May 2022 DRAFT Notes Annual Parish Meeting

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD IN BUTTERWICK VILLAGE HALL ON TUESDAY 10 MAY 2022

Present:

Cllr A Gosling – Butterwick Parish Council Chairman

Mrs C Anderton – Clerk of the Council

Also Present:

Cllrs: M Knowles, N Donnely, K Forman, A Quickfall, L Pearson

Cllr P Skinner, Lincolnshire County Council

Apologies

There were no apologies received.

Chairman’s Annual Report

Last year has seen the return to something approaching normality, after the pandemic and we have now returned to monthly face to face meetings. Thank you to all the councillors for their commitment in attending the meetings and to the clerk for keeping us informed between meeting and ensuring business continues to run smoothly during the meetings. There have been no changes to the Council membership from the meeting last year however, our litter picker Mr Keith Stones has decided to retire and I propose the council send a letter of thanks for all his efforts over the past few years. As a Council we continue to support local groups and organisations without the requirement to raise the precept as we have a reasonable balance in reserve. 

Butterwick Village Hall Committee Annual Report

It has been a reasonable year for the hall, the bookings have been increasing steadily and we still have a little left in our funds thanks to the generosity of the Parish Council with their donations which has helped us to get over the Covid pandemic. The hall has completed all the refurbishments it had planned previously and looking forward the plans are to look into replacing the stage curtains and to put up a false ceiling in the storeroom to expand the storage space.

Butterwick Walking Group Annual ReportThe walking group resumed in the middle of August last year.  Numbers are between 10 & 12 per week.  Several former members haven't returned but we have attracted a few new ones.   Some bus trips have been organised: York last November, Louth on Wednesday 11 May & Sheringham in September. An afternoon tea to celebrate The Jubilee has been arranged for Tuesday 7 June.

Park Green Project Annual Report

Like most community projects the park has had a quiet year and has been funded largely by the Parish Council, which is appreciated immensely. We have completed most of the planned jobs however any further works have been stalled by the issue of finding available tradesmen to provide quotations due to the increasing costs of materials.  

Boston Borough Council Annual Report

It’s been a good year for the Council, we’ve joined forces with 2 other councils, South Holland and East Lindsey, which should show we have much more resilience and this also has opened up a larger pool of staff, talent and experience to be able to call upon. We have been successful in securing £29million with the town deal and match funding and there are lots of other communities’ funding available which we have been able to call upon. 

Lincolnshire County Council Annual Report

It’s been a challenging year with the government cuts which saw Lincolnshire CC loose £12million from their budget two year’s ago, the Council have managed to bridge the gap with funds from reserves however these are depleting and unfortunately, there has been the need to increase the level of rates to reflect the deficit.

There have also been some good things happening, the Flood and Water committee has been working well as a partnership to flag up near misses and this has provided the council with good data which in turn will be a huge advantage for the future of our coastal area.

To receive comments from the public on any relevant local issues

There were no comments presented to the meeting.

The Chairman thanked all those in attendance and the meeting closed at 7.20pm.