Annual Parish Meetings

Notes of Fiskerton’s Annual Parish Meeting held on Thursday 22nd May 2025 at Fiskerton Village Hall

Present: Cllr A Walker (Chairman), Miss S Johnson (Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer), and 15 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. Bereavement of Dr Donald Harrison Cllr C Hill spoke about Dr Harrison's contributions to the community. It was RESOLVED to send a card expressing the Parish Councils support and thoughts during this difficult time

4. 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

Allotments Management: Cllr A Walker reported on the reduced waiting list for allotments and potential to extend the allotments

Neighbourhood Plan report: Cllr A Walker reported on the current status of the plan and hopes to start Regulation 16 by the end of summer, he explained the importance of the plan to the community including more Community Infrastructure Levy percentage and stressed the importance of resident’s support

Grants: PC supported the VE Day celebration with £500 grant from Lark Energy Community Fund

Riverbank: Cllr A Walker provided an update on completed works and the importance to remain vigilant

Housing development: Cllr A Walker outlined the approved application for 150 new homes and is now waiting for detailed plans to be submitted

The Paddock: Cllr A Walker reported the continual pursue to purchase the paddock however the church commissioners are reluctant to sell

Budgets and Reserves: Cllr A Walker highlighted the council's budget and reserves, noting a slight decrease in council tax second year running

Priorities: Cllr A Walker outlined his desire to work with residents to create a list of priorities to achieve in the next year

5. Financial Report: Sharon Johnson - Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer reported the following:

5a. The accounts for 2024 – 25 All year end documentation is currently being reviewed by our internal auditor, this is due to be completed at the beginning of June. Once the results have been presented in our June 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 is a 30 day window between 24th June and 4th August where our full accounts are available to view, If anyone would like to inspect them please contact me and we can arrange an appointment.

1. If you would like more details, please do ask and these can be provided.

Income:

Total income: £31,025

Total expenditure: £19,909 including:

5c. Bank balances were as follows:

At financial year end on 31st March 2025:

Current Account closed at £12003.49

Deposit account closed at £82,802.67

5d. Allocation of monies:

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

6. Witham Valley Access Project: A local Community Action group gave a presentation on the key initiatives, safe walking and cycling in the area and extend and improve the network of paths, footways and cycleways around villages to the East of Lincoln

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

Chairman / Persons report for Yr 2024 to 2025.

Well, what a year 2024 to 2025 has been for Fiskerton Village Hall.

We have had some fantastic events that have been very well attended by people from the Village and surrounding areas.

We had our first Village Beer Festival which had great attendance, bringing people together from not only the local area but from around Lincoln and surrounding areas. A huge amount of planning went into the event and for those involved the event could only been seen as a success.

Over the course of the year we had two race nights, the first being extremely busy and the second was not quite so well attended, however both events, were fun and raised much needed funds for the Village Hall.

The Northern Soul & 80’s nights were a big success and brought people into the building that wouldn’t normally attend an event in the Village Hall, which is a huge positive in my eyes.

We have continued to have good attendance at our more regular & yearly events like bingo, quiz nights, the 49’ers luncheon and Carols around the Christmas Tree.

Altogether, the people that have given their time to be part of and support the Fiskerton Village Hall Management Committee in this last year should be congratulated for a job well done as without them the Village Hall would not be able to operate and there wouldn’t be the funds available to run the Village Hall or put on additional events like the Children’s Christmas Party.

There have been several challenges across the year but through hard work and commitment from the Village Hall Management Committee, those challenges have been overcome and will take Fiskerton Village Hall into a strong position for the coming year.

The financial position of the Village Hall appears to be stable to which this will be ratified by a financial review that will be conducted by the incoming Management Committee in the coming months of 2025.

In all, I feel that the year of 2024 to 2025 has been a good year for Fiskerton Village Hall and with the hard work and commitment of the trustees, it will continue to for years to come.

I’d like to thank all those people that have given their time to either sit on the committee of the Fiskerton Village Hall Management Team or help with the Village Hall in general as without you the Village Hall could no longer operate in the way it does.

Regards

Jeff McGeachie (Chairman Yr 2024 / 2025)

8. Police Matters: Cllr A Walker reported on the positive relationship between the Parish Council and the neighbourhood police team

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

THE HODGSON CHARITY

Accounts for the Period ending 31st December 2024

THE HODGSON CHARITY

Report for the Year End 31st December 2024

Trustees:             Revd Penny Green (Ex officio)

                                Mrs Ann Chesman (Parish Council Appointee)

                                Mr Robert Wall (Parish Council Appointee)

Objectives

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

Grants

Another relatively low year for grant requests, but the Trustees were pleased to continue to support residents of Fiskerton through the school and respond positively to the occasional request. Grants totalled £2441 and a further £96 was spent on Trustee insurance. We are pleased to report, however that from the start of 2025, grants have already been paid out to the value of £7050. We are trusting that requests continue in order to clear some of the accumulation of funds in the current account. Please encourage residents to approach Revd Penny Green or Revd Jess Bellshaw. Applicants will receive a  short grant application form. We can help with rent arrears; cost of living issues – utility bills; food bills; school uniforms.

One of the difficulties that we have as Trustees is saying ‘no’ to grant applications. We occasionally have to exercise this requirement because the grant request does not fit with the Charity objects.

Investments

The Trust investments continue to produce income of c. £8000 per annum, which then become 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.

Over the last two years the Trustees have become concerned about the accumulation of funds in the current account, and have discussed whether the objects of the charity should be changed (see the objects above). We are mindful that we exist as a Charity not to gather a surplus of income but to steward the funds in a way that meets needs. However in order to change the objects we have to provide evidence of the need for a change. We have decided therefore to work on advertising and try to get the message out to residents in a more consistent way. This will include a Facebook Page. However we have found that ‘word of mouth’ is probably the most effective means of communication. If that does not effect an increase in grant requests, we will then need to look at amendments/changes. This is a legal process and we need to ensure that we deal with this in a measured way.

Trustees

The Trustees met on 4 occasions in 2024. The retirement of Revd Penny Green created an ex-officio vacancy to be filled by the Incumbent of Fiskerton Parish. Revd Green agreed to continue as a Trustee and as Chair until an appointment was made. Revd Jess Bellshaw was appointed in October 2024 and took up her post as Trustee from 1st March 2025. Revd Green offered her services to continue as Secretary and Treasurer and the Trustees were pleased to accept the offer of her services. She will not be a Trustee, but serve as the contact person, and also will deal with Secretarial and Treasurer tasks

Administration

The Trustees have completed work with the Land Agent over land leases. Hence, the major piece of work to bring the Trust to a more secure footing legally is complete.

My thanks to Trustees Mr Wall and Mrs Chesman. For their continued support of and work for the Trust.

Revd Penny Green                                                                            Revd Jess Bellshaw

Secretary to the Trustees                                                             Chair Trustees (from 1st March 2025)    

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

11. Neighbourhood Plan Update: as reported in Item 4 Chairman’s report

12. History and Archaeology Group Report: Clerk read out the following statement from Sally Scott   

‘There is nothing much to report about the now defunct Fiskerton History and Archaeology Group. John Howard and I are the only two previously active members still in the village and neither of us is willing to take it on again.

I have been sorting out the materials we collected in our research for the two books we published and the exhibitions that we prepared. I have disposed some of them - the research notes, for example, that we gathered for the second book Fiskerton Through The Ages. I am looking into giving all the many photographs to an appropriate Lincolnshire archive which seems to be easier said than done.

Finally, I have given a number of the books to the Society of Lincolnshire History and Archaeology but still have some copies that I now give to people who want them.

13. District Councillor Report: Cllr M Palmer provided an update on district council activities, including waste disposal and unitary County Council proposals

14. County Councillor Report: Cllr T Bridgwood gave an overview of his new role and challenges as County Councillor. He stressed the importance of resident participation in community engagement and also a reminder to use ‘fix my street’ for the ongoing issues with potholes

15. Ideas from residents: Concerns about speeding, formation of Community Speed Watch Team.  Need for a local shop.

16. Questions from public: None

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