2022 Annual Parish Meeting

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Thursday April 21st 2022
 
1.   Minutes of the previous Annual Parish Mee5ng held on Wednesday May 5th 2021 –

These were read and approved as a true and accurate record of the mee3ng

2.   Financial update from the Clerk of the Parish Council

Expenditure over the past year
Start of year   2021/2 = £4386.49   Financial Balance = £2836.83  Including the Precept for 2021/2 of £1300 + £400 BKVC award prize
Total expenditure 2021/2 = £1549.66

3.   Chairman’s Report – see Appendix 1

4.   Open Forum

The Chair informed the councillors and residents present that the mee3ng was being recorded for accuracy of minutes.

A resident no3ced a group of youths revelling round the village and finished their ‘tour’ by parking and  staying on the road outside Stubton Hall gateway. They were seen urina3ng in the area of a resident’s land. A resident of the CATTS group has recognised that, as part of their work on speeding, an3social behaviour, liYer and a number of other things might be picked up and dealt with. This type of behaviour is on the CATTS group agenda.

A resident noted that the Stubton through roads are not ANPR (Ac3ve Number Plate Recogni3on) routes so cars and misdemeanours are not iden3fied by their registra3ons. This makes it more likely that those disrespec3ng the village with an3social behaviour do not feel that they will be picked up. A resident reminded Cllr Maughan that he had wriYen about the issue of lack of ANPR a year ago…Cllr Maughan responded saying that he instantly reported this to Mark Jones, The Police and Crime Commissioner the same day. There has as yet been no response. The resident said that there is data analysis to see if there is a link between the lack of cameras and local crime rates. Cllr Maughan will follow this up.

The resident noted that there are ANPR cameras on the A17 but a driver can travel all the way from Sleaford to Newark through villages without any ANPR being picked up. This brings up the problem of security, break- ins because this is a rat-run. A resident asked for the criteria for installing ANPR. The closest is the A17 at Beckingham; the other way it is Sleaford. Cllr Schaffarczyk asks about the gypsy site on the A17. Cllr Maughan is aware but this is in North Kesteven and does not have planning permission. A resident offered knowledge on this saying that there had been planning applica3ons for 17 sites to be on there a retrospec3ve planning permission for that was put in about a month ago. There is ques3onable likelihood of them being accepted because of problems of safety of exi3ng the site onto a high speed, very busy road with a caravan. Several residents agree that ANPR would be a great deterrent to criminals who would think again before using the route to commit crimes. Stubton needs 4 on the approach roads, even one would be welcome. There is one at the railway crossing in Claypole but this can be avoided by going down Doddington Lane.

5.   Date and 5me of next mee5ng TBA

APPENDIX 1

Chairman’s Annual Report 2021/22

Thursday 21st April 2022

I would like to start my report by giving thanks to ex-councillors Dave Butler, and Jackie Warren; and I would like to thank them both, on behalf of the PC for their service to the community.

We also saw the resignation of our Clerk Bob Warren, and I thank him too for all his hard work, especially whilst negotiating the pitfalls of hosting Zoom meetings, and for passing on his knowledge of the job to our new Clerk.

The Parish Council welcomes our new Clerk: Jenny Taylor, who is grasping her role with great gusto.

We welcome new Parish Councillors Joe Schaffarczyk, and Guy Pollard, both being co- opted last month.

“Welcome to you both”.

2021 became a year of (for want of a better word) rather ‘contentious’ planning applications that the PC was required to deliberate in meetings, including some extra-ordinary meetings, in which it became  challenging to follow ‘due process’, whilst adhering to the concerns of the community.

In my 2021 Annual Report last year, I commented that Stubton had become a ‘village in bloom’, and I said that “if there were in a ‘Best kept village competition’, we would definitely be a finalist”.

Well… there was an SKDC competition, and Stubton village was the winner; of the Best Kept (small) Village Competition for 2021, following continued efforts of residents; taking a pride in their frontages, and in the planting around the common areas of the village by a small but dedicated group of volunteers; funded by donations from the Parish Council, and by other residents.

Thank you to Councillor Pollard for updating the Best Kept Village signage to “2021”.  For winning this accolade, we received a gold litter bin, a Certificate of Award , and £400 prize money, most of which is to be ploughed back in to continued beautification; maintenance and improvement of the village street scene.

Since 2019 we have seen the Village Speed Reduction Gates installed, and although there was an apparent reduction in vehicles speeding into the village, excess speed by a few, continues to be be an ongoing problem, and so a couple of volunteers formed a new group, with the approval of the PC; that wished to research and employ further visual awareness
 
measures within the village, in order to educate the drivers who either abuse or forget the speed limit. This Speed Awareness Group is currently working to address driver ignorance, and so you will no doubt see some street notices round and about the village soon.

Our village hall is nearing completion of a second stage of upgrade, after first having a refurbishment to the main room a couple of years ago.

Available funding, and money reserves were allocated to upgrading the toilet areas and in making the unused meeting room into an open; casual tea/coffee meeting area, which will, when complete, will really set up the Village Hall as a place one would want to meet-up for socialising, aside from the traditional bar nights, etc.

I would like to extend my thanks, on behalf of the PC, to those of the the Hub team that have put in so much effort to achieve this result.

Things still in the PC pipeline for the  village is: the painting of the defibrillator /phonebox; repainting of the village gates; and choosing & erecting our very own Village Signpost, which will be of bespoke design to characterise our lovely village.

On a final note:

After eight and a half years as a Parish Councillor, with two years as Chair, l have decided to step down, to give someone else the opportunity of serving their community in the best possible way they can.

I would like to thank the council and the community for the support I have received throughout the years.

Good luck to you all for the future.

Martin Davis
Chair, Stubton Parish Council