2023 Annual Parish Meeting

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Tuesday 16 May 2023 at the Sports Pavilion in the Recreation Ground.

Present: Cllrs C. Woodhead (Chairman), J Surtees.

In attendance: Mrs. H Beaver (Clerk), C Cllr Hill (from 18.14 until 18.40) and 3 members of the public. D Cllr Turner sent his apologies.

The Chairman opened the meeting at 6.00pm. 

1.Chairman’s opening remarks.

001. The Chairman welcomed everybody to the meeting, and thanked those attending for coming, and everyone introduced themselves.

2.Approve draft minutes of the meeting held 10 May 2022

002. it was RESOLVED to accept the minutes as a true record.

3.Chairman’s Annual Report.

003. The Chairman read out her annual report which was as follows:

Chairman’s Report for May 2023

Well what a year of firsts for the council this has been! We started off with the wonderful celebration of our late Queen’s platinum jubilee, followed sadly in September by her demise and funeral, Prince Charles’ accession, then just recently his and his Queen consort’s coronations. All these events presented the council with uncharted ground that we superbly navigated with the guidance of our clerk and support of many volunteers, to whom I say a massive thank you.      

Our total income for the year was £39,186.32, including our precept of £15,500. Our total expenditure was £35,049.80 net of VAT. As always we did our utmost to ensure that the budget, i.e. YOUR money was used wisely and appropriately and that any expenditure offered best value. If you’d like to see our accounts you can view them on our website and in our minutes. 

As this was a year of financial recuperation, we didn’t undertake any capital expenditure, though we did take steps to ensure that the Council could work more effectively given the ever increasing administrative workload we continually face. We did this by increasing our clerk/RFO’s hours to 12pw from 8 and increased our meetings to nine per annum from 6. We also set up a Facebook page to have a more interactive presence.  

We had hoped to work on developing the cemetery and its entrance but to date we have not taken this plan forward, though it is hoped that this will be achieved in the next year or so.

I’m pleased to report though that another deferred project the new village entrance signs, has moved forward, as we now have both a design and costings, so hopefully these will be in place within the next couple of months.

I’m also pleased to report that our ‘Fields in Trust’ application which protects the recreation ground from ever being used for another purpose other than that of recreation is now complete.

We also set up our community speed watch programme late last year which we hope will be fully operational from this month.

Our plans to develop the ‘Hall Field’ on Low St are on hold until we hear what you have to say at the public meeting being held in the village hall at 11am on 3rd June.  

Though our request for a zebra crossing outside of the school wasn’t successful, we have high hopes that we will meet the criteria to be allocated a traffic officer (lollipop person).   

Our persistence in pursuing LCC re the state of Folkingham Road was successful, as we have been assured by Cllr M Hill that they will fully resurface it later this year. We will of course continue to pursue them until they have done so.

 Looking ahead we intend to look at the feasibility of developing the sport facilities in the recreation ground, to possibly include a five a side pitch that could earn us an income. 

We also intend to represent and champion the views of the parish regarding the proposed solar farm and new reservoir. Our stance on these two projects will be led by the majority opinion, so please let us know your view.  

Progress re the development of the old Aveland School site remains at a standstill, as LCC needs to reapply for planning permission, so it may be a year or more before work commences. The delay in developing the area resulted in it becoming totally overgrown, which we asked LCC to address/rectify, which they have done.  

Unfortunately we also still have no date as to when the playing field will be officially transferred to us. We decided not to mow this field in May last year, which was a success, so we have decided not to do so again this year.     

Our biggest challenges are dog mess, illegal/antisocial parking and speeding. Unfortunately despite numerous pleas from us to refrain from these practices they remain a problem.  

We currently only have five elected councillors, as during the year Vic, Paul, David and Catherine bid us farewell. To them and our current councillors for all their hard work and dedication I say thank you. To you I say why not join us? I’d be happy to chat to anyone who’d like more information about the role of councillor.  

I’d also like to thank:-

All those that helped make our Platinum Jubilee celebrations a roaring success but especially to - Calvin, Julie, Murray, Pete, Rachael, Samantha & Steph.

All those who assisted during the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II but especially to Charlotte, Geoff & Trevor.

Andrew, Annette and Jeannie for looking after our village entry planters.

Tom who looks after our flag pole. 

Our community speed watch volunteers - Jackie, Jon, Louise, Mark, Rachael & Tom. 

All those that help in our church but especially Geoff & Trevor for being our Church Wardens, Georgina for looking after the finances & administration,   Judith & Kim for the brass cleaning, Karen for her amazing floral displays and Rebecca for winding up the clock.  

My thanks and appreciate for all their hard work go to Kim our dedicated community village cleaner, Mark our recreation ground caretaker, to Jane and Jon our cemetery caretaking team and to Karen our Spring Wells angel. All of whom do an incredible job! Thank You!!

Thanks also to:-  

BAGS - for managing the allotments on our behalf. 

The Cricket Club for providing a sporting opportunity within the village. 

The Village Hall Committee for managing the hall and working diligently to raise funds to maintain and improve it and for organising events that aim to foster community cohesion and especially for organising the recent event to celebrate King Charles’ coronation.     

The Community Gym committee for managing the gym and ensuring it’s continued viability.  

All those that help deliver the weekly ‘Pop in Too’ coffee/lunch session. 

Linkwell – whose volunteers provide assistance to those who may at times need a little extra help. 

Isn’t it wonderful that so many people volunteer to support our community!  

Finally but certainly not least, my thanks go to our amazing Clerk and RFO Hayley! - Thank You Hayley for all your hard work and guidance! You are an absolute treasure!! THANK YOU!!    

Remember - this is your village so please do let us know what you’d like to see being developed or initiated, what we could do better or what we’ve done well. We are your representatives here to serve you and will always endeavour to do our best for you. However; we can’t change or do something if we don’t know about it, so please do let us know your ideas and opinions. 

If we all work together we can make Billingborough an even more amazing place to live!

As I close I’d just like us to remember the citizens of Ukraine, who are still living with the daily devastation of war. May peace soon be their companion.  

Cllr Chris Woodhead

4.Receive reports from the Police County and District councils.

004. C Cllr Hill reported that LCC was committed to repairing as many of the County’s roads as possible, that pot holes on Folkingham Rd had been filled but that a resurface was still pending. Works were still planned but pending for the drains and flooding issue in West Rd car park and also for the maintenance needed for the jitty between Brewery and Burton Lanes. Also repairs to the footpath between Billingborough and Pointon are planned. Regarding the proposed solar farm, he advised that the County Council were opposing the application, at a recent meeting in Folkingham the issue of drainage had also been raised as a potential problem.  Regarding the Aveland site, C Cllr Hill stated that the transfer could not go ahead until the District Council had made amendments to the Local Plan, Cllr Woodhead asked if LCC could reimburse the Parish Council’s associated maintenance costs in the meantime. Cllr Hill said he would look in to this and report back. Cllr Hill asked about the position with the Hall Field and said he hoped to attend the public meeting on June 3rd.

5.Receive reports from Community Groups and organisations. 

005. A report had been received from the Springwells Medical Practice and was read out as follows:

It continues to be a challenging time for the Practice although we have now reached the other side of the Covid pandemic (fingers crossed).  Following the advice of NHS England, we have recently stopped the mandatory wearing of face masks in the Practice.  If a patient has a suspected or confirmed respiratory infection or are immunocompromised (have a weak immune system), they should continue to wear a mask.  If patients and/or staff prefer to wear a mask, that is their own choice. 

During the last year we have said goodbye to some old but also welcomed new staff to the Practice.  More recently, we welcomed back Dr Chong, following the safe arrival of twin boys, and Nickey, who is our new Advanced Nurse Practitioner.  

Patient Participation Group (PPG) meetings recommenced in February following the pandemic which was well attended.  These meetings are an opportunity to meet some of the team, hear about Practice updates, ask questions and discuss any concerns.  One of the general questions related to why Receptionists asked patients certain questions when they requested an appointment.  This was well explained by one of our GP Trainees and the following was included in our recent Spring/Summer newsletter: 

Medical receptionists are now more appropriately called patient navigators. To help you receive the correct treatment from the correct healthcare professional, our patient navigators are required to ask you a few questions regarding your problem and what the appointment is for- this process is called Triage. Our patient navigators are trained to carry out triage just like the Hospital/ A&E receptionists asking specific questions (what the problem is, how long have you had the problem, why is it urgent for today). This helps to determine if you need to dial 999 (in the case of an emergency) or who is the best person to see you (Doctor, Nurse Practitioner, Physiotherapist, Pharmacist etc). Please be rest assured that the information taken by our patient navigators is held with the utmost confidentiality. The process of patient navigation by our reception team helps manage the already limited resources that we have. They are supported by the Duty Doctor and as a team, we look after you and your loved one’s medical needs. We will continue to improve the skills in inquiry and communication involved in patient navigation and do hope that you help us to help you.

Our next PPG meeting will be held at 6pm in the waiting room at the Surgery on Thursday 15th June 2023 if anyone would like to attend.

Spring Covid boosters are now available but for a smaller group of people, those patients 75 and over and those who are immunocompromised – if you are eligible, please contact the Surgery to book your vaccination.

We would like to thank all of those people who have supported the Practice and Staff in any way over the last year.

Dr Parry, Dr Keck and all staff at The New Springwells Practice

6. Questions and proposals from the public.

006. A parishioner commented that the problem of dog fouling at the recreation ground was increasing and had observed that many walkers let their dogs off lead and then did not adequately monitor and pick up after them. This results in an increased health and safety issue on the sports field. The Council was asked to consider requesting that all dogs be kept on lead whilst in the recreation ground. The Chairman advised that this matter would be added to the agenda of the next meeting after the Annual Meeting had taken place.  

007. A husband and wife attending the meeting said that they were looking to start a dog training business and asked if any Council owned land could be used as a venue for classes to take place. Again the Chairman advised that this would be added to the agenda of the next meeting after the Annual Meeting had taken place.

As there were no more questions or proposals from the Public the Chairman closed the Annual Parish Meeting at 18.58.