Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting for the Village of Great Gonerby held on Tuesday 21st July 2020 at the Memorial Hall at 19:00
Present: B. Hutchinson Chairman, Cllr J Thompson, Cllr A Critchley, Cllr. J Critchley, Cllr. H Fletcher, Cllr. K Davey, Cllr. M Neal and J Walker Clerk,
Cllr. A Maughn LCC
I Skellern, Chairman, T Saward, G Saward - Memorial Hall Committee 10 members of the public.
The Chairman opened the meeting welcoming everyone and presenting Cllr. J Thompson with a plaque commemorating his 50 years as a Parish Councillor for Great Gonerby. The Chairman thanked Cllr. Thompson for his many years of dedication to the village which had been very much appreciated.
1. Apologies: Cllr. R Plant, Cllr. I Hammond, Cllr I Stokes Cllr A Mavros
2. Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting held on 7th May 2019 were signed as a true record.
3. Chairman’s - Annual Report 2018/19:
I will break down my report into the various areas of activity -
The Memorial Hall / Recreation Ground – The hall, field and its management committee have continued their great work in managing the hall and field. It has clearly been a very difficult year dealing with the effects of the pandemic on usage and income. There has been an increase in reports of anti-social behaviour, and we will continue to offer support to the memorial Hall Committee as required.
Gonerby, Hill Top Cemetery – The cemetery continues to provide a first-class amenity for the village and provide additional car parking capacity for the recreation ground and Memorial Hall. Again, there have been problems with anti-social behaviour, and we have now added lighting and have plans to upgrade the CCTV system if these persist.
High Street – The hanging baskets have greatly improved and softened the look of the high street and with the addition of more baskets this year they are truly a great display. I must mention and thank Cllr Thompson for his watering of the baskets during dry spells.
Pond Area – I’m very pleased to see, read and hear that the finished improvements to the area have been appreciated by the village and the work has improve this important area in the heart of the village. We may also have plans to site a friendship bench incorporating some of the “Covid stones” in its design. It is also good to see that the statue is setting a good example with PPE.
The village continues to be maintained to a high standard and our decision to take over and increase the LCC verge grass cutting ensures that the village continues to be a pleasant and well-maintained place to live. We, together with the residents of Great Gonerby should be proud to live in such a pleasant and desirable parish.
We must continue to find a balance between representing the views of our residents and the longer term development of the village. It is important that the village retains it character, history and identity, but also evolves to meet the needs of both existing and new residents.
I must reiterate our absolute resolve to ensure that no development applications must breach the clear separation from Hill Foot/Grantham.
Our financial position is very good, having managed our budgets diligently and with good sense. We started the year with a balance of £39,429 and currently have a Q1 balance of £45,004. The budget is set at £32,227 which was set/achieved with no increase to the precept.
I must thank Janet, our clerk for all her help throughout the year. She continues to provide me with great support and the odd prompt!
I also need to record our thanks to Pat Eland for her invaluable work in keeping the village in such a clean condition. Although all are paid employees, I know that they regularly go over and beyond their duties to ensure their respective roles are fulfilled.
I would also like to thank all councillors their hard work, support and dedication during this last year.
I have enjoyed my time as Chairman and feel very proud of what we collectively achieve. We have over the past years added to the facilities and aesthetics’ of the village and with the completion of the pond area, we may well be running out of large projects. We must now ensure that we continue to maintain the good work we have achieved thus far and look for opportunities for further improvement.
On a personal level I am pleased with how the Parish Council has worked to reduce the number of meetings and embraced other forms of democratic decision making and I am therefore happy to continue as Chairman if no one else wishes to take on the role.
I am pleased that we now have a full complement of 11 councillors, and I hope that the reduction in time demands, using various forms of remote working to ensure democracy and transparency is achieved and smarter ways of working has assisted with this recruitment.
That is the end to my ninth Parish Council report and I thank you for your time, commitment and support.
4. Poor Land Report
Janet Watson the Chairperson of the Poor Land Trust presented the meeting with up to date Accounts for the Charity which show a balance of £1709.15 in the Money Management Account and £33.35 in the Community Account. The Balance Sheets are attached.
Janet Watson didn’t have anything to report but asked the Parish Council Chairman to bring the Meeting up to date with regard to the Poor Land.
The Chairman explained the Poor Land is made up of two fields, one near Allington the other near to Downtown. The parcel of land near Downtown is currently let at an annual rent of £75.00. The current tenant is late in paying this and has received notices with regard to eviction.
The Poor Land Charity working with the Charities Commission have received a current valuation for the land in the region of £500,000 to £700,000 and have advised that any sale will have to be effected through Public Auction.
Should the land be sold the proceeds can never be disposed of and must stay in Bank but interest on a large sum of money would produce considerably more than £75 a year. The Poor Land Charity will have to establish a fair method to distribute this money to the poor of the village going forward.
The Charity Commission will have to agree how the money is used.
The Chairman envisaged a timescale of 1 to 2 years as it will take time.
Downtown agreed to fund the initial process in getting a valuation for which they have paid.
5. Memorial Hall Report
At the Hall’s AGM in June 2019 we welcomed Annette Callow and Ashleigh Pinder as new Trustees; Annette took over the bookings for the Hall and Ashleigh provided us will a closer link with the Sunshine Nursery Team. Later on in the year we welcomed Matt Trimm and Susan Nash who we hope would become elected Trustees at the 2020 AGM; Matt has undertaken to develop the Hall’s website and Susan will add her administrative experience to the general running of the Hall. Also, and in the light of the various minor repairs required to meet the smooth running of the building and its associated facilities, we engaged a selfemployed maintenance man who has proved to be a valuable asset.
September to March
A number of important administrative tasks have been completed:
• Safety checks to meet fire regulations have now been established
• A CCTV policy document has been formulated and is now in place
• A RoSPA inspection of the outside play area was completed and large number of minor defects were identified; the Maintenance Man is working through the list
• Matt Trimm has made substantial progress in developing the website and progress is on going
The MUGA.
A 3-year maintenance contract has been let to SIS Pitches which currently manages the Meres 3G areas. The contract is working well and no issues have been reported by the contractor.
March to July
Clearly, everything stopped in mid-March due to the lockdown brought about by covid19.
Finance
At the start of the lockdown, the Hall’s finances at year end looked healthy with a credit balance of approximately £11,000. The Treasurer estimated that we could pay all normal costs for at least the next 6-months. However, the Treasurer applied for the Government grant being offered through South Kesteven District Council and secured a grant of £10,000.
The Way Ahead
Our next meeting is scheduled for the 28 July 2020 when all the issues arising related to the covid19 outbreak will be addressed and plans made for the resumption of activities taking account of restrictions imposed by the Government.
6. Matters Arising by Parishioners
There were no matters arising
There being no further business the Annual Village Meeting closed at 19:25