March 2026 Minutes
Kettlethorpe Parish Council
Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on Tuesday10th March 2026
in Kettlethorpe Village Hall
PRESENT:
Cllr C Turner (Chair)
Cllr R Elliott,
Cllr C McGowan
Cllr C Smith
Cllr T O’Callaghan
Mr G Cleworth, Clerk
D/Cllr R Pilgrim
APOLOGIES:
Cllrs R Barnard & P Bussoopun
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
Cllrs Elliott and Smith raised queries about the Minutes of the meeting held on 10th February 2026. These were discussed and the Clerk will amend the Minutes which will be formally agreed at the April meeting.
The meeting decided that the Minutes be circulated as soon as possible after each meeting and again when the documents are sent out for the next meeting. This will allow councillors the chance to advise the Clerk of any issues and provide a chance to make amendments prior to the Minutes going to the meeting.
PROGRESS REPORTS
Speeding
The Clerk had investigated the possible funding sources for warning signs, which were not considered suitable for the project. He advised the meeting that our year end surplus could be applied to the overall costs, topped up by transferring funds from the contingency for Jubilee Park, but he strongly advised that the election contingency fund should not be touched.
The Clerk was asked to contact Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership to enquire about the costs for the installation of posts and request a site visit. He was also asked to contact Elan City regarding their current “two for one” offer and arrange a site visit.
There had been reports into speed police presence in Laughtterton. The Clerk was asked to contact LRSP and ask if they would be prepared to advise us after each visit fo the dates and duration.
Village Hall
Cllr Elliott had spoken to Mrs Wilcox, who is in the process of setting up membership of Lincolnshire Village Hall Association.
Cllr Snith has the Village Hall sign stored in his garage and asked when this should be put back on display. The meeting agreed that this should be put back out at the beginning of April.
Jubilee Park
RoSPA safety report outstandings: this was deferred until the April meeting.
Cllr Smith was authorised to cut back an overhanging tree at the north western corner of the playground. There were other trees around the park which require removal due to fallen branches and death.
Cllr Barnard had indicated his wish to stand down from his long-running monthly inspection of the play park. Cllr Smith had offered to take the role over, but the meeting also discussed using an outside agency. The meeting was advised that there were no training courses available until April at least. The Clerk will check on the actual requirements for this.
Village survey / walk around / spring clean
The spring clean was set for Sunday 26th April. This will be in a leaflet which Cllr Smith will draft.
D/Cllr Pilgrim advised that WLDC operate a system of providing litter picking equipment and waste disposal. This is in the latest WLDC parish newsletter.
AGAR assertion 10
The Clerk had circulated proforma Data Protection and IT policies to councillors and advised the meeting to adopt the most appropriate versions.
The Clerk was deputed to select what he believed to be the most suitable of each and bring to the next meeting for adoption.
Defibrillator replacement
The Clerk will contact WLDC regarding their financial assistance scheme whereby WLDC donates £600 to the project and levies a maintenance charge of £110 per annum.
Church grass cutting support from Fenton PC and ourselves
Mrs B Gilbert on behalf of the Parochial Church Council had advised that they wish to continue using All Round Garden, and indeed they had already begun the cutting for this year.
The Council was happy to accept their choice.
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
Cllr McGowan had undertaken her training and had found this very useful. The meeting authorised the payment of LALC’s invoice for £42 in respect of this.
Posting on Facebook
The Clerk was asked to post publicity regarding the litter pick up and spring cleaning of village, and also the Fix My Street case involving .
Fix Mt Street
Mr G Fraser attended the meeting and related the circumstances of this fall on Main Road Laughterton on 14th February 2026. Since then, LCC have visited and jetted the blockage. Unfortunately, the jetting had covered the pavement with debris and it is again dangerous. The team leader had advised Cllr Elliott that he will be submitting a report which will feature the need to clean the pavement and repair broken areas of sidewalk.
The Clerk was asked to email our County Councillor C?Cllr P Wimhurst to highlight this long running issue, in addition to the work in hand with Fix My Street. Possible solutions suggested were raising the height of the pavement, widening the pavement, and fitting a French drain. The issue is aggravated by the use of this area by schoolchildren, because there is no pavement on the opposite side.
We will also highlight several outstanding issues on Fix My Street in this part of the road.
Fix My Street outstanding issues
Cllr Smith had accessed Fix My Street and identified five outstanding issues, not all initiated by the Council. He volunteered to do this on a regular basis on the day of each meeting. This was accepted with thanks.
rewilding
in the absence of Cllr Barnard, there was no direct report. Cllr Elliott will speak to Cllr Barnard regarding progress.
CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence for January/February to date had been circulated to all councillors
marketing correspondence from Elan City
hard copy of email from Powering Industry
Clerks and Councils Direct
PLANNING
nothing to report
FINANCE
The payment of the following invoices for February 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 February
Accounts to the end of February:
income £14509.40; expenditure £13306.10; balance £11890.06
These were agreed and accepted by the meeting
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
The meeting decided that alongside their names, the councillors’ dedicated domain address may be visible on the website.
The Clerk had received a quotation from KrinklesUK for our grass cutting in 2026. This was significantly lower than All Round Gardens and it was decided to accept. The Clerk will inform Krinkles and All Round Gardens. He will enquire whether Krinkles operate a three year commitment with a view to 2027 and beyond.
Cllr Elliott advised that he had been looking into a company called TQ Services, with a view to our grass cutting for 2027. The Clerk will investigate.
The Clerk had received an email regarding the ongoing poor condition of Westmoor Lane, asking if the Council would be prepared to mediate between her and the landowners to make some progress.
This is not something we can do and the Clerk was asked to draft a suitable reply and circulate among cllrs before sending.
Cllr Smith addressed the meeting regarding several remarks made by him in various recent emails which had been ill-advised and uncalled for. He further advised that irrespective of the content of some emails , there had been no intention to level accusations at any councillor.
He offered his apologies for these entries/
These were accepted by the meeting and the matter closed.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next Meeting will take place in Kettlethorpe Village Hall on 14th April 2026 at 7pm.
The Chair closed the meeting at 8.55pm.