May 2025 Minutes
Thurlby Parish Council
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Thurlby Parish Council
(Min 25-01) held on Wednesday the 7 May 2025 at 8.30 p.m. in the Lawrance Park Social Room
Present: Councillors: N Bradley, S Broadbent, H Daines, (Presiding) L Day, B Gunner, P Haley,
M Keene, L Lowe, and A Thomas
Residents: none
Others: Bernard Champness – Clerk.
Open Forum
There were no members of the public present and there was no Open Forum. The meeting was formally opened at 20.25
1. To elect a Chairperson and to receive the Chairperson’s Declaration of Acceptance of Office and if not then received to decide when it shall be received
1.1 Hayley Daines was the only nomination. It was resolved Cllr Daines be duly elected as Chair for the following year. The Acceptance of Office was signed by the Chair and witnessed by the Clerk
2. To elect a Vice Chairperson
2.1 Stephen Broadbent was the only nomination, and it was resolved that Cllr Broadbent should be Vice Chair for the following year.
3. To appoint representatives for Local Charities and organisations –
It was resolved that the following would be appointed:
3.1 Lawrance Park Community Association - Cllrs A Thomas & L Lowe.
3.2 Causeway Charities – Cllrs R Bill and L Day
3.3 Anne Fisher Charities – Cllrs S Broadbent & R Bill
3.4 Churchyard Committee – Cllrs L Lowe and N Bradley
4. To appoint signatories for cheques and a Press Officer
4.1 Resolved: Cllrs H Daines, A Thomas, and R Bill be appointed signatories. The Clerk should remain as a signatory but will not sign cheques which is in line with the Financial Regulations. The Clerk Bernard Champness be appointed the Press Officer.
5. To adopt the Standing Orders, Financial Regulations & Risk Assessment and to consider the further inspection of the cemetery/headstones
5.1 The Standing Orders had been amended and circulated to all Councillors. The Financial Regulations had not been amended. Resolved that they be adopted. It was agreed that the Risk Assessment would be looked at by the Chair and the Clerk who would report back. The headstones would be inspected by the Clerk and Cllr Thomas.
6. To consider whether the Cemetery charges should be increased,
6.1 It was agreed that there would be no increase in the fees this year
7. Apologies for absence, acceptance of Apologies & noting of resignations received
7.1 Apologies were received from R Bill (personal) Resolved that the apologies be accepted.
8. Declaration of Interest – To receive Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary and Other Interests, as set out in Chapter 7 of the Localism Act 2011 and the nature of those interests relating to any Agenda item
8.1 No one declared any Disclosable Pecuniary and Other Interests on any matter on the agenda.
9. Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on the 26th March 2025 (Min24-10)
9.1 Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on the 26 March 2025 be signed by the Chair as a correct record.
10. To Co-opt a Councillor
10.1 Although the vacancy had been advertised both on the noticeboard and website no one had come forward to be co-opted. It was agreed this matter be dealt with next month
11. To receive a report from the County and District Councillors on matters relating to Thurlby
11.1 Former County Councillor Reid had presented a report at the Annual Parish Meeting and that report can be found with the minutes of that meeting
11.2 District Cllr Dobson had sent a report which was dealt with at the Annual Parish Meeting held earlier this evening but there were 2 matters that related to this meeting and are below:
1. At the local election, the new county councillor for our district, which includes Thurlby, Northorpe, Obthorpe and Kates Bridge and represents us at County Council is Cllr Kenneth Redfern of the Reform Party.
2. I have requested that green bins are collected on the same day throughout Thurlby, but Northorpe Lane is still in alternate weeks, that is not the same as the rest of Thurlby.
12. Clerk’s Report and correspondence received
12.1 The Clerks Report had been circulated and explained that he had received various emails from NALC, ICCM and various playground equipment providers but if anyone wished to see copies they can be forwarded on. He had received the additional correspondence as follows:
1. An email from a resident complaining about the poor state of the garden at empty bungalow at the bottom of the High Street. Cllr Lowe would see if she could obtain the details of a family member who owned the property and if she could we would write a letter asking for the garden to be tidied up
2. An email from a resident who has complained about the letter we had sent objecting to a planning application. This had been circulated, and advice had been received from LALC. It was agreed that we write back to say that the complaint had been noted but we as a council would not be taking any further action. Cllr Thomas declared a personal interest in this matter as his son lived opposite the development.
3. An email from Nat West Bank asking if we wanted to earn more interest on the funds we had. It was agreed that the Clerk would see what interest was available and if we had access to the funds if we ever needed to. Once this was done he would report back to the council.
4. Although not about emails received the Clerk was wondering if we could now purchase the new laptop, the new noticeboard for High Street and 2 more Tommy silhouettes. These had all been agreed to at a previous meeting. It was agreed that these items could be purchased.
5. On another matter now we had the new website up and running do we still need to have the Clerk attending some training to deal with correspondence as has been suggested by the Webmaster. The alternative is to carry on with the present method. It was agreed that we keep with the present arrangement for the time being.
6. It appeared that quite a few people are having difficulties in locating the new website. It was suggested that there might be a link from the old site to the new one. The Clerk explained that Ian who dealt with the old website had closed it down as he no longer was paying a fee for that domain. Cllr Day suggested she write to Ian to see if between them they could set up a link directing people to the new website. This was agreed would be the way hopefully to resolve the issue
13. Planning applications:
13.1 To consider any Planning Applications received – none to note
13.2 To note Planning Applications approved: S25/0537 - Proposal: Store for hay and straw at Cross Farm, Park Wood Road, Thurlby. The Clerk explained that this was an application that had arrived whilst he was away but had sent to all Councillors asking if the matter could be dealt with by giving him delegated authority to respond or calling a special meeting. It was agreed that he be given delegated authority and on the day he was going to write to South Kesteven District Council he had received notice that the plan had been approved. An email was sent to the Planning Officer asking why the decision had been made before we had responded and well before the date we had to reply. To date no reply had been received. It was agreed that the Clerk should continue to try and obtain a response.
13.3 To note any Planning Applications refused or withdrawn: S25/0283 - refusal of prior notification details for: Conversion of agricultural buildings to provide 8.no dwellings Fen Road Northorpe Fen
13.4 To note any Application appealed or any decision made regarding an appeal: none to note
14. To confirm Expenditure
£40.00 – B M Champness (use of home as office)
£556.93– B M Champness (salary)
£51.40 – Elaine Reynolds (salary)
£54.121 – BT (broadband charges) (DD)
£306.00 – Bourne Skip Hire (weekly bin collection charges x 5)
£430.16 – Zurich Insurance (Insurance premium)
£2000.00 – Lawrance Park Community Association (half Grant monies)
£1000.00 – St Firmins Churchyard (half Grant monies)
£20.80 – St Firmins PCC (contribution to Naturehood website)
£105.00 – ICCM (Annual fee)
£3.40 – B M Champness (postage)
£15.60 – Bluecom Services (Annual domain name fee)
[ ] denotes those payments paid between meetings, which have been approved by the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the Parish Council or at a previous meeting but not listed
14.1 Resolved: that the payments be approved. It was pointed out that the correct premium was £549.62 but this would not be paid until we had a response to the questions raised by the Clerk
14.2 Three more invoices had been received since the agenda was posted and these are:
£114.50 – Thurlby PCC (insert in Village Link)
£130.00 – C S Harris (cemetery maintenance)
£100.00 – P Flynn (compost and bedding plants)
The Clerk explained that we had agreed to pay a grant to the Open Gardens which we agreed to pay in the new financial year. The agreed sum was £300.00
Resolved: that all these payments be paid as well
15. To discuss the accounts for April and for the bank reconciliation to be signed as a correct record
15.1 The Clerk has prepared bank reconciliation for April 2025 which had been circulated in advance. He also sent reports from Scribe showing what money had been spent or received as well as a budget report. Resolved: that the bank reconciliations be signed by the Chair as a correct record.
16. Audit of 2024/25 Accounts
16.1 To approve the Annual Governance Statement 2023-24. Resolved: that the Annual Governance statement be approved after this was considered in detail.
16.2 To accept the Accounting Statement 2023-24 as a true record. Resolved: that the Accounting Statement for 2022/23 be accepted as a true record.
16.3 To sign the Annual Return and submit for Audit. Resolved: that the Annual Return be signed by the Chair and submitted for Audit
17. To consider and agree the Insurance cover and whether we wish to include or remove anything from the schedule
17.1 The Clerk had sent Councillors copies of the Insurance Schedule prior to the meeting to enable them to consider the insurance cover that we had. The Clerk explained that he had already written to Zurich asking them to amend the schedule to remove the new noticeboard as it was already included but the value needed to be amended. We only had three other noticeboards in the village not 4 and he wanted to know why the office furniture was included as this belonged to the Clerk not the Council and would be covered by his own insurance.
18. To discuss the purchase of a Professional Office 365 licence for £115.20 per year.
and to pay Bluecom Services a fee of £48.50 for the DNS support
18.1 Since the last meeting the Clerk has been in contact with the company assisting us Bluecom Services. They wanted to access the laptop to see if they could do whatever was necessary to ensure that our present 365 licence would allow us to use the new domain name for our emails. Whilst they had control of the laptop the Clerk could see what they were doing. It appears that with the different from present 365 licence we could not have an email address which did not comply with Microsoft unless we went through GoDaddy who would obtain the new email address for you and charge you. Bluecom had already purchased the new domain name for us so it would be a waste of time and money to use another company. The Business licence did not have those restrictions. The cost of the basic business licence would be £115.20 per year. Our preset licence expires in June 2025. There was also the added matter of the DNS hosting which is where they hold the domain name and point it to the website. The support for this is £48.50 per year. The Clerk wrote to LCC to see if they could offer this service and if it was free. They could not offer that service. It was agreed that if we needed to purchase a new Business licence then this was approved.
19. To discuss if we require to sign up to Bluecom Services for a support programme.
19.1 The Clerk wanted this matter discussing further as we were now being asked to pay a fee of £58.40 for them setting up the laptop. There normal hourly charge is £150 however, as promised over the telephone, they will do this for us at the discounted rate which is £58.40. The Clerk was concerned in that if he purchased a new laptop they would have to do the work all over again and wondered what we were covered for if we paid an annual support fee, The accounts department were asked to send me details which they did, and this is their response:
We offer a basic monthly support package focused on local machine maintenance and general IT assistance. While you may not require ongoing support now, here’s an outline of the options available:
Based on our standard offering, the monthly support package would typically include:
• IT support £15 / monthly include: Software Support (Assistance with installation, configuration, and updates for commonly used software), User Support (Helpdesk - Remote support), Peripheral Support (Basic troubleshooting for printers, scanners, monitors, etc.)
• Domain Name £1.10 / monthly
• DNS hosting £4.10 / monthly
• MS Business standard £ 11.42 / monthly
• MS Business standard support £2.06 / monthly
Summary £33.68 monthly ex. VAT
If you choose not to go with a support plan, and require assistance in the future, our standard ad-hoc rate is: £150 per hour (ex. VAT)
Our goal is to provide consistent, proactive support to help ensure everything runs smoothly on your end
It was agreed that Cllr Day would draft an appropriate response to resolve what was considered confusing
20. To consider the data received from the reactive sign
20.1 Cllr Bill had submitted before the meeting the data he had obtained from the Reactive Sign
During March and April, the radar unit was positioned on the A15 at Thurlby recording both north and southbound traffic..
The northbound results during March would indicate a rise of 9% and 8% in daily traffic for the 5/7-day periods compared to March last year and reflected in peak counts up 10% & 6% for AM & PM periods. The peak times remain as expected - 08.00 - 09.00 & 17.00 -18.00. The average speed is slightly down at 33.60mph with a 25% reduction in those above the limit which may be the result of the new crossing. The average speed above the limit '45mph' is similar to last year while the maximum speed of 90mph recorded at 00.50hrs is the same as previous.
During April the southbound results show a rise of 9% and 10% in daily traffic for the 5/7-day periods compared to April last year. Peak counts for AM & PM periods remain very similar indicating the increase in traffic is spread throughout the day. The peak times remain as before - 07.00 - 08.00 & 16.00 -17.00. Both the average speed at 34.2mph and a maximum speed of 90mph recorded at midnight are also very similar to last year. Likewise, the average speed above the limit is the same with those travelling above the limit slightly down. Overall, even though there has been an increase in traffic the times and speeds remain the same.
Thanks to be recorded to Cllr Bill for undertaking this task every month.
21. To receive an update on the Cemetery to include grass cutting, maintenance and burial fees
21.1 Cllr Thomas said he had been down to the Cemetery, and all was in order. Chris Harris had cut the grass. He had noticed that the war memorial needed to be repaired/renovated, and he would undertake this task. He also explained that the grave diggers were not filling the dyke, which was piped, with the excess soil but placing it on the adjacent field. It was suggested we write to the undertakes in Bourne to ask that the soil is placed in the piped dyke.
22. For any Councillor to produce a written report of any meeting that he/she has attended as a representative of the Parish Council
22.1 Cllr Bill recorded the following regarding a meeting he had attended:
Cllr Broadbent & Cllr Bill attended on 15th April 2025 a meeting of the Anne Fisher Trust. Items discussed included matters arising from the previous meeting and the finance statement.
The following actions were agreed: -
It was agreed to advertise the Anne Fisher Charity support again in the Village Link magazine in either the June or July addition.
Rev Bailey will contact Almond Court regarding the planting of a Christmas tree and also approach the school to check if the Charity could be of assistance
23. To consider what information should be placed in the Village Link
23.1 It was agreed that the Clerk would draft a report for the Village Link. This would be sent to all for approval before going to print.
24. Members Questions - reminder only questions given to the clerk a week in advance will be answered.
24.1 Cllr Thomas said that he felt it appropriate to record our thanks to Cllr Lowe for placing the Tommy silhouettes on the Green to commemorate VE Day
24.2 There being no other business the meeting was duly closed at 21.19
25. The date of the next meeting – to be held on Wednesday 4 June 2025 at 7.30 p.m. in the Lawrance Park Social Room, Thurlby