East Kirkby Parish Council Meeting
21st May 2026 19.00 start
East Kirkby Village Hall
Election of Chairman: Cllr Brandwood proposed Cllr Nowicki, seconded by Cllr Warman.
Election of Vice-Chairman: Chairman proposed Cllr Brandwood as Vice-Chairman, seconded by Cllr Warman.
Both accepted the nominations.
Chairman at this point asked Mr Leon Stokes to join the Parish Council which he accepted.
Signing of Declarations of Acceptance of Office: All Councillors including Cllr Stokes signed their Declarations of Acceptance of Office.
Chairman’s address: Chairman thanked all the Councillors and the Clerk for their support and contributions during the last year. Chairman closed that section of the meeting.
Public meeting: Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, opened the public meeting at 19.05. MoPs had no questions for the meeting, so Chairman closed the Public Meeting at 19.10.
Present & Apologies: Cllrs B Nowicki (Chairman), C Brandwood, C Warman, L Stokes, County Cllr P Roberts District Cllr T Taylor, Mrs JH Mussett (Clerk)
Apologies tendered and accepted: Cllrs V Lingard and Y James
Declarations of interest: There were no declarations of interest based on the published agenda.
Approval of minutes from the April 2026 Annual Parish meeting: Chairman ascertained that the Councillors had read the minutes and that they were an accurate representation of that meeting. Draft minutes of the Annual Parish meeting were unanimously approved by the Councillors. Chairman signed the minutes off and will publish on the noticeboard. Minutes are also available on the website.
Approval of minutes from the Parish Council meeting from April 2026: Chairman ascertained that the Councillors had read the minutes and that they were an accurate representation of that meeting. Acceptance of the minutes was proposed by Cllr Warman and seconded by Cllr Brandwood. Unanimously agreed at the subsequent vote. Chairman signed a copy of the minutes and will post a copy on the notice board. Minutes are also available on the website.
Update from District and County Councillors:
Cllr Roberts advised that there is a pot of approx. £300 per parish and the application forms will be available shortly; Cllr Roberts will be at the Lincolnshire Show.
Chairman asked Cllr Roberts regarding the possibility of sign leading to the Village Hall.
Action: Cllr Roberts will pursue.
Cllr Taylor had distributed various informative mails to the Clerk who had shared with the councillors.
Planning Applications/Consultations
03695/25/FUL – Bridge Farm – there are no updates on the Planning Portal. We are still awaiting further information with regards to the environment and sound.
AGAR Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2025/2026
Councillors were taken through the information on the AGAR forms and the forms were signed off by the Chairman and Clerk/RFO.
Certificate of exemption Minute ref: 20260521-01
Annual; Governance Statement 2025/26 Minute ref: 20260521-02
Accounting Statements 2025/26 Minute ref: 20260521-03
Removal of an obsolete item on the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) was suggested and agreed.
Action: Clerk to upload the full AGAR and amended MTFP after receipt of the scanned documents from Chairman.
Updates from last month
Footpath update: Chairman showed all the Councillors the photographs from the footpath and how the surface is bearing up. The new, replacement, footpath has a very open texture and is extremely soft with no binding materials, as evidenced by the tractor ruts; there is no run-off from the road gullies as the ditches either side have been filled in with the materials excavated; there is a good portion of the original footpath which is still in good working order but not all of this ‘good’ footpath has been fully exposed. The original ‘replacement’ footpath is now extremely overgrown, presents trip hazards, and is almost impassable. Everyone at the meeting agreed that the current finished job was of a very poor standard and that the original brief to produce a ‘walkable’ footpath has not been met.
Chairman gave a copy of the photos to Cllr Robberts to take to Ms Hardy in Highways to ensure that this project does NOT get signed off as it is not fit for purpose.
Action: Cllr Roberts to take up with Highways
Chairman also mentioned the problems left on Fen Road with tarmac etc having been sprayed onto the pavement and has now set and constitutes a trip hazard – This is on-going on FixMyStreet.
Matters of interest from LALC and Rural Services Network newsletters
Cllr Brandwood mentioned the “English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill received Royal Assent” article which states that local/parish councils are “the future” but no one seems to know what the future will be – a more detailed explanation is given on the SLCC website SLCC | Some Core Messages for Town and Parish Councils From the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026.
Procedural and Financial matters
Renewal of Dispensation for Disclosure of Pecuniary Interests (DPI): It was suggested at the April meeting that we renew the DPI statement, which all Councillors agreed to.
Policies and procedures: Councillors handed in their old folders and were issued with a new set of updated policies and procedures. Amended policies will be posted on website.
Change of date of the June meeting: It was suggested that the June meeting be moved from the 18th to 25th of June.
Invoices received and/or paid:
Zurich Annual insurance of £277.00: Minute ref: 20260521-04; Clerk to pay.
Chairman thanked all those present for their attention and contribution to the meeting and closed the meeting at 20.50.
Any items to be brought before the Council can be submitted to the Clerk via
by the Thursday (1 week) before the meeting.
Findings will be recorded in the minutes and uploaded to the website.
Please visit our website via:
https://east-kirkby.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/
Meeting dates for 2026:
25th June
16th July
17th September
15th October
26th November/3rd December (To be confirmed)
All parishioners welcome.
Dates are subject to change.
All Parish Council meetings start at 19.00 and take place in East Kirkby Village Hall.