competing with the general public.
iii) Other suggestions for a Parish/Charity event were a cabaret evening or possibly something during the beer festival while the marquee is up at the Griffin.
iv) The Churchwarden present thanked the PC for their work and said he would like to see the Church used more but despite their best efforts two factors constrain the type of event which could be held, those being the lack of toilet facilities and the fixed pews.
v) Speeding vehicles was also raised and although the speed indicator is undergoing maintenance at present it was agreed that while it serves as a useful reminder to many people it probably does not deter those determined to break the law.
vi) The possibility of further bulb planting was also raised. The daffodils are looking quite good this year.
9. Date of next meeting:- The Annual Parish Council Meeting is Wednesday 8th May 2024, 7pm in the Church. The Annual Parish Meeting in 2025 will be on Wednesday 9th April.
Meeting ended at 8.15pm.