Annual Parish Meetings

The Annual Parish Meeting was held on Monday 25th April 2022 at 7.00pm, in the Jubilee Hall.

The Chairman of the Parish Council, Councillor Alison Buckley-Jones, presided and opened the meeting with a welcome to those present. 

The meeting was attended by 8 members of the public, 8 Parish Councillors, PC Matt Roberts.

1. Report from the Parish Council, presented by Chairman Alison Buckley-Jones

Since we held our last Annual Parish Meeting there has been a great deal of activity.

Comings and goings

Since the last Annual Parish Meeting, we have said goodbye to two Councillors – James Cann and Linda Nicklin but we welcome a new Councillor – Andy Sowerby. We currently have a vacancy so if anyone would like to come and join us, please speak to me at the end of the meeting or feel free to call into the office.

We have also sadly said goodbye to Barbara Cory who retired. Barbara worked for almost twenty years as the Environmental Operative for the village and did a great deal to keep Heighington clean, neat and tidy.

We now employ a cleaner and caretaker, Denis Manning. You may well have seen him around and about the village in his high viz vest emblazoned with Heighington Parish Council. We are very grateful to Denis for looking after our buildings, open spaces and the garden outside the Jubilee Hall.

Other matters

One positive thing that came out of lockdown during 2020 and again at the start of 2021 was that although we have a lovely village to live in the Parish Council realised that there was a great deal more that we could do to improve facilities. 

The most important of these is that we have worked with Fields in Trust, which used to be called the National Playing Field Association and have registered Potterhanworth Sports Field with them; we have almost completed the paperwork for Station Road Recreation Ground. Open spaces within our village are places where everyone can go to tun around, play, picnic or just sit on the benches or the grass and meet up with friends or even make new friends. They are an important area, whether households have gardens or not, for everyone’s physical and mental health. Additionally, they are also vitally important for the health of the planet. By registering our open spaces with Fields in Trust, we have protected them for everyone who lives in Heighington today, tomorrow and for ever.

After consultation with our residents and the Millfield Primary Academy we installed some new play equipment on the Station Road Recreation Ground as well as some pieces of adult exercise equipment. We have also installed CCTV on the site so that any anti-social activities can be monitored when necessary and we have updated our GDPR Policy to cover the usage and storage of images.

On Potterhanworth Sports Field the roadway has been repaired and the two storage containers used by the sports clubs who hire pitches for football and cricket have been refurbished.

We have also rebuilt the stone walls outside ethe Jubilee Hall, and this has really improved its appearance. The garden is also looking much better thanks to Denis.

We have also held a litter pick in conjunction with the Spar and hope that this event will take place again. We thank the manager at the Spar for her help in organising this event. At the moment the village looks clean and tidy, and the Parish Council is grateful to everyone who picks up after their dog and doesn’t drop litter. We are aware that there are individuals and organisations who regularly litter pick when they are out and about, and we thank them very much for doing this. NKDC gives us litter picking equipment for anyone to use so if you want to litter pick whilst you are out for a walk, please call into eh office for a litter picker and bags to put rubbish in. 

We also must thank the Spar for sponsoring the afternoon tea we held at Christmas for residents. This replace the usual Christmas lunch and concert by the choir of Millfield Academy which was once again unable to take place due to Covid.

As usual the Parish Council helped to organise the poppy display on the railings and also inside St Thomas’ Church to mark Remembrance Sunday and we would like to thank everyone who knotted, crocheted or crafted poppy flowers.

In conjunction with Washingborough Parish Council, we have started a scarecrow festival that took place at the end of August. Many households throughout the village took part and I know that lots of people enjoyed following the trail around Heighington and also Washingborough looking for scarecrows. What an imaginative group of villagers we are.

Finance

The Council continues to provide and maintain two sports pavilions and associated sports field, play equipment on three sites and the Jubilee Hall and inevitably maintenance of these facilities take sup a substantial proportion of the Council’s budget.

At the moment our finances are in good shape, and we have a balanced budget for the coming financial year, however, just like everyone else we are anxiously awaiting the new tariffs for gas and electricity. We have not increased our hire charges for regular bookings for the last two years because we appreciate that an increase in costs to groups, particularly the smaller groups, would place additional burdens upon them whilst they get up and running again after the traumas of the pandemic and shutdowns.

We go forward into the coming financial year with a surplus from 2021-2022 but we intend to spend this on continuous improvement of our facilities within the village.

Planning matters

We had four contentious planning applications this year. One was for three dwellings on land off Park Lane, another was for change of use from agriculture to leisure on land off the B1190; and the final two were for housing infill in back gardens along Washingborough Road.

Apart from those applications the remainder were for conservatories and extensions. I would like to take this opportunity to remind resident that the Parish Council is not the Planning Authority and if you wish to object to a planning application you must contact North Kesteven District Council and start your response by stating that you object.

Green issues

You may recall that we have adopted NKDC/s Climate Strategy and Action Plan plus their Tree Policy. To this end we worked with LCC and have managed to secure over 120 trees, and these have been planted at land in Middle Fen Lane. Solar panels have been fitted to the roof on the pavilion at station Road. This means that when the Parish office moves, we will be generating our own electricity.

Plans for the future

Covid 19 has slowed everything down and like everyone else we face challenges in obtaining quotes, companies to carry out necessary works and increased costs not just in gas and electricity but everything due to inflation. We intend to look again at the Climate Strategy and Action Plan and start to implement other initiatives that we can realistically achieve.

The Potterhanworth Sports Pavilion needs a new floor and repainting inside and out.

We shall also be starting to plan the move of the office to the pavilion at Station Road.

Station Road Recreation Ground is still to be developed and over the coming months we shall be consulting again about tress and green sward so that it becomes a more enticing area to enjoy. We hope to have a tree planting event towards the end of 2022 as our contribution towards the Queens Green Canopy to mark her Platinum Jubilee and we shall be asking groups, organisations and individuals if they wish to buy a tree for this occasion.

Also, for the Platinum Jubilee, Tucann publishing company are organising a duck race and regatta on the Beck on Friday 5th June, the WI will be yarn bombing the bus shelter and around that area and are also holding a tea party on the Saturday afternoon. The Parish Council has purchase two commemorative planters and these will be placed within the centre of the village. Other events as they are organised will be published on our social media and on the noticeboards outside the Spar and on Station Road Recreation Ground.

And finally at the end of August we shall be having another scarecrow festival with Washingborough and this year it will be bigger as Branston has decided to gate-crash the event.

Thank you.

Our Parish Council meetings are held on the second Monday of each month and are open to everyone to attend.

2. Brief reports from village charities

Garrett’s Charity Annual Report – presented by the Ron Oxby Chairman of the Trustees.

Once again, the Covid-19 pandemic dominated life for everyone in 2021 and for much of the year the Thomas Garrett Heritage Rooms and Chapel of Ease remained closed. Some activities began to resume after Easter and more of our regular hirers returned in the autumn. Some of the groups, however, are only just returning in Spring 2022 and others have indicated that they will not do so at all. There have been new enquiries however and the Friends of Garrett’s Charity who manage the bookings on behalf of the charity have reported a reasonable income in recent months.

The Trustees continued to meet throughout the restrictions, either via Zoom or, once permitted, in person. One focus of work has been to research the background to the Charity in greater depth. We now have a professional transcript of Thomas Garrett’s will and further research is ongoing. Another important focus has been updating and adding to essential policies. These can now be accessed on our website. There is more work to be done in this area.

The Trustees are pleased to report that despite the loss of hire income, a net profit of income over expenditure was maintenance in the financial year to the end of December 20221. This was partly due to grant income from various sources, donations from the community which includes regular gifts and the cash collection box at Anderson’s butchers. The 100 Club has proved successful making a profit of £1262 (there are still a few numbers available if anyone would like to join) and the grand Prize draw at Heighington Christmas Festival raised £1160.

The capital funds of the Charity are invested in COIF Charities Ordinary Investment Fund. They continued to perform well in 2021. How the war in Ukraine will affect their performance remains to be seen.

The Annual accounts for 2021 were examined by Mr C M Green and found to be sound. We thank him for his help. The Annual return has been submitted to the Charity Commission.

Early in 2022 it became clear that a substantial external water leak had occurred. The source of the leak was a fault in the main waterpipe under the car park. The pipework was old and had evidence of several previous repairs, so the Trustees took the decision to have the entire pipe from the water meter replaced by an independent approved contractor. This was a costly undertaking but considered prudent to prevent further problems. Negotiations continue with Anglian Water /Wave on the outstanding water bill.

Our refurbishment project is moving ahead. Grants from Heighington Parish council over the last few years have funded a feasibility study which was undertaken by Soul Architects. Preliminary plans have been drawn up to include insulation measures, new heating system, enhanced toilet facilities and the creation of a vestry. These are currently being costed. The plans themselves are very much at the initial stages and will need to be refined and consulted upon before a scheme is finalised.

Once we have some indicative figures, we can build a case for funding applications. To date we have received grant awards from Arnold Clark Community Fund, Lincolnshire Co-op and GUSTO Construction towards the refurbishment project, but significant monies will have to be raised to achieve our scheme.

The Trustees are grateful to the Friends of Garrett’s Charity for their support and particular thanks go to the Friends Management Committee for their dedication. As we come out of the pandemic, we hope to be able to jointly organise some social and fundraising events for the community to enjoy.

Pike and Eure George Walker Educational Foundation – presented by Cllr Sue Sockell

The Pike and Eure is a very old educational charity established by the founders Timothy Pike in 1728 and Ralph Eure in 1627 to cover both the villages of Heighington and Washingborough. Its aim was to help youngsters, leaving school to start apprenticeships, to pay for tools and other equipment or further their education. Also, alongside it is the George Walker Sports Foundation which was started in 1997 from the donations on the death of George Walker by his family as George was a Trustee. The Charity is run by 10 trustees, 5 from each village who meet at least twice a year.

The Main Charity continues to be well supported each year and grants are awarded to students between the ages of 16 – 25 towards university, college, apprenticeships or vocational courses. The Trustees contact local secondary schools, Lincoln University, Lincoln Colleges and Siemens each year with copies of the application forms informing them of the available grants plus adverts are in the Sheepwash Times and details on the village websites. 

The applications are considered by the trustees around October/November of each year when they are more aware of what interest the charity will have to donate as the trustees are only able to use this income from grants plus this gives applicants time to ensure they have been accepted on their courses or apprenticeships etc. Depending on how many applicants apply, the normal grant awarded ranges between £3-500 per person but ONLY ONE application is allowed in the main account, but an applicant may also apply for the sports grant but again this is also a one-off grant.

The George Walker is a sports related section for youngsters between the ages of 13 to 21 who may have been selected to represent this county in any sport or to gain a qualification in any sport for coaching or requiring specialist equipment to carry out the former two items.

The Charities capital has been accumulated since the start by money left by Messers Pike and Eure, the sales of some outlying farm land in both villages, the sale of the Washingborough Schoolhouse in Manor Road and latterly the sale of Washingborough’s Old Village Hall and is invested in COIF shares.

3. Updates from clubs and groups

There were none.

4. PC Matt Roberts – presentation on recognising scams and frauds

PC Roberts did not have a presentation on scams.

5. Parishioners’ question time

There was some discussion regarding speeding in the village.