February 2026 Minutes
Kettlethorpe Parish Council
Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on Tuesday10th February 2026
in Kettlethorpe Village Hall
PRESENT:
Cllr C Turner (Chair)
Cllr R Elliott,
Cllr C McGowan
Cllr R Barnard
Cllr P Bussoopun
Cllr C Smith
Cllr T O’Callaghan
Mr G Cleworth, Clerk
D/Cllr R Pilgrim
APOLOGIES:
none
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
The Minutes of the meeting held on 13th January 2026 had been circulated to all councillors and after adjustment were agreed.as a correct record.
PROGRESS REPORTS
Speeding
The Clerk had prepared and sent the email mentioned in previous Minutes. There had been a disappointing number of replies, which were declining to assist. It was felt that using some form of loan funding was the wrong policy and a number of bodies who might be able to assist. The Clerk will approach these This was agreed and will be sent to all the potential funding sources previously provided.
Village Hall
Cllr Elliott to hear from the Trustees about arranging a meeting with the Village Hall umbrella organisation . He will follow this up.
The Clerk had received invoices covering the Council‘s rental of the hall for meetings for the years 2023/24 (£235) and 2024/25 (£290). These were agreed by the meeting.
Jubilee Park
RoSPA safety report: there had been no progress
Village survey / walk around / spring clean
The proforma produced by Cllr Smith was discussed. had produced a proforma which had been circulated and was discussed. It was decided to aim to get the survey distributed out by the end of March.
In an attempt to improve the communication between the council and the residents, it was decided to publicise forthcoming meetings on Facebook.
It was decided to have a permanent agenda item to discuss if any Facebook posts are needed.
It was further decided to have Facebook as a permanent agenda item, to determine what might need publicising on the page.
It was also decided that each set of minutes should detail the up-to-date cases on Fix My Street relating to the villages.
AGAR assertion 10
There were new requirements for this year for the exterior audit (AGAR). This concentrate on Councils having a Data Protection Policy; an IT Policy; and “.gov.uk” websites for each councillor and the Clerk. We have substantially already got these, but the Clerk had provided a draft for a new Data Protection Policy and circulated this to councillors.
It was felt that a small group featuring the Clerk and two councillors should review the posting of all policies on the website and to tidy this into a format which will be easier to access for parishioners.
Defibrillator replacement
This is not due until May 2027 but is up for discussion due to the significant costs involved in purchasing a replacement. WLDC operate a financial assistance scheme for councils for the replacement of defibrillators, whereby WLDC donates £600 to the project and levies a maintenance charge of £110 per annum. Cllr Elliott will look into this.
Church grass cutting support from Fenton PC and ourselves
As instructed, the Clerk had contacted Mrs B Gilbert asking if the Church could obtain three quotations for their grass cutting in 2027. She had advised that the Church were happy with the service provided by their current contractor and was unwilling to pursue new quotations.
The Council had no objection to continuing the support of the Church, however it was understood that Fenton PC were contacting Mrs Gilbert separately on this matter and we will await developments.
Westmoor Lane
The complainant house owner had been advised that there is nothing the Council can do to effect repairs and the matter was closed.
New councillor training
The next course was available in March. Cllrs McGowan and Smith will check their availability and advise the Clerk so that the courses can be booked.
Posting on Facebook
nothing to post
rewilding
the planned layout had been amended and Cllr Barnard and Mrs A Brownlow had in hand.
CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence for January/February to date had been circulated to all councillors
PLANNING
WLDC reference WL/2025/00960
As the Planning Committee video of discussion on this had been posted on Facebook, it was decided that no further action is needed.
WLDC reference WL/2026/00041
This new application was discussed and it was decided that no comments would be added to it.
FINANCE
The payment of the following invoices for December were agreed by the Council:
already paid: F5 Computing £42.88 monthly;
not yet paid: Kettlethorpe PCC request for contribution towards the Church grass cutting costs £575.67 (due 1/4/26); Kettlethorpe Village Hall re room hire for 2023/24 (£235) and 2024/25 (£290) agreed by this meeting
Clerk – PAYE AND SALARY for January
Accounts to the end of January:
income £14494.21; expenditure £12187.37; balance £12993.60
These were agreed and accepted by the meeting
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
Issues had been raised by Mr K Gilbert regarding the lack of councillors’ contact details on the website and notice board and the obtaining of the council’s accounts by parishioners.
There were legal requirements relating to the publicising of councillors’ contact details and it is the Council’s policy that anyone wishing to contact the Council should do so through the Clerk.
There is a legal requirement that the AGAR return including the audited accounts must be displayed on the notice board for a set period of days and on the website.
The accounts are public documents and any parishioner is entitled to request sight of them. The accounts can be inspected and notes written or pictures taken, but they may not be removed from the Clerk’s possession or emailed. A viewing should take place on neutral ground and the parishioner and Clerk each accompanied by an independent witness.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next Meeting will take place in Kettlethorpe Village Hall on 10th March 2026 at 7pm.
The Chair closed the meeting at 8.55pm.