Annual Parish Meeting Agendas

SALTFLEETBY PARISH MEETING 2024

Parish Council Report 2024

The regular business of our Council involves attempts to get roads and footpaths repaired, reduce speeding through the village, the maintenance of St Clement’s churchyard and the Jubilee boxes and verges. We are invited to review planning applications and we liaise with our County and District Councillors on issues that concern our parishioners. A part of your Council tax (the precept) pays for these services but the Councillors are all volunteers. We also administer the Gayton Wind Farm Fund. This can’t be used for anything that we have a statutory duty to provide, for example St Clement’s Churchyard, but we can use it for things like Newsletters, Village signs, Radar speed signs and Dog bins etc.

We are open to Parishioners suggesting new projects that the Parish Council can undertake or help with. One of these projects proposed by our newest Parish Councillor Kate Marshall, is the organising of a Village Community Park with help from parishioners and interested groups. Facebook group:  Saltfleetby Community Park.

Highway repairs and resurfacing are ongoing projects in the Village and the Footpath from St Peters cross roads to the Double bends at the west end of the village has now been completely replaced. Representatives of Lincolnshire County Council Highways will be liaising with Councillor McNally to assess the condition of the footpath at the East end of the village with a view to repairing the sections in most need in the near future.

I am sure that many of you will be aware of the worrying length of waiting times for Ambulances and this problem is showing very little signs of improvement. We have three defibrillators in the village already, one at the Prussian Queen, the second at Marshlands and the third at the Snooker Club Hall. We are in the process of fitting a fourth defibrillator at the St Peters cross roads area.

We have a mannequin to practice CPR and defibrillator trainer, if any Parishioners would like to organize any training sessions, please contact the Parish Council Clerk (clerk@saltfleetbyparishcouncil.gov.uk). In the case of a cardiac arrest minutes are critical and we would like all residents to feel confident that they could use the defibrillators or administer CPR in an emergency. If you dial 999 you may not be told to go and fetch a defibrillator if you live more than 500 metres from the nearest machine, but if you have a neighbour or a member of your household who can go and fetch one, please tell the ambulance service and you should be given the code.

The Radar Speed Signs are now all installed and starting to provide useful data, some of which will be shared in the next Parish Magazine which goes to every household in the village. The footpath replacement at the west end meant that the signs were set at speeds lower that the 40 mph limit for much of the time until the middle of April. These have now been set to 40mph again. We have some issues from trees that will require some trimming back, close to the speed sign up the east end of the village near the old gatehouse.

The Community Speed Gun is still in operation and has already caught several motorists exceeding the speed limit. However, we do need volunteers to do the training and then go out as part of a team to monitor traffic through the village. The Road Safety Partnership vans that monitor speeding are making regular visits to the village but they are often visible from a long way back so we are not sure how effective they are, however at the last appearance of the van outside Louth Town Football Club no speeding was recorded in the two hours it was there. This may be due partly to the speed sign in place there.

Extra Dog Waste Bins are being placed in areas of need in the village and are being regularly emptied by ELDC.

We have Councillors who have put themselves out to support our village and move projects forward but in truth all the Councillors who give their time up so willingly deserve thanks. We still require more Councillors so we have a full compliment.

The Parish Council is now publishing the Newsletter four times a year and will be happy if Villagers feel they have contributions for articles in future issues. Chris Stone is the Magazine Editor and contributions for inclusion should be emailed 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 know in confidence if you have any concerns.

We would also like to thank Councillor Danny McNally and Councillor Paul Rickett for their unwavering support as both District and County Councilors.

We all lead busy lives and there are many demands on our time, but all organisations in this village desperately need more villagers to step up and help out. If more people come forward the burden is lighter, currently the same folk are being asked to do a great deal year on year. Please consider offering an hour or two to the Parish Council and other organisations that are run by volunteers in the village that aim to make our village a happier and healthy place.

On Behalf of Saltfleetby Parish Council

John Lusby (Parish Council Chair)