2024 Meeting notes Annual Parish Meeting

LEA PARISH COUNCIL

lea.parish.council@gmail.com 

07791 088761

Meeting Notes of Annual Parish Meeting 20th May 2024, 7.30pm in Lea Village Hall

Present: Helen Leone(LPC Chair), Barry Rooks(Parish Clerk) and 18 members of the public.

7:30 pm Chair’s welcome and introduction. Chair Cllr H Leone welcomed members of the public to the annual parish meeting. See Chair’s report below.                    Ratification of minutes of last meeting. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on the 22nd May 2023, accepted and signed as a true record by Lea residents present.

7:40 pm Review of current situation with Council and future plans, including financial situation.  Remember it is money from the council tax you pay that finances the village.  The village also has approximately £20,000 to spend.  It is important that the residents of Lea have a say in how funding is spent. See Chair’s report below.

7.50 pm Audience complete comment slips with their say on how money could be spent. Responses to be reviewed and discussed at the next parish council meeting.

8:00 pm Questions and comments from the floor.  This is an opportunity to raise any issues relating to the village.

Summary of requests, suggestion, comments and questions from residents:

What are the possibilities of resurfacing the road leading to the village hall? It’s dangerous and stops people getting to and using the hall.

Current park equipment is good but any plans for older children. Suggestions include: zip line, climbing frame/trim trail, gym equipment.

Pop up shop/cafe over the summer months at Butlers Pantry.

Lack of childcare provision in the village - resident happy to support.

Could Butlers Pantry be developed - perhaps a collaboration with the Tennis Club. The right idea might gather support from residents.

The Rotary Club asked if the fireworks could return to Lea Park, without the bonfire. RC would pay for and organise the event. One resident expressed concerns about their animals nearby and that they had not been informed about previous events which led to difficulties with their animals. Another said how wet the park is in November and not suitable for large numbers of people and vehicles. Previous events at that time of year had left long term damage to the park.

ParkRun for Lea Park?

New bus stop being installed at the bottom of Stainton Close following resident lobbying.

Please contact Lea Parish Council or attend a Council meeting if you wish to contribute your opinion on any of these issues.

CHAIR’S REPORT: Annual Village Meeting presentation, May 2024

Good evening and thank you for attending the 2024 Lea Annual Village meeting. My name is Helen Leone and just last week I was re-elected as Chair of Lea Parish Council. This is my 3rd  year in this role. I have lived in the village since 1996, served on the Neighbourhood planning steering group and  have been a Parish Councillor since 2018. I  have even taught at the village school for 3 years, so I know the village well.

I would like to just explain the legal bit about this meeting – it is not a Parish Council meeting, it is a meeting for residents of Lea that is organised by the Parish Council. I am the only person present in the role of a Parish Councillor, supported by the Parish Clerk, Barry Rooks, who will take the minutes. Its purpose is to give the electorate of Lea the opportunity to meet, discuss issues that affect our village and have a say in whatever you feel is important to our village. It helps the Parish Council with its future planning and deciding how money you pay as part of the Council Tax, is spent. There will be more about this later.

Before we can start I need to share with you the meeting notes from the village meeting last May and I invite 2 people who were here last year to approve the notes provided by Barry.  

I am required to start by providing you with a summary of events from the last 12 months.

The year 2023/24 has seen some changes within the village. More properties have been completed on the Rose Gardens estate and we have welcomed new residents into the village, along with new residents moving into our existing housing stock. The Lea Neighbourhood Plan was written at a time when Lea was expected to accept a 15% growth over the following 20 years, which equated to approx. 62 additional residences. Unless the planning laws change, Lea has just about met its commitment for growth, with 60 homes on Rose Gardens.

As a direct result of that development, Lea Parish Council  were given the responsibility of using dedicated funds to provide the village with a new play park for U12’s. After gathering suggestions from providers and questioning residents about what they would like to see it was finally agreed to instal equipment supplied by Play Quest. In line with our environmental policy, Council ensured that the equipment is made of recycled plastic, has a long guarantee and needs very little maintenance. Council were also pleased to be able to employ local companies ALS and JMC to complete the ground works and fencing. I’m sure all will agree that the play area is now being well used and is a great asset to the park. I know my grandchildren enjoy visiting their ‘Nonna’s park’.

When the Council wrote their first 4 year plan, about 6 years ago, it was mindful of the fact that historically the village had held a festival every year, so, high on the list of objectives was a village festival. A small practice event was held to celebrate the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and that was a great success in spite of the awful weather.  Council then committed to hold a large scale festival. This was a huge decision and would never have come to fruition without the dedication, hard work and tenacity of Jill Martin, as co-ordinator, and Graham Barber as committee chair. Jill and Graham were ably supported by a small team of people who also helped to make sure the magic happened. Can I ask if any of you came to the event? Over 1000 people did come to enjoy the fun in the sun. The event turned out to be as good as the weather, both being amazing. Jill’s tenacity and tight hold on the financial purse strings ensured that, with the help of a community grant from West Lindsay Council, the event did not cost the residents of Lea a single penny. I think that was an amazing achievement. However much the committee enjoyed the day of the event, at the post festival debrief it was agreed that, due to the huge amount of work now involved in staging such a large event and the small size of the team doing all the work, it would not be possible to stage such an event again in the foreseeable future.

I also hope that some of you were able to attend the Pop Up Pantry which Council has staged from the Butler’s Pantry over the past few years. All the wonderful cakes and bakes were made by Jill Martin, Fiona Anderson and myself. By not claiming for our time or the electricity used in the baking we were able to provide the Parish Council with an additional income of up to £1,000 a year. Sadly this has had to come to an end. Fiona Anderson, who was our longest serving Councillor and had been both Vice and Chair, has moved away to deepest West Yorkshire. Personally this year has not been great as I have undergone major leg surgery and I am back in hospital on Wednesday for more. This means I am no longer able to stand all day baking and decorating cakes. This is also why I am sitting now, so please excuse that. We cannot thank Fiona enough for all she did for the village and we miss her and her husband Simon greatly. Council were pleased to appoint Kevin Martin as a new councillor and I thank him for all he done already.

Another success within the village has been the growing membership for the tennis club. A new surface and a real push by the tennis club to increase membership has seen numbers rise rapidly. As landlords of the tennis club, Lea Council are very pleased to see this and we are currently in talks with them to extend their lease.

Sadly another season passed last year without any cricket being played in the park and the condition of the wicket suggests that it will be difficult for any play this season. Lea Parish Council remains in contact with Lea and Roses cricket club in regards to both the playing of cricket and their portacabin.

0ne of the biggest expenditures of Lea Parish Council is the maintenance of all the green bits in the village – all the grass verges, village greens and, most expensive, Lea Park. Lincolnshire County Council would just cut the verges 2x/year. We employ a company called Tivoli. Historically there has also been a group of village volunteers who have help with additional tasks, such as keeping the pathways clear, cutting back brambles and nettles, removing invasive ivy etc. this group is now getting older and smaller and tasks that they used to undertake are now too much. This problem has 2 possible solutions – either more volunteers come forward or the village needs to pay for this work to be done. The 2nd option is expensive but as the work must be done it means that if we have to pay for the work then there will be less and less money available to spend elsewhere in the village. If you, or anyone you know could volunteer a couple of hours a month that would really, really help.

There does seem to be a trend in the village of people choosing not to engage with organised activities. A recent coffee morning and the village litter pick had very few attendees, so if you know how we can boost that, again we would like to hear your suggestions.

Leading on from this, I have to inform you that, whilst Lea Parish Council should be made up of 9 councillors we currently have 5. This could have 2 serious implications: if 2 councillors cannot attend a meeting then the meeting has to be cancelled and that month’s business will be lost. More importantly if 2 councillors choose to step down then the Council can no longer function. The village would need to seek a neighbouring village to amalgamate with or hand the running of the village, including the finances, back to WLDC. I’m not sure that either of these options would be good for the future of the village. This would be avoided if we could find a small number of people who are willing to join us. The commitment is one x 2 hour evening meeting every 6 weeks, a bit of reading and then as much or as little time as can be given. All the current councillors enjoy working together and we are good at encouraging and including new members. PLEASE GIVE THIS SOME THOUGHT – Your Village Needs You!

That is the end of my summary of the year so now to main part of this meeting.

Due to exercising good financial controls and being in receipt of monies from Rippon Homes (forming part of their commitment resulting in their being granted planning permission) Lea Parish Council are now in a sound financial situation. Mindful of the need to maintain a basic level of funds, we are now in the  position of being able to look to what other projects  could be supported within the village. The sum available is about £20,000. Monies spent by Lea Parish Council MUST be spent for the benefit of residents of Lea, be sustainable and self-sufficient. In a recent addition of the Lea Life, residents were invited to either attend this meeting or email the Parish Clerk to put forward any suggestions they may have. The Council have also spent time exploring what options they feel might be worth considering. You are going to have your chance in a minute but firstly these are some of the options that have already been put forward. Whilst the council are putting forward about £20,000 it may be possible to spend a greater sum if we can access grants, but to do this Council needs to demonstrate public consultation and public support for any application.

These are the ideas already suggested:

 We will now give you a clip board, a pencil and a small slip of paper. I ask that you take a few minutes to think of any ways in which you feel the village could be enhanced and complete the slip. Thank you.

Thank you for your contributions. They will be read, analysed and discussed at a future Parish Council meeting. Please remember that agendas are posted on the village website and in the notice boards on the bus stop green and on Butler’s Pantry. The public are always invited to speak during the first open 15 minutes of any meeting. Council is not required to respond immediately but your comments will be noted and discussed at a later meeting, as necessary.

Now I am going to hand things over to you. If you have any questions or things to say you are invited to do so now. I am limited in the responses I can make on the spot but Barry will note all the questions and comments down and I can assure you that these will be considered at future Parish Council meetings, Thank you.