2021 Annual Parish Meeting

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY, 6th JULY 2021

PRESENT: Councillors – 

Also in attendance: -

Mrs. A. Hannath – Clerk to the Council

Cllr. Peter Morris - WLDC

5 members of the public

1. Welcome by the Chairman

Councillor D. Cowling opened the meeting and welcome the parishioners in attendance.

2. To Receive the Minutes of the 2019Annual Parish Meeting

It was resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 26th March, 2019, having been circulated should be taken as read and approved.

Proposed: D. Cowling Seconded: Cllr. C. Wilson

3. Matters arising from the Minutes

To be covered in the Chairman’s report

4. District and County Councillor Reports

Unfortunately, Councillor T. Smith is on Annual Leave.

Cllr. Peter Morris reported that :-

a) He attended his first full meeting of West Lindsey District Council at the end of June

b) Currently there is a Jubilee Planning Committee to start plans for the Queen’s Jubilee next year.  It is hoped to provide funding for local events.

c) He will be a member of the Licensing and Procedure Committees

d) On a personal note, he informed the meeting that he is a member of Caistor Lions.  When looking into funding a new seat for Bigby, he found out that Bigby is covered by the Caistor Lions.  As such, he suggested that Father Christmas could visit the village in December.  Cllr. D. Cowling hoped that this could be tied into the Christmas Windows Evening.

5. Chairman’s Report

• Welcome: New Parish Councillors – Lee Bishop, Jacquie Pinney, Natalie Francis WLDC – Peter Morris LCC – Tom Smith

• Thanks to: Parish Councillors for the following:-

Lee – SID/refurbishment of noticeboards, Brenda – upkeep of little library

• Ben Stork – thanks litter picking                                                                                                                                                                 

• Precept: same £6500

• Donations: Citizen Advice and Bigby Church Council

• Receipts: £6128.21 (May 2019) Infrastructure Levy Pingley Vale

• £10,000 (Aug 2020) Village Hall Grant

• Roads: A1084 – speed limit/resurfacing etc

• Blocked drains – continue to lobby for improvements regarding surface water

• In negotiation with LCC re: solution to ‘Bobs’ Lane (resurface access, install minor upstand and ongoing further investigation)

• Drainage issues – raise awareness of blocked sewers

• Successfully campaigned for road improvements Pingley Vale

• Continue to lobby re: Smithy Lane

• SID continues to be used – flow of traffic is comparable to similar villages

• Public footpath accessibility is being monitored and any problems reported

• Environment: Little Library continues to be well used

• Continue to lobby for access to the Melon Ross Refuse facility – negotiations are currently on hold due to current situation

• Orchard maturing nicely. A wildlife area has been created – thanks to Brendas grandson

• Chafer bugs identified on Bigby Green – being dealt with by village handy man who continues to cut the grass (verge outside Pingly Vale now included) and deal with any other matter that arise.

• New street/village entrance signs are in final stage

• New litter bins

• Proposed new bench outside village hall

• Events: Christmas windows modified event for 2020 – will hopefully be back for 2021

• VE celebrations last year very successful and well supported

• ‘World in a Wheelbarrow’ planned for 4-5th September 2021

6. Signage for the Parish

Covered in the Chairman’s report

7. Open Forum

No questions were asked

8. Presentation - Community / Business Photovoltaic (Solar Energy) Project

The presentation was made by Anthony Turnbull, local farmer, Pete Watmough, local resident and Process Engineer and Clive Wilson, local resident and Parish Councillor.

a) With increasing CO2 emissions and the resultant climate change issues, there is a need to look at new ways of satisfying energy demands

b) Pete Watmough advised that Solar Technology is possibly the best way forward, given that Solar Panels will always work, (apart from at night), are relatively maintenance free, have a low environmental impact and are not noisy.

c) To provide enough energy for Bigby around 1000 solar panels would be needed, which is about the area of a football pitch.  Alternatively, using brownfield sites, such as disused quarries, and being a bigger entity means that a group would be of more interest to the energy companies.

d) Anthony Turnbull outlined the advantages of using large areas of low-grade land or brown field sites.  Once the solar panels are installed, the land can regain its biodiversity

e) The land that he owns that is currently quarried by Breedon Aggregates would make an ideal site for some 35 hectares of solar panels.  Its use could be developed to provide electricity for both Bigby and Barnetby

f) There would be a need for cabling for connection to users.

g) The financing of such a project could be by local investors or by FTSE companies, who are looking to invest in green energy projects to offset their carbon footprint.

h) The next steps are dependent on the local interest generated by presentations such as this.  There need to be a group established to take the project forward and to manage it.

The meeting closed at 8.15 pm