Annual Parish Meetings

The Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of Little Hale held at the Methodist Chapel, Chapel Lane, Little Hale, on Tuesday 3rd May 2022 at 7.30 pm.

Present: Parish Cllrs S Poulton, P Ireland, A Lennox, J Stapleton, NKDC Cllr S Ogden, LCC Cllr Andrew Key, three members of the public and Mrs D Scott (Clerk)

1. Councillor Poulton, as Chairman of the Parish Council, welcomed all to the Annual Parish Meeting. Apologies had been received from Parish Councillor N Rooke, District Cllr S Tarry.

2. The minutes of the last Annual Parish Meeting, held on 7th May 2019. It was proposed by Cllr Ireland, seconded by Cllr Stapleton and agreed unanimously, that the minutes were an accurate record and were duly signed.

3. Poor Gardens and Land Charities Report

Mrs Nickols presented the report on behalf of the Charities.

LH Land Rents – Two rents of £215 had been received during the year as usual and payments made of £75 each to the Chapel and Great Hale Church, and £50 to Parva House. The bank balance in March was £896.21, with £5.11 in cash.

Poor Garden – Mrs Nickols explained that rental income of £3,148.28 had been received and distributions had been made in December 2021 of £750 to pensioners, 4 Heating Allowance payments of £250 each and one Travel Allowance of £80. £200 of the distributions had been re-donated to the charity. The bank balance in March 2022 was £6,032.91 with £29.96 in cash.

She added that the Charities continued to meet twice a year.

4. Great Hale and Little Hale Joint Burial Committee

Mr Rooke, as chairman of the Burial Board, presented the report. He thanked the Parish Council for its ongoing support towards the costs of grass cutting and also for the support for the War Memorial project which was competed in 2019. Burial Board meetings had continued, using Zoom but had now resumed face-to-face. The new grass cutting contractor, Mr Paul Haynes, started at the end of the 2019 season. Costs had inevitably increased. Last year the Board submitted a ‘Hedgerow Removal Notice’ to NKDC which was accepted and work is planned to remove the hedge at the far left hand boundary. It is hoped that this will help alleviate the rabbit issue. In 2021 the Board agreed new rules for seasonal decorations for children’s graves. These were published before Christmas and seemed to have settled complaints previously raised. The full annual report was available on the Cemetery webpage on the Parish Council’s website.

5. Parish Council Chairman’s Report.

Cllr Poulson reminded the meeting of the impact of Covid and how true community spirit had shone through with help with shopping, collecting prescriptions, making sure neighbours were ok, etc. Parish Council meetings had been held on Zoom and there was a national campaign to re-instate this as an option for occasional use, if necessary. Local volunteer activity was increasing, leading to extended use of the Chapel and very effective litter picking throughout the village, as examples.

He explained that the legal process for the Parish Council to claim ownership the Pump Lane project on behalf of the parish was well underway, and the land had already been seeded with the support of local businesses and volunteers. Donated trees had been planted. Eventually it would become a true community space with seating and fruit/veg, etc. He thanked the Clerk for her work, including maintaining the website and noticeboard. He added that there was also a facebook page, separate from the Parish Council, which all residents were welcome to sign up to.

The Parish Council continued to work with County and District Councillors to get improvements for the Parish, for example the signage for the preferred HGV route through the village, works on the highway and resolving the flooding issue.  He thanked Councillors Key, Ogden and Tarry for their support. He urged residents to report any problems on ‘Fix My Street’. The Defib continued to be regularly checked, thanks to the Defib reporting volunteers and the incident when a 999 called was mis-informed was currently being investigated by EMAS and CHT. He had delivered First Aid Training for residents of Great Hale and Little Hale earlier this year and another session was being planned. The Book Swap continued and volunteers kept the books tidy.

Special thanks to Anne Strong and Jim and Pat Bailey for their litter picking efforts

Broadband service – he thanked Cllr Ireland for his efforts in getting Quickline on board to provide this service, although disappointingly it seems to be on hold at present, perhaps through changes with government initiatives with BT and rural broadband.

Cllr Poulson urged parishioners to continue to help the Parish Council by bringing ideas to meetings.

6. Matters Raised.

Broadband – Cllr Ireland would continue to pursue the project

Fen Road Surface – the surface continued to deteriorate, especially at the far end. Cllr Key promised to keep raising the matter in his meetings with Highways officers and urged people to keep logging issues on Fix My Street. He did caution that the Highways budget was tight and priorities would inevitably be busier roads but he intended to ensure that parishes in his ward got their fair share. The recent resurfacing of Main Road was appreciated.

Essential Supplies – Cllr Lennox suggested a scheme to make everyday essentials such as bread and milk available in the Parish, for emergencies, perhaps with an Honesty Box for payment.

There were no other matters brought to the meeting

The meeting closed at 7.55 pm

Signed as an accurate Record by S Poulton on 16th May 2023

The Annual Parish Meeting of Little Hale will be held at the Methodist Chapel, Chapel Lane, Little Hale, on Tuesday 3rd May 2022 at 7.30 pm. 

All Councillors and residents of the Parish are welcome to attend. Electors are eligible to vote on matters discussed.

Agenda

1. Welcome and Apologies for Absence

2. To approve the minutes of the last Annual Parish Meeting, held on 7th May 2019

3. To receive the Poor Gardens and Charities Report

4. To receive the Hale Magna and Hale Parva Joint Burial Committee Report

5. To receive the report of the Chairman of the Parish Council

6. To discuss any matters raised by Councillors or members of the public including proposals for projects during 2022-23

Steve Poulton

Chairman, Little Hale Parish Council 

23rd April 2022