March 2025 Minutes
Minutes for the Parish Council Meeting held on Thursday 20 March 2025 at Great Carlton Village Hall
In the Chair: Cllr P Hill
Present: Cllrs Kade, Seigneury, Marshall, White and Bennett.
Parish Clerk: Mrs S Bristow
District Councillor Travis Hesketh (arrived 19:20)
Public Forum: Two questions from the public were asked via a Councillor:
a. Is it possible to site a refuse bin near the bench? The Clerk will look into this process and it will be added to the May agenda for consideration.
b. What is the disposition of the mobile speed indicator in the village now that the member who usually looked after it has left the council? Again, the Clerk will investigate and add this to the May agenda.
The meeting was opened at 19:11 and 3 members of the public were in attendance.
1. Apologies: County Cllr D McNally was absent with apologies.
2. Declarations of Interest: None
3. Approval of the minutes of the 20 February 2025 meeting: RESOLVED and signed by the Chairman.
4. Chair’s Report:
i. Co-option and Councillor Vacancy update: It was noted that no election was requested for the two current vacancies, thus the advertising for co-opted members will begin.
5. Clerk’s Report:
i. General update on day-to-day Council matters: there was no update on the Barclay’s account, the Clerk is relying on former Cllr Pike to support payments until this situation is resolved.
ii. Pre-election (PURDAH) guidance: the Clerk reminded members to use caution until the election to ensure their political views were not construed as the Council’s view. Additionally, District & County Councillors will be reminded that any reports need to be factual and apolitical.
6. Finance report:
i. To resolve payments: All payments RESOLVED
a. LALC Training Scheme additional £10.00 (to be paid on/after 1 April 2025)
b. Clerk’s Wages and HRMC PAYE total £303.40
7. Councillor Reports and Matters Arising
i. Highways survey: bypassed as the deadline has gone.
ii. M&STC invitations: bypassed as assumed no longer required.
iii. Gayton le Marsh working group invitation: tabled to May to allow the elections to take place.
iv. To collate a response to the Ossian Transmission Infrastructure project: the meeting was closed briefly to allow a resident to enquire about the location of the cables coming onshore. The Council decided to use the model list of EIA Scoping queries from Theddlethorpe with an additional question added regarding connections to the National Grid. The Clerk will circulate the list to Councillors for review prior to the submission deadline.
v. To compile the annual insurance renewal questionnaire: the Council heard what the current insurance package includes and that there was an assumption of a longer-term contract in place. The Clerk will investigate this matter. In the event of a contract being in place, it was resolved to leave the insurance in place for another year and to revisit the matter in early 2026 so that sufficient time is available to obtain competitive quotes.
vi. St Edith’s Tree matters: the meeting closed from 19:44 for five minutes to allow the Church Warden to advise the members on the latest tree situation. It was agreed that the Warden would forward the latest tree survey to the Clerk so that she can investigate obtaining permissions for maintaining those trees subject to a protection order.
vii. To set a date for the Annual Parish Meeting: 8 May was agreed and will begin at 6:30pm. A Lincs County Council Highways Officer will be invited to speak to the meeting; additional invitees may follow.
8. Planning Matters: None
9. Date of next meeting be discussed and confirmed: the Annual and Monthly Parish Council meetings will be on 8 May in the Gt Carlton village hall, immediately following the conclusion of the Annual Parish Meeting. There will not be a planned April meeting due to the lateness of the March meeting.
There being no additional business, the meeting was closed at 20:05.
Cllr Hesketh gave his update following closure of the meeting: due to the pre-election period, Cllr Hesketh gave a factual update on proposals affecting the area.