2024 Annual Parish Meeting Minutes
THEDDLETHORPE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Minutes of the Annual Parish meeting held on Thursday, 25 April 2024, 19:03
Theddlethorpe Village Hall, Silver Street, Theddlethorpe All Saints.
Chair: Cllr K Simpson
Parish Clerk: Mrs S Bristow
Number of people in attendance: 27
Item APM/24-01 Chair’s Welcome
The Chair opened the meeting at 19:03 and welcomed the parishioners to the meeting. The minutes of the 2023 meeting were signed by the Chair.
Item APM/24-02 Presentation of the King’s portrait
The Chair presented the official portrait to the Chairman of the Village Hall committee; it will be hung in the meeting room in due course.
Item APM/24-03 Discussion and Representations
3a Natural England: A senior member of the local nature reserve presented the changes made as the reserve became a part of the King’s Coronation reserve, this information will be uploaded to the PC’s website. A resident asked about the profits from the car park: it was noted the payment was voluntary and some £5000 was taken last year, with the majority being reinvested locally into upkeep and improvements at the reserve.
3b Safer Together Team: the East Lindsey member of this team explained her role and discussed some of the anti-scam strategies her team were involved in. The clerk will order anti-scam packs to be distributed in the village and will retain the left literature for future distribution.
3c Lincs County Council/Trading Standards: Cllr McNally segued from the Safer Together information to show a Trading Standards presentation highlighting rogue builders in the area and outlined what people should be looking for to help avoid being scammed. Looking out for our neighbours is key, as is reporting any scam/fraud attempts we come across.
(meeting adjourned from 19:55 until 20:06 to allow for a comfort break)
3d Theddlethorpe Community Partnership (CP)/Community Investment Fund (CiF): Two members of the CP informed those assembled about the funding opportunities available and noted the NWS CiF Grants Manager was also present. It was noted some 14 awards were made in the search area and the funding year is 1 July- 30 June (this is Year 2 of the fund). Applications must demonstrate social, economic, and/or environmental benefit to the search area to be considered. Priorities are improving residents’ quality of life and supporting families, individuals, and households. They are trying to be flexible in allocation between smaller and larger requests. Those present were encouraged to use the services of the grants manager to support applications.
3e Elizabeth Rook Charity: the clerk presented the slides received that morning. There was vocal discord at some content in the presentation, including an error in membership and a question about the relevance of several slides pertaining to the recent parish council application. There was also concern expressed about where some information was obtained. Some two pages of questions had been submitted to the charity, some of which were answered by the presentation, residents asked when they should expect a reply. Unfortunately, the three PC trustees present were not in a position to answer questions on the night.
3f Clerk outline of apologies received: The clerk shared apologies from Stratera (on behalf of Mablethorpe Flexible Generation Ltd.), the Viking CCS contacts, and Victoria Atkins, MP, who reiterated her opposition to the National Grid pylons corridor. No response was received directly from the invitation to the National Grid.
Item APM 24-04 Financial Report
The clerk noted the final accounts were balanced and had been audited by a councillor to confirm. In addition, the AGAR was noted as having been internally audited and was ready for resolution at the May Parish Council meeting.
Item APM 24-05 Resident’s Questions and comments of the Parish
Cllr D Sear commented that the online abuse aimed at Cllr N Sear had been reported to the police and would no longer be tolerated, and that some in the room were guilty of said abuse. The clerk will remind all councillors of their code of conduct and the Nolan Principles.
The remaining questions were around the Rook Charity and it’s perceived lack of transparency and concerns for why Theddlethorpe are getting less benefit than other villages in the scheme. Suggestions were made up to and including dissolving the Charity. The clerk will review the agreements and constitutions involved and report back to the PC on options available, should they wish to exercise any in consultation with the parish as a whole.
There being no further business, the Chair closed the meeting at 21:39.