Minutes 2026

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Draft Minutes of a meeting of the New Pavilion Committee held 19:00hrs, Tuesday, 20 January 2026, in the Bridge Room at the Curlew Centre, Sutton Bridge.

Present: Cllr S McLaughlin, Cllr M Middleton, Cllr M Philpott, Cllr Scarlett .Co-opted non-voting members Mr C Brandon – King, Mr D Earth, Mr D Wall 

Mrs C Smith (Clerk) ,Members of the public: 2

26.001. Apologies were received from Cllr Cook and Mrs V Smith.

26.002. There were no declarations of interest or requests for dispensation. 

26.003. Public Representations - There were no issues raised.

26.004. It was resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 18 November 2025, these were signed by the Chair.

26.005. Playzone Project 

01. Planning - application was submitted by Sis (PlayZone Contractors) before Christmas with a decision expected by 12 February. Only comments so far are from the tree officer that the drainage drawing shows drains going under the canopy of the tree. CS contacted Cis and sent pictures to show that the drain was not in the correct position and should be redone. Hopefully this will avert any delay.

02. UKSPF grant – CS had been keeping in touch with Saul Farrell from SHDC, it has been agreed that the Parish Council will be the direct recipient of the grant. Saul is working up the agreement which will mean that we will need to provide copies of all work to be paid for and sign up to providing impact reports when the project is finished. He has also asked that the Parish Council hold a groundbreaking event when the works are due to start. The grant money needs to be spent in this financial year. It was agreed to hold a groundbreaking event at the start of the works.

03. The FF has sent a new agreement for the Parish Council to sign confirming that the new facility would be used to provide access to football for women and girls. A usage of 20% of slots has been set with information given in the initial bid. This will be monitored in the clawback period from information gathered by the booking system. There is also a requirement to make sure it is a multisport facility and that at least two other under-represented groups are served by the PlayZone. Part of the costings of the project identify a post to promote and manage the Playzone, this cost has been incorporated into the Parish Council draft budget.

04. Use of the facility was discussed, CBK reported that the Primary school would find it difficult to use during the day because of transporting the children to the PlayZone. It was hoped that the new 3-3 basketball format would be popular.

26.006. It was resolved to recommend to Council that a Steering Group to oversee the development and management of the new Playzone facility be set up.  Representatives from user groups, South Holland DC and Active Lincolnshire would be invited. The Football Foundation would be contacted and asked for guidance on the governance for the group. D Earth would raise this at the next Football Club meeting to nominate a representative.

26.007. Temporary Pavilion

01. The haulier and vendor were in direct contact, and it had been established that a licence for a wide load would be needed. V Smith had the contact details for the haulier and would ask if the storage container could also be moved when the unit was delivered.

26.008. Pavilion Project

01. Meeting with Sir John Hayes – MM reported that she and CBK had attended a meeting at Westminster with Sir John and 2 of his assistants. They had agreed to take on the project to look for funding. 

02. Notes from Meeting with the Football Foundation – MM read these notes, the news that only £50k grant funding would be available from the Football Foundation was a shock. MM had forwarded the notes to Sir John, and also expressed concern about the future of the project and lack of support from the Football Foundation. Sir John said he would arrange a meeting with the Football Foundation trustees to challenge the decision. 

03. Potential Supplier – MM and DW would be going to see a company who recycle the metal frames of the buildings. Costs for these seemed to be favourable and they still had the same warranties as new builds.

04. Next steps – It was noted that Andy Wadsworth had suggested a meeting with Active Lincs and South Holland District Council involved. It was agreed that this would be a good idea. The Pavilion Committee agreed that Sutton Bridge project fulfilled the criteria for funding set out by the Football Foundation on their website. It seemed unfair that more funding would not be available as Sutton Bridge is in a rural setting. CBK reported that he had been trawling through all the Council minutes and noting all the incidents of interaction with the FF, particularly where there was an invitation to apply for funding. He felt that the FF were in breach of their own policy and that the Parish Council may have a claim under procedural unfairness, inconsistent treatment and arbitrary decision making. This evidence would be presented to Sir John and FF Trustees at a meeting. MM reported that Jake Park (FA) had shared a fundraising booklet and she would be pursuing the information and trying to contact the contractor who had supplied a building similar to SB requirements for £130k.

26.009. Public Representations – It was commented that the Pavilion was more important than the PlayZone and so members of the pubic were disappointed that the focus appeared to be on the PlayZone. Thanks were expressed to Mary and Chris for all their hard work, Mary and Chris extended these thanks to all on the committee who were working hard on the Pavilion project.

26.010. Date of next meeting – 17 February 2026

The chair closed the meeting at 8:20 hrs.