Annual Report May 2021
Annual Report for 2020 - 2021
Written by Grahame Smith, Chair
This report covers an exceptional year due to the Coronavirus – Covid 19 Pandemic which started in early 2020. Following national guidelines meetings had to beconducted under Social Distancing regulations or online, so the Annual Residents meeting due to be held in April 2020 was cancelled.
Councillors decided that due to restrictions continuing, last year’s Annual Report was issued in June without a public meeting. Subsequently, all meetings during the year were held on line using the Zoom application.
Councillors
At the start of the year in May 2020 your councillors were:
Grahame Smith, Chair; Lynn Kemp, Deputy Chair; Katie Dromey; Anne- Marie Thornley and Amanda Ward. We were joined by Geoff Boxer in May.
In September Kate Dromey stepped down as she was moving from the village as did Amanda Ward step down.
In January 2021 we were joined by Hannah McKinlay and by Tim Wrisdale in March.
Also in March Anne-Marie Thornley stepped down.
There are currently two vacancies for councillors.
The Council has continued to be ably aided by our excellent Clerk, Libby Martin
Other Support
Regular reports and attendance at meetings were received from the County Councillor Bill Aron and our long serving District Councillor Jim Swanson. Both have been very valuable with the information, advice and hard work. We thank them.
We also thank Dawn Keal who continued as Internal Auditor.
1. The ‘Meet the Councillors’ Garden Tea Party due to be held in June was postponed until September but then cancelled due to the pandemic.
2. We successfully applied for the reduction of the speed limit from 40mph to 30mph on the A16 through the village. This is now approved and is expected to be applied during 2021.
3. War Memorial
The grounds are cared for all year round; special thanks go to volunteers Helena, Jane and Dave. In November a restricted memorial service of around 20 residents was conducted by Bishop David Rossdale. The special banner made by Heather Nathanwas also displayed, thanks go to both.
Your Parish Council purchased the geraniums and begonias for the grounds.
4. The Parish 4 Year Plan
The plan covers 2020 – 24 and during January 2021 the council conducted an appraisal and update. Much progress has been made and we will continue to do so. (See details on this website)
5. Roads
The increased use of www.FixMyStreet.com for reporting problems is effective as councillors and residents have most issues dealt with by the district council and county council.
6. Important Work
a. We usually receive reports from community groups at each meeting, but those from: Women’s Institute, Parochial Church Council, Gardening Club and the Village Hall have all been affected by the pandemic.
b. Policies and administrative responsibilities were continued during the pandemic by your hard working councillors and many thanks go to our Clerk, Libby Martin for her excellent guidance and work steering through them. We continued to hold meetingsvia Zoom rather than suspend them, which the government guidelines had allowed as an option.
c. We have a NEW Official website. Due to much additional hard work during August to December, our Clerk, Libby Martin and Chair Grahame Smith spent many hours creating the new parish council website; transferring documents and official information; uploading new sections and designing areas that are suitable to East Keal. The site is hosted by Lincolnshire County Council but controlled and managed by the parish council.
Information you need can be found on https://east-keal.parish.linconshire.gov.uk
d) We have continued to renovate benches and have them in the new blue colour, thank you to several volunteers for their painting work.
e) We have increased the communications on our Facebook page with around 300 people regularly reading our posts. During the flooding at Hall Corner, over 32,000 people were seeing our reports and pictures.
f) The roll out of high speed broadband with many households taking up connections has enabled us to hold our meetings online and improved residents communications overall.
g) Councillor Geoff Boxer is now our Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator.
7. Resilience Forum – Coronavirus Pandemic – Covid 19
Started March 2020 a support system for our community continued throughout this crisis with over 20 volunteers.
The increase in neighbours contacting each other, helping and looking after 5-10 nearby households meant we did not have any significant issues. We welcome this enhanced community spirit and encourage its continuance.
8. Village Volunteers.
We have reviewed the system for volunteers helping to keep our environment nice and improving its administration. Your parish council is very grateful for all the hard work that volunteers do during the year.
9. Other items dealt with by your Parish Council:
a) A New Notice Board has been purchased and located on the green at the entrance to Church Lane. This is in oxford blue colour to co-ordinate with the benches.
Many thanks go to Roy Thornley, Graham Pearson and Councillor Grahame Smith for the installation and Councillor Hannah McKinlay for work on analysing specifications.
Funding was supported with a grant from our District Councillor, Jim Swanson.
It is intended to replace the other two notice boards soon.
b) We have considered 19 different planning applications throughout the year.
c) There were five new signs purchased and erected to persuade people to pick up the waste from their dogs.
d) Wild flower seeds were spread in five locations.
e) We have considered moving the notice board and post box to be closer to the lay-by on A16 and are awaiting permission.
f) Standing Orders were updated to be more inclusive.
g) We held a volunteer litter pick where 22 residents turned up and spent the morning filling over twelve bags of rubbish. Your parish council purchased safety gloves, hi-vis vests and pickers for this and for use in the regular litter picks planned in future.
h) We reported excess mud on Fen Lane that was soon cleared.
j) Requests for pot-hole mending have resulted in repairs.
k) We have requested small litter bins at ‘the view’ and war memorial to be replaced by larger bins.
j) We have consulted on the location of a new sub-station required at the top of Fen Lane. It will now be landscaped to make it more appeasing.
l) We welcomed the redecoration of the village hall both externally and internally and will continue to support it by holding meetings and events there and having councillors on the committee.
10. FINANCES
Copies of the accounts are issued on a separate sheet and are available now to all residents.
We have kept the precept the same and with careful management and under spending were able to save money and spend it on the new notice board.
11. The Future
a) As we move out of the restrictions due to the pandemic, we shall encourage and support community activities and groups.
b) We shall continue to post information on our three notice boards, as well as other communications with parishioners by leaflet, Facebook and the emailing list.
c) The four year plan is being implemented and progress monitored.
d) Arrangements for Village Volunteers will be monitored by Councillor McKinlay and kept up to date.
e) We shall look to producing a leaflet about our local footpaths to help walkers.
Dates of meeting and other activities are posted on our notice boards, please do read them and contact us on any relevant issues.
There are currently two vacancies for councillors, as there are seven places on the council. Please consider joining us.
Please contact me or our Clerk, Libby. Martin. 01790 752 083
Thank you.
Grahame Smith, Chair