BRACEBOROUGH & WILSTHORPE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING-Serial No. 008/16

Clerk’s notes of the meeting of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Monday 4th Aprilat Braceborough & Wilsthorpe Village Hall at 19:00hrs

Present-Dave Kentish, Susan Burgoin, James Shorrock, Paul Morriss, Clerk-Ms R H Woolley, Jason Morten, George Bremner, Geoff Burgoin, Keith Collingwood

Meeting Commenced 19:00hrs

  1. CHAIRMAN’S REMARKS-Dave Kentish welcomed everyone to the meeting.
  2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE– P.Cllr Barry Odell, D.Cllr Dobson, C.Cllr Martin Trollope-Bellew
  3. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING-It was proposed by Susan Burgoin& seconded byPaul Morrissthat the minutes of the last meeting held on Monday 13th April 2015 be received. It was resolved that the minutes of the last meeting be confirmed as a true record & signed by Dave Kentish. All agreed.
  4. CHAIRMAN’S ANNUAL REPORT-Chairman’s report attached.
  5. FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31ST MARCH 2015 -

clerk reported the following:-

The Council keeps the following in reserves:- Election Costs = £700, screening of the pumping station at Braceborough = £100, replacement of computer & printer = £550.00, Community cleaners grant £58 and Parish Plan £267 = total £1,675 which is held in the Melton Mowbray Building Society Account.

The Business Interest Access Account holds £157.70 with the current account c/f 2016/17 £254.47.

The Council has given £280.00 to each Church for maintenance of church yard and £500 to the Village Hall for new heaters giving a total of £1,060.00.

A grant is received from the District Council towards the cost of the community cleaner who is employed 8.5 hours per month.

  1. REPORTS FROM COUNTY COUNCILLOR/DISTRICT COUNCILLOR-

a)C.Cllrs Trollope-Bellew – Apologies.

b)D.Cllr Barry Dobson– Apologies

  1. REPORTS FROM REPRESENTATIVES FROM OTHER BODIES:-,

a)Braceborough Village Hall Committee – Report attached.

b)St Margaret’s Parochial Church Council – The restoration of the roof and loft in the church has been the priority. The grant from the Parish Council towards the church yard is gratefully received.

c)St Faith’s Parochial Church Council – Money was raised for the fabric fund and diocese by holding an Open Gardens in June. The Bishop of Lincoln attended a full church to celebrate St Faith’s Day. The PCC is always grateful to the Parish Council for the grant towards the cost of maintaining the church yard.

d)Neighbourhood Watch Scheme (NWS) Wilsthorpe & Braceborough– Both areas reported it had been quiet.

  1. TO RECEIVE CONCERNS & CONSIDER RESOLUTIONS OF ELECTORS CONCERNS–

Speeding, damaged verges, potholes & roadside breakup, litter, problems with HGV’s coming along Main Street, Wilsthorpe. It was proposed that residents should take the vehicle registration number, time, date & company name and report to the clerk who could then contact the firm involved.

  1. ANNUAL PARISH MEETING CLOSED 19.20Hrs.

Item 4 Chairman’s Report

Chairman’s Report 2016

The main points are:

The Parish Council is aware that speeding through the villages is still a concern. We do get the mobile speed signs put up at regular intervals and the static reflective speed signs put up last year, we know have had an impact. The Parish Council is still investigating other methods of slowing vehicles through alternative signage and renting out interactive speed signs from other parishes, all of which will be dependent on cost.

The proposed solar panel farm which caused a great deal of discussion and opposition this time last year, went quiet then raised its head towards the back end of last year and then went quiet again. No further information or planning application has been forthcoming up to this date.

Planning regarding the closure of local level crossings has been put back a few years. Your Parish Council along with other Parish Councils in the area has put forward objections to these closures and gave alternative suggestions we felt would alleviate much of the impact that these closures would have. I would like to say that it was these objections to these closures which have delayed the programme. It is however due to cost, and they will no doubt reappear in the future.

The Parish Plan was printed and distributed to all households in May of last year. Again, thank you to all who responded to the questionnaire that enabled us to document the wishes of the Parish. Should anyone not have a copy please speak to one of your Parish Councilors and we will get a printed or digital copy to you.

The Parish Council contributed to the cost of the much-improved heating system now installed into the village hall. Everyone feels much warmer as a result.

Anglian water has now completed all work for Wilsthorpe’s first time sewerage system. Residents are now able to connect to the system. Any queries should be directed to Anglian Water.

We are continually discussing with highways the repair to verges, the cutting back of overhanging vegetation and the repair of potholes We recently did a full Parish walk about and pointed out to Highways the issues that the parish has. It is unfortunate that the cuts in government funding has meant that Highways and other services are having to reduce their budgets for this work, but have promised to take action with the most serious concerns.

The Parish Council welcomes and invites all members of the Parish to attend the Parish Council meetings. Many Parishioners have done so over the past year and have assisted us in getting problems resolved and I would urge those who have not yet come along to join us in discussing any concerns that you may have and how we as your Parish Council are able to help and advise.

My thanks as ever go to all the people in our local neighbourhood watch who keep us informed of criminal activity in the area and what to watch out for ourselves, my fellow colleagues on the Parish Council, our clerk and the representatives from the outside bodies who keep us up to date with wider matters that affect our Parish.

I look forward to the coming year and hope for your continued support.

Dave Kentish

Chairman BWPC

(a) Braceborough & Wilsthorpe Village Hall Report

We held 10 events in the hall over the last year. Plus regular bookings for Parish Council,

Scottish Dancing, and Choir. We are slightly down on reserve funds (see heating below) but

still have nearly £3,000 in our bank accounts.

Highlights

●Bracefest which attracted nearly 200 people and raised over £1,400 (half to church).

●Auction of Promises which raised £1,300 (again half to church).

●2 sell out concerts under the Rural Touring Scheme.

After the embarrassment of a concert where the musicians couldn’t feel their fingers, the VH

committee decided we must upgrade our heating. The 8 radiant bars could not cope with

freezing temperatures. Thanks to funding from SKDC, our PC, and VHreserves/fundraising,we installed 3 air sourced heat pumps. They have proved an excellentsolution and recent events/meetings have been comfortably warm. We are advised by thefitters that they also cool in summer but I can't recall days when this might have beennecessary!

Thanks to the PC for their support and to James’s Shorrock and Williams for their efforts to

plan and implement the installation.

Future

We are not planning any major fund raising events in the next year. There is the possibility of

an open gardens in June but that is vulnerable because few gardens have been offered toopen.

We will be bidding for 2 or 3 events on the Rural Touring Scheme too.

Thanks to all who help run and support this excellent venue in Braceborough. Especial

thanks to

●Phil and Joe Stephens for tending the surrounds and cleaning the hall.

●James and Hazel Williams for all their efforts and taking hall bookings.

Keith

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