2025 - Parish Council Meeting Documents

Present:      Chair Gill Mahoney of Sedgebrook Parish Council together with County Councillor Richard Litchfield, Mrs J Bratton (Parish Clerk) and 13 members of the public. 

1 Chair’s Welcome – I would like to welcome you all to The Sedgebrook Parish Meeting. The meeting is for the residents. Myself and Councillor Warby were officially elected as Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively at the Annual Parish Council Meeting on Thursday 16th May 2024. There will be the annual election next Thursday 22nd May at the Annual Parish Council Meeting.  I'd like to introduce Mrs Jane Bratton, Sedgebrook Parish Council’s superb Parish Clerk, as I said last year, we would be unable to function without her.  Councillor Clive Wood, responsible for planning, highways and flooding, Councillor Jane Denton financial and planters on The Green, Councillor Chris Warby, footpaths and resources. Unfortunately, Councillor Warby can't be here tonight as she had an urgent family commitment.  Myself, recreation field and flooding. The Parish Council is also very pleased to welcome Rachael Yates, who has put her name forward to join the Parish Council. Also I’m pleased that Alec McNulty has likewise put his name forward to join the Parish Council. They are both of the younger generation which will  reduce the average age of the Parish Council. No bad thing. We could always do with more Parish Councillors and if you know anyone who would like to put their name forward, they would be very welcome.

We also welcome our new Lincolnshire County Councillor. Richard Litchfield. I was going to welcome District Councillors Pamela Bosworth and Robert Leadenham, but unfortunately they couldn't make tonight and have sent their apologies.

We have been very unlucky with our speakers too. Richard Fenwick Head of Highways and Asset and Local Management was going to speak, but is now on a course. He has kindly sent a report, which will be read out later under item 6. Maybe Lincolnshire County Councillor Richard Litchfield would like to introduce  himself to you all and say a few words when we get to Item 7.

2 Apologies:  Apologies were received from Councillor Chris Warby, Sue Ashby (Twinning Assn), District Councillor Robert Leadenham, District Councillor Pamela Bosworth, Victoria Hammond and Lizzy McCaig-Last (Allington with Sedgebrook Primary School), Jenny Stuart (St Lawrence Church), Amanda Longdon (Social Club) and Sam Wade (Sedgebrook Jubilee)     

3 To approve the minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on the 9 May 2024 - The minutes were approved and signed.  

4 Any Matters Arising from those minutes - none.

5 Chair’s Full Report – I would like to thank Jenny and Alan for storing the Flood Sax in the Church. Also to Nick and Sam Wade for their continued support and storing the sand and sandbags at their farm. Thanks go to Stephen, our Community Cleaner, who keeps the village litter free. Paul Hempstead and his team who continue to keep the village tidy with their fortnightly grass cutting. 

We have a great community. In an emergency everyone is hands on to help where possible. It doesn't even have to be an emergency, does it? The community supports, when it can, anyone who needs help for whatever reason. Fortunately, we haven't succumbed to flooding this year and although, the Allington Road bridge is still flooding, it appears to clear quicker now. Some residents have taken steps to minimise further flooding of their properties. One major dyke has been excavated, and National Highways has cleared the gully under Village Street adjacent to the A52. There are still some matters which remain outstanding, and we will update our new County Councillor in due course.

A52 safety is still a priority for the village. Myself, Councillor Denton and Councillor Warby attended a meeting at Barrowby Memorial Hall. We met with Phil Shaw, who is Route Manager for National Highways. It was very informative but matters remain outstanding.

Finally, we managed to get the picnic benches and picnic table installed at the playing field. 

We are looking forward to hearing reports from you all who support the village in various forms.

6 Report from Richard Fenwick, Head of Highways Asset and Local Management Services, Lincolnshire County Council - Firstly, please accept my apologies for not attending the meeting in person. I had to be out of the County for work and the Local Highways Manager is currently off work at short notice. I will ensure an officer attends the next meeting and explains the structure and roles of LCC highways in general as well as covering any detailed questions.

Here is an update on known issues in the Parish:

School Lane and Village Street - Recent Jetting Works carried out on job number 5746891 on 08/04/2025, all assets cleared and flowing along School Lane & Village Street.

We were unable to get to 2 gullies unable to get to due to parked cars, and the crew were unable to get hold of vehicle owners to move them.

Ditches along A52 - As per email from Rowan Smith, the only section of dyke which is in public ownership will be the section on the A52 , which belongs to National Highways. Responsibility sits with them under S265 of The Highways Act 1980.

None of the ditches on Village Street are documented anywhere stating that they are under the ownership of, or dedicated to, LCC, and we have not acquired them for any road schemes within our maintainable area.

We welcome any local evidence to the contrary but we have none ourselves.

Allington Road (under railway bridge) - This may be a capacity issue as jetting works under job 5797134 was completed and all assets reported running. Feedback has been that there is still standing in heavy rain water however it clears much quicker than before.

The highways system connects into a system owned and maintained by Network Rail (running west), although they had confirmed it was due to be cleaned very shortly (if it has not already been done). It will need annual maintenance which we will chase, to make sure it runs at the highest capacity it can.

Allington Road (further north in Allington Parish) - Works to the riparian watercourse running from Fox’s Cottage towards the sewage works are due to be completed in the next month. Works to the culvert under Peach Lane will follow shortly after.

Richard Fenwick will arrange for his successor to attend our July Parish Council’s meeting.  Richard Litchfield will send over the details to the Clerk when these are available.

7 Short Report from the County Councillor – Richard Litchfield is the new County Councillor covering 9500 residents from Grantham, Barrowby, Woolsthorpe by Belvoir, Allington, Sedgebrook and to the border of Foston. This is his second week in office - he will be treating the position as a full-time role.  He has already met Richard Fenwick.  There will be an effective hand-over with Mark Whittington.  He saw District Councillor Rob Leadenham yesterday and have agreed to work together.  Richard will attend as many meetings as possible.  Clerk Action: to send Richard details of the Annual Parish Council Meeting on the 22 May 2025 and all future meetings.

Following a discussion on proposed double white lines on the A52, which could save accidents,  due to Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directives, Chapter 7, the decision is based on visibility and speed and it has to fit into the criteria.  Every road will have been surveyed and, unless regulations change, they cannot justify putting double white lines in additional areas.

Police enforcement     is needed to change the driver’s character in order to get the message across.  The Chair stated the speed limit is being reduced from Barrowby on the A52 – we are already 50 mph.  There is a speed camera but there are no police seen on the A52.  The County Councillor agreed to investigate it.

The A52 is not a dangerous road, it is the drivers themselves who are the danger – we are now back to pre-pandemic traffic. The Chair stated the Woolsthorpe Crossroads junction is rated as 100th on the danger scale; there must be a death before anything can be done.  The situation could only get worse if the proposed building at Allington goes ahead which could be the leverage to do something.

The County Councillor will shortly have his portfolio allocated.

8 Short reports from District Councillors – none.

9 Short reports from village organisations

9a i St Lawrence Church – Alan Cook, Churchwarden read the report - See Appendix B for the Churchwarden and PCC Reports in full.

9a ii Markham Museum and Heritage Group – Elisabeth Carnell read her report – The Heritage Group now meets every two months, with three meetings held in the Museum and three in the Social Club. The displays in the Museum usually relate to the talks given at the Heritage Group, sometimes just one panel and other times multiple panels on one topic.

Topics of talks given, and displays created, were:

• Connections we'd rather remain hidden - Sedgebrook links to the slave trade.
• A trip to Australia - following the journey of a felon arrested in Sedgebrook and transported to Australia.
• Henry VII and the powerful women around him – a talk given by guest speaker, Bernadette Wray
• Private Bascombe's war – the experiences of Bert Bascombe 1942-1948, with a special focus on the D-Day landings as part of the 80th anniversary.  His widow Betty used to live in Sedgebrook and his daughter remains a resident.
• The Bee family of Chestnut Farm – this talk was a result of a visit to Sedgebrook by John Bee's descendants researching their family history.
• Private Brown's war – based on the wartime letters of Vin Brown who was fatally wounded during WW1.  His nephew was a resident of Sedgebrook and his great-niece remains a resident.
• The mineral railway – a talk following the line of the mineral railway from Bottesford to Woolsthorpe and beyond, which runs along Sedgebrook's western parish border.

Special displays were done for the D-Day landings 80th anniversary; for the Heritage Open Day event on the theme of Connections; and for Remembrance Day. Additional material was added to evidence gathered for the talks outlined above.

9b Whitehouse Farm Nursery – the report Nicky Spencer sent was read out - We have had good year at the nursery, we continue to manage a long waiting list. The government scheme to give parents 30 hours free childcare per week has seen an increase in parents wanting places and, unfortunately, we have been unable to accommodate the demand.

The new outdoor area, Willow cottage has been well used and the children love spending time there. They have a workshop for building and making wooden items, learning how to use tools safely, they have lots of trees to climb and sticks to play with. The next step for this area is to set up a more permanent fire pit area so we can start cooking out meals.

We continue to rent a woodland space at Manor Farm taking groups of children there for Forest school sessions in our minibus.

Over the Christmas period we used the social club for some stay and play Xmas sessions and the church for out nativity, big thanks again to Alan and Jenny for their help and support, always appreciated.

We have had some struggles this year recruiting qualified staff so have 3 ladies who have just completed an apprenticeship with us and are now qualified.

As with all businesses it’s a constant juggling act but we are very lucky to have such a strong team.

9c Community Speed Watch – See Appendix A for the full report which David Mahoney gave to the meeting. 

9d Social Club – Wendy Fowler, gave a report - there are 120 members.  Some improvements have been made including refurbishment of the Gents, new fire doors and planters.  Thanks were given to Alan and John who are no longer on the Committee.  The Club is being used every day of the week.  The bar is open Fridays and Sundays.  There will be a “happy hour” to thank all members on Friday 6 June.

9e Allington with Sedgebrook Primary School – the Clerk read the report (see below) - 93 children on roll (following the meeting it was confirmed that 6 pupils were from Sedgebrook and 15 pupils from Allington – nobody is on the PTA or Board of Governors from Sedgebrook)

Churches - It was wonderful to be able to do our Easter and Christmas Services at St Lawrence’s Church. Each class also contributed to a beautiful display in Sedgebrook, which was very well received by those attending the Remembrance Service on Sunday 10 November.

We are also happy to be working again with our closest church in Allington, with our youngest children in Class 1 visiting next week (20 May) to look around the new facilities, do a quiz and enjoy a snack. We thank Marian Hubbard and Margaret Dicken for their regular visits to school to lead Collective Worship.

Sporting Achievements - We continue to take part in local sporting activities, through our partnerships with Inspire+ and School Games, run by Priory Ruskin. Since September, children have been on out of school to try cricket, cheerleading, tag rugby, cross country and football.  Before they finish for the year, Years 3 and 4 will join in the Mini Olympics with 100s of local schoolchildren, and the Small Schools Athletics Competition will see our children in Years 3-6 compete with local schools of a similar size, in an exciting competition at the Meres.

We have also had teams in the Rotary Swimarathon and Small Schools Swimming Gala.

At all events, organisers and other schools have commented on Allington’s team spirit, which is always wonderful to hear.

Musical interlude - We have been delighted to welcome the Lincolnshire School of Music in the Autumn and Spring terms to do Whole Class Ensemble Teaching, once a week, to 2 classes in violin/cello and trumpet/trombone. These lessons were possible thanks to donations from our PTA, Friends of Allington with Sedgebrook Primary School (FASPS). Some children enjoyed their lessons so much that they have gone onto further tuition!

What have we done to make a difference? - Our school vision encourages us to work together to make a difference, and we carefully consider what we can do locally, nationally and worldwide for people less fortunate than ourselves.

Charity fundraising -

• Children in Need - £105
• Save the Children - £70 through the official Christmas Jumper Day.
• St Barnabas Hospice Grantham - All children took part in Rudy's Run on Tuesday 17 December. We raised £50 for the Hospice, and everyone had a great time looking for Santa's reindeer in the school grounds!
• The British Legion - Led by School Council, we raised £241.34 for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal - an outstanding amount according to the Fundraiser for this area.
• Comic Relief (£126)

Our newly formed Eco Council have shown a real interest in the environment around them, holding a Bird Box competition with some beautiful entries, which have been installed in ‘Willow Way’ at school. They also organised a non-uniform day with a blue/green theme and a 5p challenge, to raise funds for the Rotary Club Long Bennington, to go to the Busoga Trust, an organisation aiming to improve water hygiene in Uganda.

All in all, an incredibly busy school year so far!

9f Sedgebrook Craft Club – Jane Denton read out her report – This was the brainchild of Sandi, a Sedgebrook resident, and started in September 2022 in the Social Club. Held on a Tuesday afternoon between 2 and 4pm and very popular – we have a great core of regulars!

For a couple of pounds (to cover the Social Club fees) you can join with likeminded people to work on your own projects with a hot drink, biscuit (or homemade cake sometimes) and company.

A variety of crafts from knitting, crochet, mending, embroidery, sewing, felting, painting, colouring – whatever you are working on you are more than welcome to come along. There is nearly always someone on hand with advice if you need it. We are also really happy to learn new skills as well!

We made various Christmas decorations for a tree in St Lawrence Church.

We held our first Christmas Fair on Sunday 10th November 2024 in aid of Cancer Research. A lovely variety of stalls and refreshments were also available. We raised £560 which was paid into the Grantham shop – the largest donation the Grantham shop had ever received! Special thanks to Sandi, Derek and Jane for the time and effort they both put into the planning and on the day itself. Lots of people also helped on the day and not forgetting those that came to spend their money. It was a very successful event – thank you one and all!

So, if you have the time and are making something please come along! Everyone is welcome.

9g The Allington with Sedgebrook Twinning Association – the Clerk read out Susan Ashby’s report –  Not much has happened with the Twinning Association this year.  Several times I have asked if anyone is interested in being involved but I have had no response.  I have said that I can keep it ticking over for now i.e. sending copies of Allington News over to Tuffé and responding to any emails from the Twinning Association. 

I have been in touch with the Secretary from the Tuffé Twinning Association, as they did mention a wish to visit this year, but they had to put it on hold.  They say they would still like to visit, but that the bus hire is very expensive.   So nothing as yet has been arranged.

10 Invitation to the public to raise any matters of interest

10a  A parishioner asked the County Councillor if he could sort anything out about the flooding on his driveway on School Lane.  Clerk Action: to scan the photographs and send to the County Councillor.

10b The parishioner was concerned about the wavy tarmac edges which need to be levelled on School Lane (near to the dog training field).  The Chair will take photographs and send them off to FixMyStreet.  The Parish Council will report back to the parishioner once we receive a reply.

The meeting closed with light refreshments served.

FOR FULL MINUTES WITH APPENDIX A & B  SEE MINUTES IN PDF FORMAT ON HOME PAGE OF WEBSITE