Draft notes of the ordinary meeting of the 29th of July 2025
Draft notes of the meeting of Minting and Gautby Parish Council held on the 29th of July 2025 at Minting Village Hall at 7.00pm. To be confirmed at the next meeting
Present: - Cllrs E.B.Clark [EC] chairman and acting clerk, H.Padfield [HP], J.Stuchfield [JSt], W.Hughes [WH], L. Bury [LB] J. Saville [JSa], A Cadman [AC] and 6 members of the public. District Cllr W. Gray and County Cllr N. Oliver
7.00 pm Public forum.
A resident expressed their frustration about his belief that a serving member of the PC had objected to having any improvements done to the culvert onto the Green, as well as citing the amount of time that had passed since the flood in Minting (Storm Babet 16/10/2023) and his perceived view of nothing having been done as of yet by the PC to improve water capacity through the bridge on the Green including why checking services running under the bridge hadn’t yet been commissioned. Another Green resident made the point that they wanted anything done on the bridge to be done safely particularly as the Section 12 notice completed after the flood hadn’t mentioned anything about the services. Some, at times, heated discussion then occurred between members of the PC and 2 residents re the above points until the 10-minute public forum time was called by the Chair: EC. Points made in the discussion were picked up later in the meeting. [ see points 8a & b]
7.10 pm Formal council meeting.
[1] Chairman’s welcome and apologies for absence.
Apologies from Cllr. J.Padfield due to harvest work.
Acceptance proposed LB seconded JSt. Carried unanimously.
[2] Declaration of interests.
None declared
[3] To confirm, or amend and sign the draft notes of the meeting of the 29th of July 2025.
Proposed JS seconded JSt. Carried unanimously.
[4] Matters arising from the minutes and activity since the last meeting.
Discussed later in the Meeting
[5] Correspondence
Notification to EC about an on-line Police seminar which nobody from the PC attended.
[6] Reports from District/County Councillors, if any.
Cllr. W. Gray’s report to be circulated including Local Government reorganisation, Skegness beach award, Magna Vitae, online safety, farmers markets and community grants. Cllr. N. Oliver discussed infrastructure improvements recently completed in Minting by LCC Highways Dept. Re-surfacing of Silver St. was scheduled for 2027-28.
After the updates L.B made the point about how positive the ‘Fix my Street’ service had proved to be. Cllr. Oliver expressed her thanks for the feedback.
[7] Finance
a) To approve payment: - L.A.L.C Audit Fee £198.00
Proposed AC seconded WH. Carried unanimously.
b) To approve a reconciliation of the Lloyds Bank a/c.
EC informed the meeting that the original cheque for payment for insurance had gone astray in the mail and that the new payment was not showing on the last bank statement. JSt re-checked all figures with EC. LB asked about the amount of precept figure available for the current financial year.
Proposed JS seconded HP. Carried unanimously. JSa signed the statement.
[8] Parish Maintenance:
a] To consider a proposal by Cllr. Stutchfield that a vote be taken as to whether the PC should proceed or not with proposals to carry out work to increase the capacity of The Green Culvert.
If the proposal is voted against proceeding, this matter will not be discussed again for at least 6 months [ following standard order rule.]
JSt raised the point that as person responsible for finances in the PC there was insufficient monies available within the budget to carry out repairs given the approximate costs and, from that, advised against the PC going ahead with repairs. LB asked that as the bridge was a private bridge would there be any other finance available? Both EC and JS explained that nobody admits to ownership/responsibility of the bridge so any additional funding was unlikely. WH then raised the possibility of approaching Hatton with the view that as a community gesture they may agree to a financial contribution even though the time frame for applying for monies was past.
Some discussion then occurred about quotes and possible costings obtained so far.
b] If the proposed vote is for proceeding, then the council to consider a quote from Cadmap Ltd [ if available] to carry out a utilities survey of the culvert{s] to identify accurately the position and depth of the underground services.
EC clarified that the vote in the first instance was whether the PC should proceed or not with further action on the Green.
A vote was taken , with no votes for ceasing action, and six votes in favour of continuing as finances allow.
HP asked if or not residents on the Green had been asked if or not they wanted any further works carried out. EC explained that the issue impacted on other residents in the village.
EC will arrange for a quote re costings about identifying the location of services running under the bridge and then call an additional meeting to discuss if or not to go ahead with the quote.
Agreed unanimously.
c] Council to note and comment on recent work by LCC to the ‘Cornerways’ culvert and Pinfold Lane culvert, and also minor road surface repairs.
An additional pipe has been added to the ‘Cornerways’ culvert by LCC which will increase capacity. Repairs have been completed to Pinfold lane culvert and the road surface.
d] Repair to Defibrillator light
EC has emailed an electrician but the repair hasn’t been completed as yet.
[9] Any other business (discussion only) and matters for the next meeting.
WH defended in part the comment made by a resident about timescales for flood improvements in the village but expressed that she was very pleased the PC had voted to go ahead with obtaining quotes to locate services running under the bridge on the Green. She also informed the PC that she had received a ‘spam ’email purporting to be from EC. Some discussion occurred about this issue which has happened before.
AC gave feedback on the works carried out between YNOT and Brooke House which included cleaning out the drain running behind the church.
WH and AC gave updates about CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) meeting, and also raised the issue of indemnity insurance for CERT members. EC to enquire with Gallagher Insurance.
LB asked if there were any developments about the change of speed limit in Top Minting to 30MPH. EC referred this back to Cllr. Oliver.
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 8:00pm.