2024 Annual Parish Meeting

In this report “council” means Tallington Parish council; “SKDC” means South Kesteven District council; “LCC” means Lincolnshire County council.

Tallington

Annual Parish Report 2023/24

As advertised The Annual Parish Meeting was held on Tuesday 28thth May 2024 at Tallington Village Hall followed by the Annual Parish council meeting and the May council Meeting. The Meeting received reports from the Parish council (below), the Village Hall & Playing field Association, Herons Trust, and our County and District Councillors. There was also a discussion and update on the drainage and flooding issues of January and February and the role of the agencies involved going forward.

Parish council Report to the Annual Parish Meeting

INTRODUCTION

The council aims to make the village a good place in which to live, with a healthy and safe environment, and pleasant and peaceful surroundings.  This report summarises the way the council has tried to achieve this in the past 12 months. 

Parish Plan

The council continue to monitor the conclusions in the Parish plan and where possible implement improvements in the village. A continuing theme that repeats in the Plan is “to encourage further social cohesion and friendly community spirit”.

VILLAGE HALL & COMMUNITY

The council is grateful to the Committee of the Village Hall and Playing Field Association for maintaining the village hall and playing field.

Playing Field

Thanks to a substantial grant from the SKDC prosperity fund (part of Levelling up monies) additional infant play equipment was installed on the Playing field last September with the old wooden equipment removed. Another application is also being made for monies to repair the stone walls around the playing field after the first application was returned.

The Parish council takes responsibility for the insurance of the village hall, playing field and play equipment. The council are grateful to the Village Hall and Playing Field Association for contributing to the insurance premium. 

During the last year the council gave £600 to the Church to help maintain the graveyard and £500 to the Village Hall and Playing Field Association to help maintain the village hall and £577 towards the Coronation party.

Social Media / Updates/ Website

The council will continue to use the “Towers and Spires magazine” to publish updates and important information for residents. T & S is distributed free to all households every month. Copy is supplied at least 14 days before publication and distribution so can sometimes be slightly dated. It is recommended to visit the Parish council’s own website for the latest updates and information on forthcoming meetings and agendas. Minutes of parish council meetings along with local information and links to other local services and useful websites are posted here. The site has recently been revamped and is now maintained by the LALC Website Maintenance Service. https://tallington.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/

The Parish council also posts important updates on The Tallington village hall Association Facebook page. The VH Assoc can be contacted at ‘tallingtonvillagehall@gmail.com’. Important updates are also posted on the “Tallington Village Community Facebook Page”

There is also a bcc email update list that you can receive. Please contact the Parish Clerk to add your email to the list. It is secure and you will not receive unwanted emails form anyone else on the list. 

Village Environment

The centre of Village life is the Village Hall and playing fields. Bookings for the Hall are on the increase. The Table tennis club continues. The hall is available to hire and is available for village residents to use for social events for young and old. Other events are held on an ad hoc basis in the village hall and details of all events can be found via the village hall Association Facebook page and on the 3 village notice boards. Bookings can also be made via tallingtonvillagehall@gmail.com

Thanks to Adele for keeping the Mobile Post Office going on Tuesdays 2- 4pm throughout the last year in the village hall. Please do use this service if you can.

The Residents of Tallington Lakes make up a large part of the village and are warmly invited and encouraged to participate in Village activities (i.e., Parish meetings, Village socials etc.).

Millennium Green and Trees

The Millennium green is legally registered with ‘Fields in Trust’ and protected as open space for residents to enjoy in perpetuity without fear of unwanted development. The first phase of three stages of tree planting was completed this spring with the planting of 5 Copper Beech, 5 Hornbeam along with a triangle of Wild Flowers to the east of the green. This wildflower meadow is to be dedicated to the memory of Wally Knox and Alan Thurlby who during their lives contributed much to the life of the village. Funding for phase 2 and 3 is now required. Please contact the chairman if you wish to contribute to the dedication and plaque. An application has also been made to the SKDC UK shared prosperity fund who last year provide a substantial grant to upgrade all of the MG paths. Completion of this work was halted by the extreme wet weather but will resume shortly. 

A resident and his son of Red House paddocks continue to cut 2 metres of edging around the green with the remainder cut by our contractor as required so as to maintain a meadow grassland appearance. It was always intended to be maintained as an open space, rough-cut and not a lawn finish. The new contractor has successfully maintained the green and cut back the hedgerows. We continue to battle the infestation of rabbits. Please contact the Chairman if you would be able to assist in any subsequent tree planting activity.

Speeding in the village

The speed of traffic continues to be a cause for concern. The passive speed signs that were installed on lampposts in the village some years ago have been renewed and along with the speed indicating device that is moved to different locations have shown some benefit but further action is needed and volunteers are required to carry out speed checks in the village under the Community Speed Watch scheme.

Fast or Superfast Broadband 

Fast or Superfast broadband is available in the village via a green cabinet in Bainton Road as “fibre to the cabinet” from BT. Or via “Gigaclear” who have installed “fibre to the home” availability via access points at the entrance to every home in the village.  Gigaclear has installed free Wifi in the village hall. 

Bypass & closing the railway crossing 

Closing the level crossing and By Passing the whole village continues to be the aspiration of the council. The council continues to explore every opportunity to leverage funding from any source for this and continues to work with all parties (LCC, Network Rail, SKDC and Land owners) to examine opportunities as they present now and in the future.

Defibrillator

A defibrillator is located next to the entrance to the village hall. Instructions for access and use are clearly displayed on it.               

Drainage and Flooding issues

Following the horrendous flooding of the 3rd and 4th January that caused damage to 25 properties in the village in varying degrees and the repeated flooding of the 22nd February through rising ground water the council has been lobbying local MPs including the Flooding minister (who recently visited the village), County and District Councillors and working with the Environment Agency, Anglian Water, LCC Highways and SKDC to ensure action is taken to urgently address the historic failings of the Environment Agency and Anglian Water in particular. Detailed reports will continue to be circulated regularly and all past updates along with photos can be viewed on the Parish council website. We await the conclusions of the statutory sect 19 investigations but in the meantime the parish council has formed a “Flood response team” and created a Flood Plan and this can also be viewed on the website. A 2” pump was purchased in mid-January and was in almost constant use for 6 weeks. With the help of the ‘Herons trust’ a 4” pump has been purchased capable of moving 1600 litres a minute and is stationed on a trolley close to the river. The blockage at the Rail Crossing is still NOT cleared, being 80% full of silt and debris still. This despite 2 attempts to clear, the last being halted due to root ingress into the drains and the risk of further collapses. Further work is still required. Attention is also still required to clear the blockages in surface water drains from the ‘Old post office’ to the crossing. As reported before most of the problems along with the need to upgrade 482 metres of surface water sewer in the village were outlined in an Anglian Water presentation to the Parish council in July 2018. A failed attempt to clear the drains was made in March 2022 in a joint LCC /AW project, stopping short at the Old Post Office due to lack of funds and in the misguided belief that what they had achieved was enough to protect the village from future flooding! Add the poorly maintained dykes from Casewick Lane beyond and to the north of the village that have resulted in the rising ground and river water being unable to exit the village towards Barholm and West Deeping as it should.  

Welland River Flood defences

Following the Flooding and the lack of urgency on the part of the Environment Agency to respond to our calls for help prior to the January flooding we now have better lines of communication with them to be able to call on their large pump if flooding is feared. Details of the winter rainfall levels are available on the council’s website. The ground being sodden the run off from the fields was exceptional and together with the historic blocked drains and the blockages under the rail crossing the water could not escape the village. Despite the work carried out to repair the flood valves on the waterside next to Bainton Road River bridge in 2022 the valves currently remain sandbagged off (as they were on the 3rd of January). The council are still of the view that the works on the river banks in November and December were badly timed, possibly weakening the banks defences. The Maxey cut banks contain a large amount of gravel and to remove the top soil and grass - its skin was we believe foolhardy. A permanent repair to the riverbank subsidence downstream near Lolham has to be completed by March 2025 although it is hoped sooner. Environment Agency latest comment - “The flood risk situation is complex and is likely to be an interaction between multiple sources: groundwater, surface water, sewer and fluvial risks. The section 19 investigation will be critical in determining how best to support the community in terms of increasing resilience to future flooding, addressing known issues and determining how the risk may change into the future in the face of climate change driving changes in weather patterns. The solutions are likely to be multi agency driven, including community action to increase resilience - not solely an EA matter to resolve but involving Anglian water, LCC and Network Rail.” The Environment Agency have committed to hold further Multi Agency meetings involving the council in June to agree the next steps.

Development/planning applications

The council receives copies of all planning applications within its boundaries and is invited by SKDC for comment. We draw your attention in particular to the upcoming (5th & 10th June) Public Consultation on the Breedon application for a West Deeping Replacement Quarry. Flyers have been delivered to all homes.

Crime

There is a need to reinvigorate the Neighbourhood Watch scheme. (Volunteers required please). Please be aware of daytime distraction burglary attempts over the last year. Please remain vigilant and report any unusual activities and any unrecognised vehicles loitering. 

COUNCIL FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION 

The council made grants of £500 and £577(Coronation party) to the Village Hall Assoc and £600 to the Church to help maintain the graveyard.  As summarised in the accounts at the end of this report, the council’s other expenditure related mainly to improvement works on Millennium Green, Flood equipment and insurances that the council must carry, and other necessary administrative expenses adopted for 2023/2024. The council Precept for this coming year 2024/25 is £8,700 (an increase of £300 + 3.6%), equal to a % increase on a band D property of 5.8% to £24.75

The Council and it’s Meetings

The council currently has five councillors with two current vacancies. The council usually meets bi monthly during the year on a Tuesday although extra meetings are occasionally called.  Attendance generally has been good and we meet in the village hall with many residents taking time to attend. Our Clerk Wendy Gray is retiring after many years of loyal service and we thank her and wish her well for the future. The council also appreciated the attendance at times and contributions from District Councillors, Rosemary Trollope-Bellew, and Vanessa Smith along with County Councillor Ashley Baxter and in particular thank them for their help during the flooding of January 2024. 

Residents wishing to be kept informed of news and meetings or wishing to be considered for one of the Councillor vacancies are invited to contact our new clerk Nicola with their email details. The next Parish Council meeting is on Tuesday July 16th in the Village Hall starting at 7.30pm.  
parishclerk.tallington@gmail.com

Philip Sagar
Chairman

Wendy Gray
Clerk
for and on behalf of Tallington Parish council

May 2024.

GRIT SALT, SAND & SANDBAGS.

Is available - FREE TO RESIDENTS.  Collection from Village Hall Car Park.

Bring your own containers.