Tallington Annual Parish Meeting

Tallington
Annual Parish Report 2025/26

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 implement improvements in the village. A continuing theme that repeats in the Plan is “to encourage further social cohesion and friendly community spirit”.

Community

During the last year the council gave £1,200 to the Church covering donations for last 2 years to help maintain the graveyard and £600 to the Village Hall and Playing Field Association to help maintain the Village Hall and Playing Field.

Village Hall & Playing Field
The centre of Village life is the Village Hall and Playing Field. The council is grateful to the committee of the Village Hall and Playing Field Association for the management of the Village Hall and Playing Field. Following last year’s repairs and rebuilding of the stone walls around the Playing Field some further repairs were completed last summer including on the Green. Thanks to Lisa & the VW Group IT team of 10 volunteers who painted much of the play park equipment in September 2025. Paint & materials donated by the Parish council. Thanks also for the 2 large tyres supplied & installed by Simon.

The Parish council takes responsibility for the insurance of the Village Hall, Playing Field and play equipment.

Bookings for the Hall continue to grow. 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 in the Village Hall and details of all events can be found via the Village Hall Association Facebook page, the 3 Village notice boards and on the Parish council website. Bookings can also be made via tallingtonvillagehall@gmail.com

Social Media / Updates/ Website

The council continues 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 15 days before publication & so can sometimes be slightly dated on distribution. 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. https://tallington.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/  and maintained by the LALC Website Maintenance Service.

The Parish council also posts important updates on The Tallington Village Hall Association Facebook page & the Community WhatsApp group. 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 any unwanted emails from anyone else on the list.

Village Environment

The Residents of Tallington Lakes continue to 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. Further planting by volunteers of Daffodil bulbs provided by the Council has taken place along with some replacement trees following the last 2 year’s tree planting of 32 lime trees, 12 Cherry trees, 5 Copper Beech & 5 Hornbeam. Further clearance of the path embankment and grass sewing is ongoing and continues to enhance this important community space

The Green continues to be cut by 1-3 metres from the path 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. Thank you again to all the volunteers who helped plant trees and help cut back overgrown hedgerow and bramble; this has & will help provide better access to tackle the ongoing infestation of rabbits. Volunteers are encouraged to help keep the trees watered through dry periods until they are fully established.

The Canal lock gate in Heron’s Close will shortly be cleared and maintained annually in future on contract by Chris Shilling. Thanks to the Herons trust for the initial grant support aid.

Speeding in the Village

The speed of traffic through the Village continues to be a cause for concern. We have 3 passive speed signs on lampposts in the Village along with a speed indicating device that is moved to different locations regularly. Speed limits are now also painted on the A1175. Volunteers are still needed 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” via “fibre to the home”. Availability via access points at the entrance to every home in the Village.  Gigaclear continues to provide free internet access 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 via 999 and use are clearly displayed on it. The unit is maintained by volunteer guardians.                                                 

Drainage and Flooding Repairs

Following the flooding of the 3rd and 4th January and the repeated flooding of the 22nd February and May 2024 through rising ground water the council continues to work with and apply pressure with the assistance of our MP Alicia, County and District Councillors to - the Environment Agency, Anglian Water, LCC Highways, LCC Floods and Water, and SKDC to continue the work to rectify the historic failings of all the agencies to maintain the drainage system throughout the village as highlighted in the AW survey of July 2018! The statutory Sect 19 report in its final form (v11) was published in July last year by LCC Floods & Water. The council is broadly in agreement with its conclusions and many of the recommendations are completed or are works in progress. Monthly Multi Agency meetings continue to be held with all agencies and the council.

Repair works continued slowly throughout the year and in December 25 LCC Highways replaced the collapsed old drystone wall culvert under Casewick Lane with a new plastic pipe. The lane ditches and the Casewick lane junction chamber are now the responsibility of SKDC. The road chamber functions fully allowing overflow water from Hawthorne Lodge dyke & the St Lawrence Way Road drains and open dyke past an emergency gate flap in the chamber into the open dyke going down Casewick Lane. Water to the north of the village is now flowing freely under the lane and out across Casewick fields (cleared by the land owners in late 24), towards the cement works dyke and beyond to Barholm.

There remains however a blockage over a 10-metre section of surface water culvert at the Rail Crossing despite numerous attempts by Network Rail to clear including the installation of 2 new access chambers. Further work by NR is planned & they are committed to clearing the blockage. A telemetry water level alarm remains in place with an emergency pump on call to remove surface water across the rail crossing into the open dyke if needed.

In October last year Anglian water attempted to clear the remaining blockages in surface water drains at the junction of Mill Lane, the ‘Old Post Office’ & next to The Gables on the Main Road with mixed results and further work is still required. AW are now of the opinion that the best course of action is to replace the whole surface water system. Funding for this is now being explored with LCC and others with the likely cost substantial! AW did however successfully clear the Mill Lane surface water system in late December. The works done to date have resulted in releasing some of the trapped water from the Village. The priority for the Parish Council is still to get the whole length of the existing surface water system cleared /replaced by AW in conjunction with LCC and NR and working as it should to take water out of the Village providing the protection that was missing in January / February / May 2024.

Welland River Flood defences

The Bainton Road River bridge flap valve replaced in May 25 by the Environment Agency is proving unreliable and so in February 26 the EA inserted a mechanical bung into the Flap valve pipework sealing it off completely for the winter, also replacing the sand bags and sheeting for good measure. There was an attempt back in September 25 to fit a Penstock gate but the existing cement structure was not compatible. Recent meetings have established that the cement head wall containing the pipe should be upgraded to allow the Penstock gate to be fitted offering added protection on the Village side of the bank when required instead of the bung and sand bags.

The EA’s major survey of the Maxey Cut banks announced last year; notwithstanding the bank erosion repairs near the ‘waterfall’ that will we are told be undertaken by contractors this summer, has recently been extended to include the banks upstream of the river bridge toward Copt Hill. This is to establish what work might be required to improve the long-term stability of the bank infrastructure over the coming years and develop a business case for any such work. Long term repair of the erosion to the bank downstream near Lolham is unlikely to happen this year. The temporary repair done in 2024 is still deemed to be sufficient for now.

The EA large pump for the river bridge remains on standby if and when needed as gauged by the early warning locations now clearly established.  LCC will also shortly be installing 4 early warning telemetry stations at agreed locations to warn of rising ground/surface water. The Parish council Flood Plan can be viewed on the Council website. The Village Flood Response Team of 30 has access to 5 pumps including the ‘Heron’s trust’ funded 4” pump capable of moving 1600 litres a minute that is stationed on a trolley close to the river. 

Detailed updates on all river and drainage works continue to be circulated monthly in Towers & Spires & all past updates can be viewed on the council website.

Development/planning applications

The council receives copies of planning applications within its boundaries and is invited by SKDC to comment.

Crime

There is a need to reinvigorate the Neighbourhood Watch scheme. (Volunteers are still required please. Please notify your interest to the Parish Clerk). Please remain vigilant and report any unusual activities and any unrecognised vehicles loitering. Be aware of doorstep distraction thefts by suspect traders and others.

Council Finance & Administration
As summarised in the provisional accounts at the end of this report, the council’s expenditure related mainly to improvement works on Millennium Green, equipment and insurances that the council must carry, clerk salary, NI & Tax and other necessary administrative expenses adopted for 2025/2026. There have been substantial increases in legal & admin costs over the last year.  The Council Precept for this coming year 2026/27 is £11,500 (increase of £2,250) equal to a 16% increase on a band D property of £4 from £25.16 to approx. £29.20.

The Council and it’s Meetings

The council currently has four Councillors with three vacancies. The council meets bi-monthly during the year usually on a Wednesday. We meet in the Village Hall with many residents taking time to attend. The council also appreciates the attendance and contributions from District Councillors, Rosemary Trollope-Bellew, and Vanessa Smith along with County Councillor Ashley Baxter.

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 clerk Nicola with their email details at clerk@tallington-pc.gov.uk

Philip Sagar                                                       Nicola Smith
Chairman                                                                                     Clerk
for and on behalf of Tallington Parish Council                                                                        March 2026.

A larger print version of this report will be posted after the meeting https://tallington.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/