Annual Parish Meeting Minutes

SALTFLEETBY ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 2026

Parish Council Report 2026

Good evening everyone and welcome to the Saltfleetby Annual Parish Meeting, 2026.

I’d like to start the meeting with a list our accomplishments for the last year and to be honest, on paper it doesn’t look like we’ve achieved an awful lot, it does make one wonder quite just what we’ve been discussing, but anyway here we are and I can assure you all that a lot does go on behind the scenes on a daily basis.

The annual litter pick has taken place and was a great success.  We had several volunteers assisting and we hope to have more regular litter picks and would welcome a few more volunteers to help out.

We have added two more litter bins along the Main Road and a third one has been ordered the east end of the village.  I’m pleased to say that these bins are actively being used. The bins are emptied on a regular basis by Parish Council members, free of charge.  Also, one of the dog poo bins is emptied by one of the members of the Parish Council as ELDC considers it unsafe to go up the particular road with their truck.

The volunteer vehicle speed checks have proved to be very successful in catching several speeding vehicles and details were forwarded to the Police.  Unfortunately, the operator of the speed camera now has to wear a body cam due to verbally abusive behaviour from several motorists, a PCSO has witnessed this happening on more than one occasion.

We continue to monitor the condition of all the footpaths throughout the village and trimming back overhanging bushes and hedges where necessary.

We also continue to monitor the conditions of the roads and report any problems when required.

The defibrillators are checked throughout the village on a fortnightly basis, again voluntarily by  members of the Parish Council and we have identified the need for another two units to provide the maximum cover for the village.

We are hoping to replace some of the LCC village name signs over the next twelve months as some are in quite a bad way.

We have had an issue during darker mornings/late afternoons at the crossroads with the lack of lighting making it very dangerous for the children alighting the school buses and having to cross the road, this was partly due to a missing street light which we have now had reinstalled. This street light has also been identified by Lincolnshire Constabulary as the optimum location for the proposed ANPR camera.

The speed signs were working well and we were receiving excellent data proving their effectiveness but unfortunately a whole camera plus pole was stolen, a set of batteries and the solar panels from another site were stolen and a set of batteries from a third camera were also stolen, however we were recommended not to put them back in service straight away due to the risk of the event happening again.  We got in touch with Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership with regard to the pole which had been disc ground off and they eventually replaced it.  We removed the partly vandalised signs and placed them in secure storage and these will be going back up hopefully within the next fortnight when two new pole extensions should have arrived.

The willow trees at St Clements Church grave yard entrance have been pollarded and the council have shared the cost of this 50/50 with the owners of the converted Church.

The Village Newsletter has been well received by the majority in the village and editor Chris Stone welcomes contributions of articles, pictures etc. Any of these should be sent to: christopher.stone@saltfleetbyparishcouncil.gov.uk

Many people in this village keep an eye out for neighbours who may be struggling or isolated, the cost-of-living crisis is still a problem and there could well be people who will face real difficulties over the coming year, so please don’t hesitate to let the Parish Council Clerk or ELDC know in confidence if you have any concerns.

I would also like to thank Councillor Danny McNally, Councillor Paul Rickett and Councillor Bayleigh Robinson for their unwavering support as both District and County Councillors over the past year.

Whilst I have your attention, I’d like to briefly touch on a recent social media post generated by a resident on one of the village Facebook pages, regarding the possibility of an ANPR camera in the village.  Within the post it was stated, and I quote “around £7000 of the precept (your council tax) money to purchase an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) camera”. Now, whilst I am not at liberty to enter into a full-blown debate regarding an ANPR camera at this point in time, I would, however like to shed some light on just what your precept money is currently spent on.  The precept each year for this village is £9000, which roughly equates to an average of £36 per household, per year and the Parish Council have chosen not to increase this for a number of years. As a Parish Council we need to retain quite a large sum of this money to cover the cost of an election should we ever find ourselves in the situation whereby one is required. The annual salary for the clerk to the Parish Council is paid from precept money and also covers any overtime the clerk has had to work over and above her contracted hours. You may ask yourselves, why does the clerk to a relatively small village Parish Council need to work over and above her contracted 30 hours per month? Well, what the residents don’t see is the amount of Freedom of Information requests we receive, which the clerk spends an inordinate amount of overtime compiling and issuing, meaning the Parish Council have to pay the clerk overtime and the money for said overtime is taken from your precept – is this a good use of your money? I think we can all agree that the cost of such requests does not benefit the entire village, and as a Parish Council we are constantly mindful of the appropriate use of your money to benefit the whole village.

Historically, Saltfleetby Parish Council have spent (in my opinion) far too much time discussing things rather than getting the job done. Also, some of our meetings have been rather too rowdy recently to put it politely – I want to assure the Councillors and the public that this situation will not continue. I will be asking people to leave the meeting if they can’t be civil and if they refuse to leave I will close the meeting.  Whilst I appreciate there are certain rules, regulations and processes we must (and do) follow, I personally am in favour of moving things forward in a timely manner whilst doing things for the greater good of the village, not just for one person or a handful of households, but for us all. This is our village and there is no sensible reason why we can’t all work together to look after our village and those who dwell within it. So, please if anyone has any ideas that you feel will benefit our village, no matter how big or small, please approach or contact one of the Councillors or contact the clerk by email.  clerk@saltfleetbyparishcouncil.gov.uk