Minutes of Sibsey Annual Parish Meeting 31st May 2023
Minutes of the Sibsey Annual Parish Meeting Held Wednesday 31st May 2023 at Northlands Village Hall, Sibsey Northlands
PRESENT Two members of the public which included one member of Sibsey Parish Council
The clerk of Sibsey Parish Council was also in attendance who was present to take notes of the meeting.
Sibsey Parish Councillor Ian Watts welcomed everyone to the meeting and relayed that this was a meeting for the parishioners of the village and was only hosted by the Parish Council.
1. AGREEMENT FOR CHAIRMAN OF SIBSEY PARISH COUNCIL TO CHAIR THE 2023 SIBSEY ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
It was proposed, seconded, and resolved that Sibsey Parish Council Chairman Cllr I Watts would chair the 2023 Sibsey Annual Parish Meeting.
2. NOTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD THURSDAY 26th MAY 2022 TO BE APPROVED AS THE MINUTES
After time was allocated for the notes to be read it was it was proposed and resolved to accept these notes as a true and accurate record and thereby signed by the residing Chairman.
3. REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS TO BE GIVEN BY INVITED GUESTS
a. Representative from St Margaret’s Parochial Church Council
Monica Everard, Church Warden for St Margaret’s gave a short report relating to the church.
b. Representative from Sibsey Free School
The Headmaster, Graeme Wright was unable to attend the meeting but sent a report that was read out by the Chairman – See Appendix A
c. ELDC Councillor Neil Jones
No apologies had been received or a report forwarded to be read out at the meeting.
d. LCC/ELDC Councillor Tom Ashton
No apologies had been received or a report forwarded to be read out at the meeting.
e Police
There was no representation from the Police or any report sent to be read out at the meeting.
f. Reports from any other Outside Bodies
Gary Limb, Chairman of John Woulds Charity sent his apologies and forwarded a report that was read by the residing Chair – See Appendix B
4. SIBSEY PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Cllr Watts relayed that it has been a very busy year for the Parish Council.
This year’s precept was high due to the large geographical area the Council cover and the many assets owned. The Parish Council try to do their best for the residents of the village.
Work that has been done over the past year has been the Bus Shelter at Stock Hill finally rebuilt following the incident that occurred back in 2020. Along with the Toddler Area in the Community Park being refurbished, significant work within the Burial Ground which includes new paths to the Memorial Gardens.
Much work is planned for the forthcoming year which includes all the litter bins owned by the Parish Council to be refurbished.
All issues relating to Highways and Footpaths are reported to the Local Authority but alas the work is either delayed or poorly dealt with. All the Parish Council can do is to keep on at the relevant bodies to ensure that these are known about and push to get them rectified.
There have been several planning applications during the year. Alas it is very frustrating in getting our voices heard and our local opinions considered at East Lindsey District Council.
The Parish Council are looking at having more control over assets owned by either East Lindsey District Council or Lincolnshire County Council to enable that more of the resident’s Council Tax is spent in the village.
The Jubilee Celebration was well attended despite the poor weather as well as the Annual Christmas Fayre of which the Parish Council are hoping to do more community events in the future.
Volunteer Training for the Community Speed Watch has been held and once sites have been approved by Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, they will be out hoping to reduce the speed in the village.
We welcomed Councillor Steven Barker onto the Parish Council but more bodies are required until we are at full capacity.
Councillor Watts finally thanked the Parish Councillors and the Clerk for their help, support and hard work throughout the year.
5. SIBSEY COMMUNITY AWARD
This year’s recipient of the 2023 Sibsey Community Award is to be presented to Mrs Monica Everard for her hard work and contribution to the village.
6. FOR ANY MEMBERS OF THE PARISH TO SPEAK, ASK QUESTIONS OR MAKE ANY STATEMENTS AND TO CONSIDER ANY MATTERS THAT MAY BE RAISED
There were no speeches, questions or statements made.
There being no further business, the Chairman thanked all for attending and the meeting finished at 7.58pm.
Appendix A
Representative from Sibsey Free School
This year, Sibsey Free Primary School had its long-awaited Ofsted Inspection (October 2022) and it was felt that the inspection report was a very warmly written document, reflecting lots of the achievements of the children, staff, parents, governors and parishioners of Sibsey. I feel very lucky that as a community we are all linked together as a big family unit and we work together for the best interests of each other. Although not everything is always perfect (as with families!) there is a huge collective push to make things the best that they can be. We continue to be well supported by the Parish Councillors, both individually and collectively with events, contact and ideas, planting greenery outside the school and much more. We have been in contact with LCC regarding a disabled parking bay and dropped kerb outside the school gates and it is likely that an advisory disabled bay will be painted with a dropped kerb being added. This may be within the next 6 months but timescales to be confirmed.
The housing development continues to pick up pace and it is likely that within the coming months we may see further applications to the school. There has been no impact yet on school numbers but we anticipate that as the phases are completed the push towards a one-form entry school will accelerate. In the meantime, Chestnut Homes have very kindly agreed to flatten the land adjacent to the school as it was not in a usable order. Chestnut Homes have also worked with groups of children on projects such as children designing bee-friendly gardens which were then installed and they have made donations of books on World Book Day.
Finances are still a problem within the sector and the ongoing strike action does not look to be settling quickly. Strikes have not directly affected pupils or families at Sibsey although we as a staff are in support of the general strike action.
Pupil numbers continue to grow although the school will lose a large cohort in July 2023 with thirty pupils leaving. It is anticipated that we will have at least twenty-five and potentially twenty-eight new starters for Reception in September 2023 which is excellent as it bucks the trend of a declining birth rate for the area.
We will be welcoming new staff and pupils to the school and look forward to the future although we will be saying goodbye to some key members of staff. It should be noted that Angela Sykes is retiring and we would like to invite representatives of the Parish Council to celebrate in her long and wonderful service to the school.
Thank you for everything that you do to make Sibsey School (and village) a lovely place.
Graeme Wright
Appendix B
Report from John Woulds Charity
The John Would Charity is a small local charity trust whose mission is to provide compassionate financial support for Sibsey Parish residents on those occasions when a little extra help is needed to make ends meet.
We are registered with the Charity Commission. We normally have three trustees, however following the recent resignation of Angela Saxon who has moved from the area we are down to two. If you are interested in becoming a trustee please contact Mr John Wigner, The Gales, Frithville Road, Sibsey who is our secretary
We meet on as necessary basis to discuss any requests we receive for financial help. All requests for financial help are given careful consideration, the grants we provide are not repayable.
In the last financial year, we helped six individuals with grants amounting to £1,383.
If you know of anyone who could benefit from approaching us, please ask them to contact the secretary, our details are also in The Bridge magazine.
Gary Limb