Parish Plan 2020-23
East Keal Parish Council
Four Year Plan for 2020 - 23
1. Introduction
The council covers the parish of East Keal which includes the village of East Keal and surrounding homes and agricultural fields and some woodland.
Located to the west of Spilsby in Lincolnshire the parish is approximately two miles wide (east – west) and three miles long (north – south).
The purpose of the plan is to set a direction and to satisfy the aspirations of parishioners by providing a framework for council activities commensurate with financial constraints.
During January – February 2020 we shall produce a summary setting out our priorities and time scales and will repeat this annually.
2. Aims and objectives
The plan is to set the aims and objectives from 1st January 2020 until 31st December 2024. These are formulated by a community led approach, particularly a household survey.
In September 2019 your councillors delivered a questionnaire to every home (164) in the parish. Over 100 responses were received and evaluated to form the actions detailed further below. The plan is ongoing and subject to regular review.
We shall work closely with other agencies and community groups to promote and sustain East Keal as an attractive, safe and desirable place to live.
3. Resources
There are seven councillor positions and one employee who is a part time clerk.
Councillors are elected every four years; the most recent being in May 2019.
It is possible to co-opt to any vacancy that may arise in the interim.
There is encouragement for relevant ongoing training for both councillors and the clerk. The clerk will continue to have a proper contract of employment.
Finances are received annually from the precept from taxpayers and from a rental of 11.27 acres of farmland, plus any fund raising and grants.
4. Partnerships
We shall work closely with and alongside Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils (LALC); East Lindsey District Council, Lincolnshire County Council, residents’ groups and clubs and a volunteer workforce. We will continue to liaise closely with West Keal Parish Council.
We shall be representative and involve all parts of the community.
5. Communications
Our aim is to actively listen and to ensure effective communications between the council and all other interested parties.
6. Evaluation
a) There will be an annual appraisal of progress and best practice of the four-year plan.
b) We shall hold regular council meetings at least six in each year, every two months and an Annual Residents Meeting
c) Regular financial reports will be provided.
In addition, there will also be a progress and actions report annually by the chair- person.
d) All records and policies are available for inspection at any time and publically displayed.
e) Accounts will be properly prepared and audited including an annual financial report
f) We shall adopt the Local Government Act; Code of Conduct.
Aims and Objectives from the Questionnaire Responses
1. Contact with the council.
All existing methods were popular, so we will continue to use: meetings, email; our website; leaflets through letter boxes; Facebook page; notice boards & parish magazine. There will be involvement with social groups and clubs and we shall hold an annual garden tea party social.
2. Transport
We will:
a) Make representations to improve the bus services.
b) Ask for a ‘wallet size timetable’ easy to carry
c) Provide more information on the ‘Call Connect’ system
d) Consider ways to encourage residents to car share or help with lifts.
3. Security
We will:
a) Encourage more contact with our local Police Community Support officer (PCSO) and more visibility.
b) Include the PCSO as a speaker at our Annual Residents Meeting.
c) Improve the spread of notifications of Neighbourhood Alert e.g. more people on our email notification list.
4. Social Activities
a) We will encourage the delivery of a range of additional activities that are not already available. This will be done by working closely with the Village Hall Committee and other existing social groups to devise a programme of events to stimulate involvement and interest.
Topics suggested are: ceilidh dance, a musical event, games event, photography class,
murder mystery entertainment, come dine with me, ballroom dancing class, holiday activities for children, coffee mornings, crafts, book sales, computer & internet classes, knitting group, history and evolvement of the local area, cinema club, theatre group, 1940s era daytime group, family history research group, art group.
We will:
b) Continue to give wide support to existing social groups and any new ones.
c) Encourage and actively support the creation of a Local History Group
d) Seek to improve computer skills of local people, including use of libraries.
e) Look to provide information and links for ‘pop-up’ pubs.
5. Environment
a) There will be encouragement to everyone to keep footpaths cleared and branches away from signs.
b) Our aim will be to reduce the speed of traffic in the parish. We will evaluate and aim for the possibility of reducing the limit on the smaller residential roads to 20 mph.
c) Regarding the A16, we will strive to consider all possibilities on systems and methods that would reduce traffic speed; including a camera, flashing sign and village entrance gates.
d) We shall endeavour to enhance our community environment, promoting and protecting all fauna and flora and wildlife in our gardens and surrounding countryside. Support will be given to local initiatives on enhancing our environment.
We will provide encouragement of projects for more planting of wildflower areas.
e) We will explore possibilities with regard to obtaining and managing a community area or park.
f) We will continue to ask for resurfacing of our small roads surfaces, especially in Church Lane and Fen Lane.
g) There will be encouragement of re-cycling initiatives and will encourage the District Council to provide more frequent emptying of glass recycling bins.
h) We will continue the maintenance and enhancement of all existing parish assets.
Our prime goals are: i) to be cost effective and obtaining the best value for money; and ii) to achieve the optimum benefit of parishioners.
j) We shall initiate and support the provision of a Christmas tree on the village green each year.
8th November 2019
SEE Progress Report from 20th January 2021