Annual Parish Meeting Minutes 2022
THEDDLETHORPE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Minutes of the annual Parish meeting held on Thursday, 19 May 2022, 7.00pm
Theddlethorpe Village Hall, Silver Street, Theddlethorpe All Saints.
Chair: Cllr C Richardson
Parish Clerk: Mrs S Bristow
Parishioners in attendance: 30
Non-Parishioners in attendance: 3
Item APM/22-01a Chair’s Welcome
The Chair opened the meeting at 19:04 and reminded the parishioners of his role, the Clerk’s role, and their role during this meeting.
Item APM/22-01a Public Forum
A MOP enquired about the ownership of the telephone box on The Wong, Cllr Richardson advised that the Parish Council did not own it. MOP and Chair are to investigate further as it is an eyesore and could provide for a village information point.
Item APM/22-02 Discussion and Representations
2a. Parish GDF questionnaire (update)
Chair reviewed slides and updated MOPs on the status of the questionnaire. A MOP spoke to thank those who had returned their questionnaire and read out a selection of comments which she noted would be included in the upcoming Resident’s Association (RA) newsletter. Chair then explained the status of the GDF Working Group (WG) and next steps towards Community Partnership (CP), which will include the PC reviewing the CP proposals and voting on them. MOPs enquired why a vote is needed if the PC’s opinion isn’t taken into account by the WG or CP and remarked that the PC should follow the lead of the questionnaire results. Chair explained the questionnaire only reflected part of the MOPs opinion and that the PC needed to reflect them all. He added that the road to CP was long and a lot of work had gone into the CP proposals but no exemplar proposal was available; it is a living document that can be altered during the process. Transparency of the PC was questioned and the Chair reminded the MOPs that the PC had fought to be included in the WG and wanted to see maximum local engagement when the CP proposals are brought forward; this PC can only represent these MOPs, other Parishes are commenting on the proposals according to their own MOPs.
County Cllr N Sear told the MOPs that the CP will be comprised of 14 members: 4 from local councils (clarified by the Chair as one each from ELDC, LCC, Mablethorpe, and Withern with Theddlethorpe), 4 from local businesses, 4 from the local area, 1 from the Nuclear Waste Service (NWS), and 1 Chair. Anyone can apply to sit on the CP in a given category. A MOP asked who would conduct interviews and the Chair responded that the push was towards an independent body. He reiterated he is not authorised to speak on behalf of the WG but that MOPs with the desired skills should seek to fill the CP roles. The application process will be publicised by NWS and Chair noted he’d request a letter drop so that all MOPs would be aware. Replying to a MOP query about stopping the process now, Chair reminded them that this would need either NWS or both ELDC and LCC to withdraw. Suggestions that the PC seek to influence ELDC and LCC were replied to by District Cllr S Harrison who reminded the MOPs that this was not only a Theddlethorpe issue but that of the Withern with Theddlethorpe ward, comprising some 14,000 people. Chair noted requesting that provisos by included for CP committee members to either live or work in the local area as well as to have a “connected people” clause.
Distrust of NWS was voiced by an MOP and the Chair commented that the NWS proposal had not been invited by the PC but that the PC were trying to ensure a fair outcome. Further comments were made about the response rate of the questionnaire being only half of the village, albeit those who responded were overwhelmingly against the proposal. In the end, the Chair remarked, it will be up to each individual to decide what they believe to be the truth.
2b. V-Net Zero (offshore Carbon Capture)
Presented the slides provided by Harbour Energy, which are being posted onto the village website after this meeting. Chair noted that, based on the numbers Harbour communicated, only 15% of the MOPs attended their open day on 6 May and only a minimal number of MOPs received direct notification of the event being held.
2c. Neptune Energy (DelpHYnus Hydrogen production & offshore Carbon Capture)
Chair received communication earlier that day that this proposal was on indefinite hold as Neptune had been unsuccessful in its license application. No further action or discussion was taken on this point.
Item APM/22-03 Chair’s Report
Chair read aloud a prepared statement celebrating the village whilst recognising the challenges faced. He stated the past nine months had seen untold threats made against the PC and Councillors individually. Reminded all that the PC exists to receive and disseminate information to the MOPs and to represent them all, not to tell anyone what they should think. Local engagement was encouraged, but MOPs needed to respect confidentiality agreements that may exist when an individual is part of a committee. Chair concluded his report with a list of positive happenings in the village since the last Annual Parish Meeting.
Item APM 22-04 Financial Report
Presented the PC’s AGAR for year ending 31 March 2022 and noted the Internal Audit of the AGAR had been completed. It was noted that the NS&I account reported was still inaccessible by anyone on the PC but the Chair was continuing efforts to access the funds.
Item APM 22-05 Charity of Mrs Elizabeth Rook
A quick overview was given and the slides will be posted onto the PC’s website after the meeting. Chair noted he wanted to look into inter-village activities going forward and remarked that once this charity’s funds are exhausted, there will be no more. District Cllr S Harrison commented about the monies received from the Gayton Wind Farm and that Theddlethorpe and Saltfleetby got half as much as Gayton and The Carltons whilst noting the fund were ring fenced.
There being no further business, the Chair closed the meeting at 20:38.