Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting for the Village of Great Gonerby held on Tuesday 4th May 2021 at 19:00 Via Zoom
Present: B. Hutchinson Chairman, Cllr J Thompson, Cllr A Critchley, Cllr. J Critchley,
Cllr. H Fletcher, Cllr. K Davey, Cllr. M Neal, Cllr. A Mavros, Cllr. R Plant, Cllr. I Stokes, Cllr. M Davey-Dunerdale and J Walker Clerk
Cllr. A Maughan LCC
I Skellern, Chairman Memorial Hall, G Saward - Memorial Hall Committee 4 members of the public.
The Chairman opened the meeting welcoming everyone to his 10th Annual Parish Meeting.
1. Apologies: Mrs J Watson – Treasurer Poor Land Charity
2. Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting held on 21st July 2020 were signed as a true record.
3. Chairman’s - Annual Report 2020/21:
The Chairman presented his report as follows:-
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 been another difficult year dealing with the ongoing effects of the pandemic on usage, income and adhering to the ever-changing rules and regulations. We must thank them for their work and 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. Following a request from a plot owner, we have introduced an agreement where plot owners can take over the maintenance of the plot and plant some flowers. We have now added additional lighting and extended the CCTV system to better cover the area and reports of anti-social behaviour appear to have reduced.
High Street – The hanging baskets continue to improve 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 and feeding of the baskets during the 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. The site will soon benefit from a custom 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 of wearing a face mask throughout the pandemic.
The village continues to be maintained to a high standard and our ongoing decision to take over and increase the LCC verge grass cutting ensures that the village continues to be a pleasant and wellmaintained 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. The village will continue to expand and we 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. Our balance at the end of the last financial year (31st March 2021) was £39,303.08 and we have once again budget for a “no increase” precept which remains at £28,836.
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 Janet and Pat are paid employees, I know that they regularly go over and beyond their duties to ensure their respective roles are fulfilled.
I must 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 are currently planning to erect white gates at all the village entrances, but this is proving difficult due to LCC regulations and our somewhat unique location. 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 meetings via Zoom 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 a potential waiting list. 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 tenth Parish Council report and I thank you for your time, commitment and support.
4. Poor Land Report
Janet Watson advised there had been no activities on either of the Poor Land Charity Accounts apart from two rent payments. Mrs Watson advised that both tenants rents are paid up for the current year.
At the end of the Financial Year the Bank Balances were:- Money Maker Account - £1929.23
Community Account - £33.35
5. Memorial Hall Report
Ian Skellern presented the report from the Memorial Hall Trustees as follows:-
At the Hall’s AGM in June 2020 we adhered to the Covid restrictions on social distancing and held a brief meeting to meet the requirements of the Charities Commission.
The MUGA.
Just before the current lockdown was implemented by the Government, the Trustees agreed to leave the MUGA unlocked to prevent a recurrence of damage caused by forced entry through the surrounding netting. A notice was displayed on the entry gate
indicating the facility was not in use. All organised use of the facility was stopped; however, some individuals chose to continue with unauthorised use which caused an unknown, but misguided, individual to fit a lock on the gate. In response, several youths climbed the 20ft high fence to gain access to play. Such actions provided a strong risk of injury to those concerned and the lock was cut off by the Hall’s maintenance man only to be replaced again by person(s) unknown.
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.
Mr Skellern additionally advised the following had been implemented on the MUGA
Maintenance had taken place on the all-weather pitch
Installation of better lighting
Soft netting behind the goal posts to dampen noise
The Chairman of the Parish Council thanked Mr Skellern and all the Trustees of the Memorial for their invaluable input in keeping the facility going to such a high standard.
6. Matters Arising by Parishioners
Two villagers requested an update with regard to Footpath No. 4 and the partial closure. Cllr. Thompson advised of a meeting earlier in the year with Officers from LCC and Cllr. Maughan but that nothing was going to be resolved in the short term. It is proposed to submit an appeal to try and get the Parish Council ‘s case given priority, failing the appeal the matter is not likely to be resolved within the next five years.
The matter of road potholes was raised and it was advised the PC are doing all they can to resolve the matter which will once again be discussed in the Parish Council Meeting.
There being no further business the Annual Village Meeting closed at 19:30