LEA PARISH COUNCIL
lea.parish.council@gmail.com - 07791 088761
Meeting Notes of Annual Parish Meeting 18th May 2026, 7.30pm in Lea Village Hall
Present: Cllr Helen Leone (LPC Chair), Barry Rooks(Parish Clerk) and @40 members of the public.
Running Order
The Legal Section
You are invited to attend the Annual Village Meeting which is open to all electors of Lea, who have the right not only to attend but also to speak on any matter of local interest. Councillors attend this meeting as members of the public, only the Chair of the Council must take the chair. If the Chair is not present, the Vice-chair of the Council must preside. This meeting has its own minutes but these will only be approved at the next Annual Parish Meeting. Matters arising from the meeting are not binding on the Council, though Council will take heed of what is said as it provides a prime opportunity to ensure the Council is acting on the needs and wishes of the community.
Annual Village Parish Meeting – The Schedule
7:30 pm Chair’s welcome and introduction. Ratification of minutes of last meeting.
Chair Cllr H Leone welcomed members of the public to the annual parish meeting. See Chair’s report below. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on the 19th May 2025, accepted and signed as a true record by two Lea residents present.
7:40 pm Review of current situation with Council, future plans, finances. See report below.
7:50 pm Step Fusion. Informative presentation by STEP Fusion regarding the new plant at West Burton and impact it may have.
8.10 pm Lea residents invited to join Lea Parish Council.
8:15 pm Questions and comments from the floor. This is an opportunity to raise any issues relating to the village. Residents were able to put their questions and comments to the Chair, Clerk and STEP Fusion after the meeting. Relevant questions will be on the agenda at the next Lea Parish Council meeting in June.
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 Parish Meeting presentation, 18th May 2026
Good evening, and thank you for attending the 2026 Lea Annual Village Meeting. My name is
Helen Leone, and last week I was re-elected as Chair of Lea Parish Council. This is my fifth year
in the role. At last year’s meeting, I said I would serve for just one more year, but for reasons I will
explain later, I have agreed to remain a little longer. For those who do not know me, I have lived in
the village since 1996, served on the Neighbourhood Planning Steering Group, and been a Parish
Councillor since 2018, 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 residents of Lea the opportunity to meet, hear about
and discuss issues that affect our village and have a say on whatever they feel is important to our
village. This 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.
Tonight we are pleased to welcome back representatives from Step Fusion and their 4 legged
friend to give residents information about major developments just across the river from Lea and
answer questions you may have.
Finances
As a result of diligent housekeeping, good financial management and the hard work of a small
group of volunteers I can report that the Parish Council currently remains in a strong financial
position. We are recommended to maintain a reserve of a minimum of £14,000 to carry forward
from year to year to cover any unexpected expenses. The current financial situation is as follows:
Council has this year raised its portion of the Council Tax for Lea Parish Council by 3.5%. This
equates to approximately 50p per house per year and comes after not having raised our section of
council tax for the last 2 years. This provides the Parish Council with an income for this year of
£22,000. This income has to cover the Clerk’s salary, insurance, grass cutting, maintenance, new
projects and much more. Due to monies remaining from funds received from the Willingham Road
development the current reserves stand at just over £57,000. This money must be spent on
projects that have long term benefits for Lea residents. A summary of finances can be seen on the
agenda for every Council meeting. These can be found on the Parish Council website or paper
copies are posted in 2 noticeboards – on the Butler’s Pantry and on the Village Green 3 working
days before the next meeting.
I am now required to provide you with a summary of events from the last 12 months.
A request was made for play equipment suitable for children over 12. After discussing preferences
with children, 2 sets of 2 swings and a bench have been installed outside the area dedicated to
children under the age of 12. These seem to be being well used by people of all ages, which is
great.
The speed of traffic through the village, especially on Gainsborough Road and Willingham Road
has been an issue for as long as I have been on the Parish Council and before that. Ongoing
pressure by the Parish Council resulted firstly in the speed limit being reduced to 30mph and then
more recently the speed indicator signs that have been installed. These indicators were purchased
by Lea Parish Council, supported by a donation from our District Councillor, Emma Bailey’s
community fund. Thank you to West Lindsey for that. We have yet to extract the data from the
machines, but indications are that there has been a reduction in traffic speed on these 2 roads. I
understand that a question has been raised about the location of the signs. Their positioning was
advised by the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership. The signs must meet certain legal criteria,
and the aim was to promote safer traffic flow at the junction of Gainsborough Road and Willingham
Road, and at the junction of Willingham Road and The Grove (because of the school). The Parish
Council still believes that a safer crossing place is needed in the village, especially to access the
bus stop on The Green. Surveys by Lincolnshire Highways inform us that the request does not
meet the minimum criteria for pedestrians crossing the road, but Council will continue to pursue
this aim.
Lea Orchard The ongoing project to save the community orchard in Lea Park has continued over
the past year. You may be aware that the orchard contains rare British species fruit trees. 2 years
ago they were in desperate need of pruning. Fortunately a wonderful gentleman called Pete Arthy,
who doesn’t even live in the village, came forward and offered his services and expertise. He
trained a small group of volunteers on what to do and, after the last 2 autumns, the trees are now
pruned and much healthier and we look forward to the fruit this autumn. We will be encouraging
people to come to collect the apples, for free, for great apples crumbles and I’ve even heard of
someone using them to make apple champagne!. There are some soft fruit trees that will need
pruning later this summer so if you would like to learn how best to do this and help your
community, please let us know.
Butler’s Pantry is the only remaining part of Lea Hall which once stood in Lea Park. It is not a
listed building but Council believes it is important that money is spent on maintaining this building.
By improving the external drainage around the building the risk of flooding has been reduced. A
local brick layer has been replacing damaged bricks as well as repointed and damp sealing. A hot
water system has been installed. Butler’s Pantry can be hired for small gatherings for £10/hour.
Tennis club. The village tennis club continues to thrive. A new, longer lease is now in place to
support the tennis club in bids for further financing.
Cricket club. The Council is currently in conversation with Lea and Roses CC/Gainsborough CC.
Cross country. The Gainsborough Schools Cross Country championship again took place in Lea
Park last autumn.
Play area. The U 12’s play area is inspected on an annual basis. The most recent report did not
highlight any major areas of concern. However, Council have recently improved the safety of the
area by replacing the badly worn steps up the bank on either side of the slide and having a look
out platform built over the old concrete pipe which kept getting exposed due to soil erosion. An old
bench is also being reinstated. A group of volunteers helped ensure overhanging foliage was cut
back to the recommended height.
Lea Park Woods Lea Parish Council, as owners of an area of public woodland, are required, by
our insurers, to have the area surveyed by a qualified arborist every 5 years, and this was
completed last summer. Again, no major, immediate issues were raised but work over the
upcoming year was recommended. This is likely to be the largest financial investment for the
Council this year. Several trees are dead or have dead branches and these must be made safe.
The majority of trees felled will be left in situ to provide future habitats for wildlife. Sections of the
park will be closed to allow the necessary work to be completed. Visitors to the Park must abide by
any signs and notices.
An ongoing problem faced by the Parish Council and many other groups are the problems caused
by a minority of irresponsible dog owners. The Council has tried signs, providing waste bins but
that small minority of irresponsible owns do not seem to think that these relate to them. I find it
difficult to understand why some think it is acceptable to collect dog waste in a bag and then hang
the bag in trees. We also request that dog owners keep their dogs on a lead. This is for 2 reasons.
Firstly, Lea Park is an open park and there is no fencing onto the main A156. Council can not be
responsible for dogs running onto the road when advise has been given to keep dogs on a lead.
Secondly, not everyone welcomes strange dogs coming up to them and I have recently witnessed
a child being petrified by an out of control dog jumping up at them. It is not ok to say that the dog is
‘just being friendly’. It is sad when some owners are politely asked to put their dogs on a lead only
to be subjected to offensive, verbal abuse – a sad sign of the times.
Sand and gravel quarry. At the time of writing this report, no further communication has been
received from Lincolnshire County Council waste and mineral team as to whether Lea Marshes
was to be included in the final list of preferred sites for development. The outcoming of the latest
consultation was due to be released in March, but that date has been pushed back to some date
in the future.
Future of Lea Parish Council. Having told you about some of the things that Lea parish Council
has achieved over the last year I now have to tell you that the Council currently stands in a
precarious position. As previously mentioned, I cannot remain as Chair of Lea parish Council as I
am due to leave the village later this year. Lea Parish Council should have 9 Councillors, and we
currently have 4 plus me (who is leaving). 2 Councillors live outside the village boundary but care
about our village and 1 joined after the PC meeting in April. 2 left in April for personal reasons. It is
not possible for Lea Parish Council to continue at this level. For any Council meeting to be legal
each meeting must have 3 councillors in attendance, and this is hard if there are only 4 people
available. The Council therefore needs to co-opt at least 4/5 new people. Lea consists of just
under 500 properties, so probably has an adult population of about 1000. It should be possible to
find 4 or 5 people who want to help and have a say in how our village develops. The commitment
can be as small or as large as you wish. The minimum requirement is to attend a 2 hour meeting
once every 6 months and keep up to date with emails and documents or you could led a project
you are interested in. Now is a great time to join as you would be learning the ropes along with
others, the Council is in a strong financial position for ongoing projects and full training is given.
The more Councillors there are the more efficiently the Council runs. If you might consider joining
the Council we always invite people to attend one of our meetings and see the Council in action
before committing to anything. Please have a word with our Clerk, Barry Rook if you would like to
know more.
However: If no new Councillors are co-opted and numbers fall to 3 then technically the quorum
fails. If this were to happen, under Section 91 of the Local Government Act 1972, West Lindsey
District Council can appoint people to fill vacancies to ensure the council remains operational.
These are unlikely to people from Lea. If the council still fails to function, the district council may
hold a community governance review, which would look at whether the existing parish council
arrangements should be changed. It has the power to:
Alter the boundaries of an existing parish area
group parishes together
dissolve a parish council so it no longer exists.
Any of these options would be very detrimental to the village of Lea , which has long prided itself
on its independence from Gainsborough.
Finally, if you have any DIY skills do you think you could help with odd jobs around the village,
such as repairing a fence or a bench. Hiring contractors to undertake these tasks is very
expensive so if anyone would be prepared to help with the occasional odd job around the village
please give your details to Barry and he will get back to you to explain more.
Thank you
Now I will hand you over to STEPFUSION
Any questions or comments? You are welcome to email lea.parish.council@gmail.com.