April 2024 Annual Parish Meeting
Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting
held in the Village Hall on Tuesday 2nd April 2024
Those Present : Councillors S Knight,(Chair), R Dannatt, T Wright T Bentham, P Wilks, K Stark, M Turner, M Wright, G Lovatt, C Tym
In Attendance: Cllr A Lawrence, Cllr O Bierley & 14 members of the public
1. To receive apologies and reasons for absence none received
Chair Cllr S Knight opened the meeting and gave a report on the projects undertaken by Keelby Parish Council.
Chair’s report
Welcome to the Annual Parish Meeting of Keelby Parish Council and thank you for taking the time to come here this evening. Your Parish Council have been working hard over the past year to bring improvements to our village, for the benefit of us all.
Current Achievements include the completion of our Play Area Project, repurposing of the Old Tennis Courts, and creation of the keep fit area. The success of which can be measured by their usage. The Net costs, so far came in at £ 68,979.00
We were able to keep costs down due to the numerous hours given to the project by various councillors (approx. 199hrs, and support from suppliers).
Funding was obtained by grants from:-
West Lindsey District Council £ 20,000
Lottery £ 10,000
Various donations £ 4,036
Keelby Parish Council £ 34,943
An open event is planned once the last few final items are completed, watch out for this.
The bus shelter on Yarborough Road has been refurbished with help from the Councillor Volunteer Scheme.
The Community Speed Watch scheme is continuing to still be a huge success.
The neighbourhood plan has been completed and accepted by West Lindsey District Council. This was a mammoth task, and our thanks go to all who helped with this.
Our attempts to fill the vacant seat on the council have so far been unsuccessful. If you are aware of a possible candidate, please let us know.
We continue to support to the Youth Club, Library, Village Hall and Sports Association and this year we have signed up to a maintenance program for the defibrillators around the village.
Our efforts to replace the Post Office Service to the village have so far been unsuccessful. However, should an alternative present itself we will gladly pursue it.
We continue the review of Council Policies.
We will continue to put pressure on West Lindsey and Lincolnshire councils to repair roads and pavements, and to obtain a speed reduction on the A18, and ask that any incidents on that road be reported to police, to back up our request.
Unfortunately, our attempts to resolve the issue in respect of an extension to the grave yard, have so far, been unsuccessful, however we will continue to look for ways to resolve this important issue for the village
Our thanks go to the members of the parish council who have given their time to address the overgrowth on the footpaths around the village green. It is hoped that householders whose property bound by our green areas will help by keeping these areas tidy, and their overhanging hedges trimmed back. Thereby improving the overall look of the village.
The Year Ahead
We have been fortunate in obtaining a large village retail grant of £5924.90 which we have used to fund Litter bins and an additional Defibrillator. New village signs and electricity to the village green is in the process of being investigated.
A revenue grant of £ 2972.74 has been obtained to fund some equipment for future events of the village green and Village Galas.
We are aware of the financial constraints on us all, at this time, we will continue to put pressure on West Lindsey, Lincolnshire Councils and the Police to justify the contributions made by our residents to their funds. We must also make sure that the funds we receive are carefully spent, with a close eye to the Budget Controls we have set.
We aspire to be a Pro Active, Visual and Listening Council. As such we would welcome you to come along to our monthly meetings where a 10-minute segment is on the agenda for you to make any comments. If you are unable to make the meetings our clerk would be happy to bring to the meeting any comments made by e mail prior to the meeting. To this end we now open the meeting to you, as your thoughts and ideas are important to us.
A resident and his son spoke at length about how, if it is approved the Keelby Football club development plan would enhance the facilities at Keelby. It was highlighted that the all-weather surface would enable training to continue outdoors throughout the year when now some matches are cancelled because of the wet conditions. Keelby United FC feel like they are currently at a crossroads and the parish council are in a position to decide if the club with thrive and continue to offer football into the future or if it ultimately folds. Keelby United FC have 2 senior teams and 8 junior teams, and they also support 4 other junior teams from the surrounding area. The club raises the money to support these teams through team and club sponsorship and without this the club could not continue. Some of the costs of running these teams were highlighted. Sponsorship is possible because the teams at Keelby are successful and professional. They consider themselves very lucky as they are considered to be one of the best teams in the area, but they do need to continue to develop and improve their facilities. If the plan is approved by Keelby PC it is hoped it will be completed for the 25-26 season. The KSA fully support the development plan, they understand the position and know that the future of Keelby United football club is fragile without this development. They are also aware that without Keelby United FC there would be challenges for the KSA as they would be without their funding. It was confirmed that following the last submission to Keelby PC the paper has been revised and that it is now a phased development, and they are now asking for the first level to enable the club to progress to level 6. The paper that is being presented at the parish council meeting tonight highlights the proposal in more detail but basically it includes fencing round the first team pitch and flood lights. There are also assessing the options of installing a 3g pitch to replace the grass pitch. This pitch will assist in putting the club in financial sustainable situation as extra revenue will be received through hiring it out. Without this income they are completely dependant on sponsorship. Their fears are that without these facilities players and sponsors would leave and go to clubs that can offer these facilities. They ended they report by asking for support from Keelby PC. They presented a petition with 543 signatures. Cllr S Knight asked if it was highlighted how many of these signatures are from Keelby residents. Cllr T Wright confirmed that 18% of signatures were from Keelby, 49% from the Keelby catchment area giving a total of 67% from Keelby and surrounding areas.
The chair of KSA also wanted to endorse what had been said and confirmed that the tennis, bowls and cricket club all fully support the development plan.
At the Parish meeting on 5th April 2023 there had been 2 items to follow up. Overhanging hedges and parking on verges. Cllr S Knight said that the Parish Council will continue to ask residents to cut back their hedges and not to park on verges, but we have no power to enforce it.
The meeting closed at 7:20