2025-26 Minutes

Potterhanworth Parish Council

Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of Potterhanworth Parish Council held at The Pavilion, Queensway, Potterhanworth, LN4 2EA on Monday 22 June 2026.

Present:  Chair:  John Giles

Councillors:  Grant Collier and Martin Ott

In attendance:  Mr Eddie Findlay, Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer

No members of the public were in attendance.

At 07:00 pm, with the absence of Cllr Copsey, Cllr Giles (Vice-Chair) welcomed everybody and opened the meeting.

17.  To receive apologies for absence and reasons given, i.a.w. Local Government Act 1972, Sch 12, para 40.
Cllr Ingall was unable to attend and their reasons were made known to the Council.
Action:  Council RESOLVED to approve the reasons for absence from Cllr Ingall.
Proposed by Cllr Giles, seconded by Cllr Collier and approved unanimously

Cllr Blake, Cllr Copsey and Cllr Davis absence noted.

18.  To receive declarations of interest and to consider dispensation applications in relation to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.
None were declared at this time.

19.  Consider the approval of notes from the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council meeting held at The Pavillion, Queensway, on Monday 18 May 2026 as Minutes.
Action:  Council RESOLVED to approve the notes from the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council meeting held at The Pavillion, Queensway, on Monday 18 May 2026 as Minutes.
Proposed by Cllr Collier, seconded by Cllr Giles and approved unanimously.

20.  Receive a report from the Chair.
No report submitted.

21.  Receive reports from the Councillors and Clerk in relation to the minutes, other Council matters and Police Reports.
No resolutions may be passed under this item but requests for matters to be placed on the next agenda can be made.

Councillors
Cllr Giles reported that the SID had been deployed at Potterhanworth Booths for the last couple of weeks.  It was currently on charge and would be with Potterhanworth next.
Cllr Giles also reported that concerns had been raised re a previous planning application 20/0829/FUL.  The application was refused (21-Oct-2020), but it was believed that there were several structures being erected on the site.  The Clerk would contact NKDC Planning for guidance.
Cllr Ott requested the Clerk consider a date to hold a meeting with the Potter Times website administrator.

Clerk
Still no profiles on the website for Cllr Ingall, nor Cllr Davis.
The Clerk had submitted a VAT reclaim, which covered the period 01-Dec-2024 to 31-Mar-2026, with payment of the £1,805.41 received into the Unity Trust Bank on 12-Jun-2026.
6 Police incidents showing for April 2026, 2 x burglary, 2 x criminal damage, 1 x public order and 1 x violence.

22.  Public Forum.  Including reports from the County and District Councillors.
Cty Cllr Carrington had sent in apologies.
No District Councillors were present, not members of the public.

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23.  Financial Matters.
a.  Approve payments made since the last meeting.

Action:  Council RESOLVED to approve the Payments made since the last meeting.
Proposed by Cllr Collier, seconded by Cllr Giles and approved unanimously.

b.  Approve the payments of invoices etc. as listed on the Payments to be Authorised sheet.

Action:  Council RESOLVED to approve the Payments to be Authorised.
Proposed by Cllr Collier, seconded by Cllr Giles and approved unanimously.

c.  Approve the bank reconciliation for May 2026.The bank accounts had been reconciled for the month ending 31-May-2026, which now stood at £49,980.86, from the following accounts; £115.84 (TSB), £1,459.32 (Unity Trust Current) and £48,405.70 (Unity Trust Savings).
Action:  Council RESOLVED to approve the bank reconciliations for May 2026.
Proposed by Cllr Giles, seconded by Cllr Collier and approved unanimously.

d.  Consider the Internal Auditor Report in relation to the Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2025/26 Form 3, page 3
Action:  Council RESOLVED to noted and approved the Internal Auditor Report.
Proposed by Cllr Giles, seconded by Cllr Collier and approved unanimously.

e.  Confirm acknowledgement of Section 1, the Annual Governance Statements in relation to the Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2025/26 Form 3, page 4.
Action:  Council RESOLVED to approve the Annual Governance Statements as follows;
Councillors present verbally stated Yes to Annual Governance Statements, answering No to Assertion 4 and Assertion 10.
Suitable supporting statements were as follows;

4.  The Clerk had prepared and posted the incorrect Notice, using 19-Confirmation-of-the-dates-of-the-period-for-the-exercise-of-public-rights-2024-25 rather than 16-Making-provision-for-the-exercise-of-public-rights-2024-25.  The correct period of inspection was displayed, including the first 10 working days of July.

10.  The Council had recently acquired the potterhanworth-pc@gov.uk email address domain and was informing all correspondents to use this one going forward.
A suitable IT Policy was being prepared.
Proposed by Cllr Giles, seconded by Cllr Collier and approved unanimously.

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f.  Consider the Accounting Statements, Section 2, in relation to the Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2025/26 Form 3, page 5.
Action:  Council RESOLVED to approve the prepared figures.
Proposed by Cllr Giles, seconded by Cllr Collier and approved unanimously.

g.  Consider the cost to send delegates to the LALC Summer Conference on Tuesday 14-Jul-2026 at the Epic Centre, Lincolnshire Showground.
No volunteers wished to be considered.

24.  Planning Matters.
a.  26/0668/TPO – Application of Proposed Works to Trees Subject to Tree Preservation Order at 31 The Park, Potterhanworth, LN4 2EB.  Comments required by 26-Jun-2026.
No comments or objections were raised.

b.  26/0727/TCA – Notification of Proposed Works to Trees in a conservation area, at Glebe House, Mian Road, Potterhanworth.  Notification only, no comments required.

25.  Correspondence.
a.  NKDC Parish and Town Council Forum, Tuesday 30-Jun-2026.  Circulated 22-May-2026.
b.  NKDC Lottery Grant Scheme.  Circulated 22-May-2026.
c.  NKDC Parish and Town Council Newsletter.  Circulated 22-May-2026.
d.  LALC enews and Summer Conference.  Circulated 28-May-2026.
e.  LCC Town and Parish Council update.  Circulated 28-May-2026.
f.  NKDC Planning – 26/0727/TCA – Notification of tree work in conservation area.  Circulated 17-Jun-2026.
g.  NKDC e-NewsNK.  Circulated 17-Jun-2026.
h.  Lincolnshire Minerals and Waste Local Plan: Proposed Submission Version Regulation 19 consultation.  Circulated 17-Jun-2026.
i.  LALC Annual Report.  For AGM 09-Jul-2026.  Circulated 17-Jun-2026.
j.  LCC Public Rights of Way (PROW) cutting schedule.  Circulated 21-Jun-2026.

26.  Pavilion/playing field facilities.
a.  Receive an update on the MUGA.
Work was progressing well.  When the contractor originally arrived at the MUGA, the Works Site Manager noted that the arranged drainage plan would not work.  In consultation with Contracts Manager 2 resolutions were offered, a large French drain and extra drainage holes - within contract or a soak away for an extra £15k.  Decision was the French drain as an acceptable solution.
Work was expected to be completed in around 10 days.

b.  Consider changes to the Pavilion entrance porch area.
To provide for the safe and secure storage of Parish Council records, the reconfiguring the area, previous used as an entrance porch tot eh Pavilion was being considered.  The area was currently used by the Scout to store a number of items.  With additional storage shelves or a possible enlargement, the 20+ boxes of Council records currently sored in the loft area could be thinned out and then stored in fireproof storage.
The Clerk would look to arrange a convenient time with Cllr Ott and Mr Ralph Wilford to review the boxes in the loft and arrange the correct disposal of documents no longer legally required.

27.  Working Groups updates.
a.  Receive a report on behalf of the POTCOM Working Group.
No members were present and no report had been submitted.

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28.  Village Planters.
a.  Consider a course of action with regard to the Village Planters on Station Road, The Green near to the Church, The Park end of the village and any others.
The condition and contents of the 4 entrance planters and the one on the Green was discussed.
Action:  Council RESOLVED to approach Nick Rossington to provide a quote for brightening up these planters.
Proposed by Cllr Collier, seconded by Cllr Giles and approved unanimously.

29.  Meeting Dates.
a.  Confirm the date of the next Council Meeting.
The next meeting of the Parish Council was planned for Monday 27 July 2026.

The meeting closed at 7:50 pm.

Signature:  Original Signed
Printed Name:  Cllr Sarah Copsey
Date:  27 July 2026

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