Annual Parish Meetings

The Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of Little Hale held at the Methodist Chapel, Chapel Lane, Little Hale, on Tuesday 12th May 2015 at 7.30 pm.

Present: Parish Cllrs P Ireland, J Needham, N Rooke, P Pocklington and D Cox NKDC Cllrs S Ogden and S Tarry, 3 members of the public and Mrs D Scott (Clerk)

1. Councillor Ireland welcomed all to the Annual Parish Meeting.

2. The minutes of the last Annual Parish Meeting, held on 6th May 2014. It was proposed by Cllr Needham, seconded by Cllr Rooke and agreed unanimously, that the minutes were an accurate record and were duly signed.

3. Poor Gardens and Land Charities Report

Mrs Cox and Mrs Freeman presented the report on behalf of the Charities. She circulated copies of the accounts and explained that Poor Garden rents received had totalled £3100 and distributions had been made as usual, together with a donation to the Heckington Area Voluntary Car Service. A new Heating Allowance of £200 had been paid to each of  5 parishioners felt to be in need and in January £225 had been paid to vehicle-less households to help with journeys. Two university students had each received £150 by cheque.

The Land Rents had received £430 in rent and handed out 3 £25 book tokens. No further donations had been made but moneys had been set aside to put towards the defib fund.

In 2015-16 the Charities intended to make a full contribution to HAVCS, meaning that the Parish Council would not need to do so.

4. Great Hale and Little Hale Joint Burial Committee

Mrs Scott, in her capacity as Clerk to the Burial Board, gave the report on behalf of the Trustees, and circulated copies of the accounts.

She pointed out that the contributions made by both Parish Councils  towards costs, especially grass cutting, was very much appreciated as the Board’s income was by its very nature, extremely unreliable and the grass cutting costs varied according to the weather during the growing season. She explained that the grass was cut regularly as appropriate to a small rural cemetery.

5. Parish Council Chairman’s Report.

Cllr Ireland thanked the representatives of the Charities and the Burial Board for their hard work in keeping both groups running. He also expressed his thanks to Doug Laidlow for his continued efforts keeping the village free of litter and to all of the Councillors and the Clerk for their ongoing support over the last year.

He pointed out that the Parish Council’s expenditure had been higher over the year due to the purchase of the Defib and a pay-rise awarded to the Clerk. The defib installation, financially supported by the Margaret Brown Trust and Great Hale PCC, had been a highlight in the year and the extremely successful Hot Pot Lunch had kickstarted the project. He thanked the Defib Reporting Group, Cllrs Cox and Rooke and Mr & Mrs Freeman for taking on the monitoring and reporting of the defib to ensure it would always be ready for use, and the Charities for pledging support towards the maintenance costs. The Awareness session was felt to have been very successful.

Cllr Ireland had been disappointed by the lack of action regarding the promised drainage improvements at the junction of Fen Road and Main Road, but this was still promised for the new financial year.

It was still hoped that the Planning issues at the Chestnuts, Main Road, would be resolved.

Matters Raised.

i. Mrs Freeman asked whether there had been any progress on setting up the Community Building Fund. The Clerk reported that it had been agreed that any funds would be held by the Parish Council and separately accounted for, within the PC bank account, until such time as it was a sum large enough to invest/use. Donations had been promised but none received to date. Mrs Cox agreed to bring the cash that had already been collected for payment into the bank.

There being no other items brought for discussion, the meeting closed at 7.58 pm

3rd May 2016 - The Minutes were agreed as a true record and signed by Cllr Jo Needham