Annual Parish Meetings

Notes of Fiskerton’s Annual Parish Meeting held on Thursday 21st May 2026 at Fiskerton Village Hall

Present: Cllr A Walker (Chairman), Miss S Johnson (Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer), and 13 residents

Meeting started at 7pm.

1. Welcome and Introduction: Cllr A Walker welcomed everyone and thanked for attending.

2. Approval of Minutes from the Last Meeting: RESOLVED to accept the minutes of the last Annual parish meeting as a true record

3. Chairman's Report: Cllr A Walker discussed various activities and updates, including the following:

Councillor/ staffing: Cllr A Walker provided an update on the years resignations and appointments

Playpark Cllr A Walker reported maintenance works have improved the playpark and that a lottery grant application for 17,000 for a new piece of equipment has been successful

Bus Stop A grant application for a new shelter on Chapel Road has been submitted

Allotments Management: Cllr A Walker reported on the reduced waiting list for allotments and potential to extend the allotments and the new water containers have been installed this year

Neighbourhood Plan report: Cllr A Walker reported on the status of the plan and hopes to start Regulation 16 by the end of summer.

Newsletter Cllr A Walker advised the Council are now running the village newsletter and welcomed volunteers to help

Youth Club Cllr A Walker reported that the VH are researching the possibility of having a youth club with the YMCA and hopes the PC can support it.

4a. The accounts for 2025 – 26 All year end documentation is currently being reviewed by our internal auditor, this is due to be completed in June. Once the results have been presented in our July Parish Council meeting the documentation will be available to view on our website. It will then be submitted to our external auditor for inspection.

There will be a 30-day window where our full accounts are available to view, dates to be announced soon. If anyone would like to inspect them, please contact me and we can arrange an appointment.

4b.  Financial income/expenditure during 2025 – 26 can be broadly summarised as follows.  If you would like more details, please do ask and these can be provided.

Income:

Total income: £44,081 including:

Precept - £19,100

Lottery grant - £17,000

VAT reclaimed - £2,138

Combined solar panels on Scout Hut and Village Hall - £1,940

Expenditure:

Total expenditure: £35,077 including:

Grass cutting - £3,749

Loan repayments - £2053

Playground maintenance - £2,283

Donation towards VH car park resurfacing - £6,000

4c. Bank balances were as follows:

At financial year end on 31st March 2026:

Current Account closed at £12,710

Deposit account closed at £91,100

4d. Allocation of monies:

Monies held by the Parish Council are allocated into various Earmarked Reserves pots against anticipated future need. 

5. Village Hall Report: Cllr A Walker presented the following report on behalf of the Village Hall

Chairman / Persons report for Yr 2025 to 2026.

 AGM Chairman's Report 2025/26

Good evening, all

First of all I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank all our voluntary and committee members for supporting Fiskerton Village hall in whatever capacity that was this year, it truly is great to see and I would like to personally give my thanks for all the hard work that has been put in collectively to keep the village hall operational.

I would also like to thank all the organisations and individuals who donated funds to support various events throughout the year without these kind gestures most of the events that we have put on would not have gone ahead so again thank you on behalf of the Village Hall Management Committee.

Our events have been down on previous years due to the low levels of committee members and volunteers, restricting our ability to do more in relation to community events, that said we have still achieved great things with limited resource and time, which I would like to outline below but the list is not exhaustive.

80TH VE day celebrations were the main event in May 2025, for Fiskerton with a turnout of between 300/50 people over the course of the day, the event was enjoyed by all, who helped pull it together and the locals that attended on the day.

Our Second Yearly Christmas Party for children in the local community of Fiskerton, was another success and enjoyed by all the children who attended with some really nice feedback on Facebook from their respective parents grandparents and guardians, it’s worth noting that this event was fully funded by the Village Hall Management committee through local funding from local organisations and events that raised money throughout the year which enabled the Committee to make it free of charge and provide something back to the community a big thank you to all involved.

Over 55s Christmas Lunch was a success due to the attendance and not withstanding a late withdrawal from our organised third part caterer, personal thanks go out to our friend and volunteer Janet Cleaver for stepping in last minute with the support from Ady Walker. C2 General

Our monthly and now quarterly village market has been running for just over 2 years sometimes success isn’t measured by numbers in terms of finance but by community interaction and positive conversations in an environment that brings people together such as the village market, sharing information and ideas with likeminded people and to this point I believe the market has been a success but more can be done in terms of attendance and support across all different factors of our local community.

In terms of other deliverables I would also like to outline some key initiatives that have landed this year the first one being the Village Hall car park which has 100% improved the curb side appeal to the Village hall but also improved the access for everyone who wants to attend a club or event or meeting at our village hall ,it has taken years to get over the line but this year the Village Hall Committee managed to deliver and I would like to thank everyone involved.

Financial governance has been a key area to modernised and govern digitally for the village hall working with our accountants and treasurer for full transparency of funds in and out of our accounts and taking a serious look at how we manage the village hall with a profit and loss approach making sure everything is linked and foot printed end to end.

Security has also been a keen deliverable modernising our security camera, systems to protect our village hall and the associated assets we hold.

Gaining efficiencies through monthly governance meetings reducing the length of times these are held for, discussions are now only by exception and keeping the conversations relevant to the potential challenge or solution.

All in all, a good year for the village hall management committee with some tangible success measures outlined in my report under difficult circumstances, well done and it’s been a pleasure holding the chairman’s position for the year of 2025/26.

Regards

Lester Matthews

Chairman 2025/2026

6. Hodgkin's Charity Accounts: Mr Robert Wall presented the following report

THE HODGSON CHARITY

Accounts for the Period ending 31st December 2025

THE HODGSON CHARITY

Report for the Year End 31st December 2025

Trustees:             Revd Jess Bellshaw (Ex officio)

                                Mrs Ann Chesman (Parish Council Appointee)

                                Mr Robert Wall (Parish Council Appointee)

Secretary/Treasurer: Revd Penny Green

Objectives

To relieve either generally or individually persons’ resident in the Parish of Fiskerton who are in conditions of need, hardship or distress.

Grants

After two relatively ‘fallow’ years in terms of grant requests, 2025 was a year of more demand, as the Trustees advertised the availability of grants via Facebook. This generated a number of requests, and also ‘word of mouth’ operated within the village. This resulted in payments being made to the value of c. £12569, and created an ‘in year’ deficit of c. £4085.

The Trustees, are comfortable with the overspend, given the accumulation of Funds in the Trust Current Account over the last 2-3 years and have always been mindful that, where possible, Funds should be used for the people of Fiskerton and not sitting in the Bank. Last year we reported that we had become concerned about the accumulation of Funds, and that we had considered apply to the Charity Commission to amend the Trust Objectives. However, after some advertising, this seems not to be necessary. We will, however, keep a watching brief.

Of the £12569 given in Grants, c. £12000 was given to individuals and families, for a range of reasons including: disability support, school uniform provision, food vouchers for support during school holidays, clothing and beds. The remainder was granted for Christmas lunches in the village and gifts via the Village Hall Committee.

Investments

The Trust investments continue to produce income of c. £8275 per annum, which then became available for the Trustees to distribute grants. Investments are held by the Church of England Board of Finance. Over the last year both Investment Accounts have shown a small increase in funds – these do of course, fluctuate.

Trustees

The Trustees met on 5 occasions in 2025. Matters for discussion were:

Grant Requests

Possible Review of Charity Objectives

Land Rental Agreements

Insurance

Requirements of the Charity Commission

Thanks

My thanks to Trustees Mr Wall and Mrs Chesman and their continued support of and work for the Trust and to Revd Penny Green for her work behind the scenes.

Revd Jess Bellshaw          Chair Trustees                   Email: hodgsontrustfiskerton@gmail.com

7. Primary School Report: Cllr A Walker mentioned no report available from the primary school

8. District Councillor Report:

Report for Fiskerton Parish Council Annual Meeting from West Lindsey District Councillor Maureen Palmer

My apologies for not being able to attend your meeting.

Much has happened over the last year, but these are some of the main things.

After a vote of no confidence in the Leader and Deputy Leader a new administration group made up of Conservatives, Independents, Liberal Democrat’s, and Reform councillors took control of the Council.

Local Government Reorganisation [LGR] is a Central Government directive to change Lincolnshire into two Unitary organisations. At the moment there are four proposals on the table, and a decision is due in November. This will mean that West Lindsey District Council and its Councillors will no longer exist as we know it. The election for new councillors is due to take place in May 2027. This is a LOCAL election and NOT general elections.

West Lindsey put in a bid to purchase RAF Scampton and have passed the first phase meaning they now have to give a proposed development plan. A motion is on the agenda for Full Council on the 13th May so hopefully there will be a positive update after that.

The Churches Festival is taking place over two weekends. 9th/10th May and 16th/17th May with around 120 churches taking part across the district.

The National Planning Framework is out for consultation. The two main changes that are relevant to our area are: if a planning application is within a settlement boundary it will be granted and if it is outside boundary, it will be refused except in exceptional circumstances.

The Central Government food waste collection has been successful apart from a few minor hiccups. Over 60 tonnes of waste per week is being collected across the district.

9. County Councillor Report: Cllr T Bridgwood provided an update on several local matters. An update was given on the marina development at Cherry Willingham. He reported that the Canal & River Trust has received approval to connect through to the main river. In addition, the Environment Agency will be replacing the barrier at Short Ferry to ensure it is compliant with current safety standards.

Members were informed that signage will be installed at the Blacksmiths Road/Chapel Road junction to advise that the route is unsuitable for HGVs. The parking situation on Chapel Road has also been assessed by LCC Highways, and we are currently awaiting their Traffic Regulation Order proposal. Once this is issued, a public consultation on the proposed parking restrictions will take place

10. Ideas from residents: None

11. Questions from public: During the open floor session, residents raised several key points for consideration. Some of the main issues brought up included:

Night and weekend bus service – currently with the Mayor of Lincolnshire for consideration.

Safety concerns for walkers on the road to Five Mile Bridge due to vehicle speeds and the narrow, single‑track layout. Parish Council to follow up at next meeting

Questions regarding the Corn Close development – no update available currently.

Ongoing concerns about speeding within the village.

No further matters raised, Cllr A Walker thanked everyone for attending. The meeting ended at 9pm