Minutes 2026

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Draft Minutes of Sutton Bridge Annual Parish Meeting, held 19:00hrs Tuesday, 10 March 2026, in the Bridge Room, at the Curlew Centre

Present:

Parish Council Chair: Cllr M Middleton,Admin Assistant: Mrs Karen Croxford. Parish Council Members: Cllr T Baldry, Cllr T Judd, Cllr M Philpott, Cllr A Scarlett

Local Electors: Three

1. Welcome

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2. Apologies for absence

Cllr Brewis, Cllr Booth, Cllr Kirby- Fox, Cllr McLaughlin, Cllr Pitt

3. Signing of Minutes 

It was agreed to approve the minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting 11 March 2025.

4. Report from the chairman of the Parish Council

The chair presented a report summarising matters arising during the year (see appendix 1).

5. Report from clerk to the Parish Council

The clerk presented a report summarising financial matters for the year to date (see appendix 2).

6. Playzone and Pavilion update

 A report on the Playzone was circulated to those present (see appendix 3) and the chair presented

a report on the update of the Pavilion (see appendix 4).

7. Questions and other matters raised by members of the public.

i. Thanks were expressed to Cllr Middleton for all her hard work on the Pavilion project.

ii. A member of the Public asked why VAT receipts were not recorded on the report. 

iii. It was asked if the Parish Council knew anything about the ground floor of the renovated Bridge Hotel, was it to be used as accommodation?

iv. Concerns were raised regarding a potential increase in Council Tax should the Parish Council take out a Public Works Loan, particularly in light of the current financial situation

v. A question was raised as to whether the £68,000 UKSPF grant from South Holland District Council was guaranteed, given the forthcoming changes to the District Council

Cllr Middleton thanked everyone for attending and expressed disappointment that only a small number of members of the public were present

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 19:40 hrs.

Signed ……………………………………       Date ….……………….

Chair

Appendix 1

Chairs Report 

ANNUAL ASSEMBLY

I would like now to share with you all some of the events and ongoing work that we have been involved with over the last year, they will not be in order, but I hope that will not matter. The firework display was great success, over £900 was raised in donations and more people attended than last year, I want to say thank you to Sue, Michelle, Claire and my husband who were all helping at that event.

We had a fete and Circus which were a great success. Also, the South Holland

District Council Roadshow Love Parks, this was a children’s event held ln the memorial Park in July. Settled a problem with some of residence over their tree and fence boundaries.

Talking of trees, these have taken up a lot of our time and money but need to be done. You will have noticed that a lot of the trees on one side of the memorial park have been cut down and a new fence put in its place. This had to be done as some of the trees were unsafe and some had to be pulled down because of the placement of the play zone and the new pavilion; we have over 20 small trees to be planted in their place. You will see that we have started planting a hedge next to the fence. We planted about 90 small hedge plants, and we have another 200 to do, help would be very much appreciated. The bee tree had to be cut down because it was dangerous, but the bees have been rehoused elsewhere successfully.

We are working with SHDC in completing the work to take over Prince Street Park and Lime Street Park searches went out in January and should be back soon and then we can complete the Toilets. We have had quite a few complaints about the fact that the toilets are not open at the weekend, and we are trying to do something about it. We are advertising for a part-time operative to open close and clean the toilets at the weekend. As soon as this post is filled, we will be able to open them for you. If anyone can think of anything I have missed out, please say so. Thank you all for listening.

Appendix 2

Clerk’s Report – Annual Parish Meeting, 10 March 2026

The Parish Council’s accounts for year-end 31 March 2026 will be finalised by the end of April and available to view once the details have been accepted as correct.  Documentation relating to the accounts will be available for inspection as part of Council’s audit process. The accounts will be published on the Parish Council’s website, along with the dates for the public inspection period. In the meantime, it can be reported that:

• Council’s total receipts to the end of February 2026 were £140,993 excl. VAT refunds. The main receipts were:

o Precept of £96,000 (2024/25: £86,000)

o Farm Business Tenancies £13,289 (to Feb 2025: £13,226).

o Burial Ground receipts £4,686 (to Feb 2025: £4,290)

o LCC Picnic Site Maintenance £2,293 (2024/25: £2,266)

o Bank interest £2,285 (to Feb 2025: £2518)

o Litter picking grant from the District Council of £1,260 (2024/25: £1,260).

o Highways Grass Cutting Agreement £2,465 (2024/25: £2,423)

o Allotment rent receipts of £688 (to Feb 2025: £856).

o Grants totalling £12,000 for the playzone, with further monies expected before the end of the financial year.

•

• Total expenditure to the end of February 2026 was £156984 (to Feb 2025: £156,984). The largest payment categories (>£3,000) during the past 11 months include:

o Salaries £64,793 (to Feb 2024: £58,971)

o New Pavilion project £5,212 (Feb 25: £5,165).

o Office Rent, hall hire £4000 (to Feb 2025: £4079). 

o Grass cutting £3385 (to Feb 24: £3,734).

o Repairs and Maintenance, Memorial Park £5,355

o Tree safety work £9,535

o Christmas Lights £5,305 (2024/25 £3,350)

o During the year the Parish Council awarded the following grants:

o St. Matthew’s Churchyard maintenance grant £3,500

o Volunteer Car Scheme £1,313

o Wombles £500

o Poppy Crosses £100

•

Looking ahead to the next financial year, the Parish Council precept requirement has been set at £110,000. This represents a £10.18 p.a. (around 19p a week) increase in Council Tax at Band D. The Parish Council’s budget for 2026/27 will be published on the Parish Council’s website. 

• The Council’s major opening earmarked reserves for 2025/26 are forecast as follows:

o Capital Reserves Account £14,252 This account is reserved for expenditure on Capital Projects.

o Burial Ground maintenance reserve of £22,131. This is a contingency fund to assist with ongoing maintenance of the site and other sundry costs which may arise in future.

o Reserves for play equipment £5,185.

o Reserves Match funding New Pavilion Build £20,613

o Play Zone grant funding received £12,000

o Elections £4000

o Other reserves £7,094.

Claire Smith

Clerk to Sutton Bridge Parish Council

Appendix 3 

Play Zone Update

• The Memorial Park is a well-used space and has benefitted over the last year from schemes to provide new play equipment and the refurbishment of existing play facilities. Building on these improvements the Parish Council has been working with the Football Foundation to provide a PlayZone. This will bring a much needed sports area to Sutton Bridge. Marked out for football, Basketball and Netball it will be a facility that can be used for a variety of sports and activities. 

• Planning permission was granted at the beginning of February 2026, and the pre-start conditions are being finalised. At a pre-start meeting it was established that a drainage survey was needed, the Parish Council also asked if the access path could be grass matting rather than tarmac.

• The build of the project will be managed by Edge, contract managers appointed by the Football Foundation. The contractors are Support in Sport, a large national company experienced in providing sport facilities.

• The cost of the project will be approximately £296,954 (this may increase once the costs of the drainage survey and path are known.) The project will be funded by grants – 70% up to £250k from the football foundation, £68k UKSPF grant from South Holland District Council, £10k Sutton Bridge Solar Farm and £2K from the Grange wind farm. Any remaining balance will be covered by Parish Council reserves.

• The facility will be managed by a steering group that we are in the process of setting up. Representatives from the Parish Council, Active Lincolnshire, SHDC and local users will be a part of the group.

• The PlayZone will be booked for use online, a keycode will be generated on booking to unlock the gate and turn on the lights.

Appendix 4 

Pavilion Update  

As you are all probably aware we are hoping to replace the old football changing rooms with a new sports pavilion. This has been going on for several years. We as council have been trying for three years, we have had many ups and downs working to acquire funding for this, one moment, we are very positive about our grant applications and then it is all taken away from us.

I need to explain to you what has happened about funding many of you will be aware because of the change of government last year we lost out on funding that we were about to apply for we then had to rely on the Football Foundation who were originally supporting us on our need to raise funds and we were relying on this. We found out in January that despite all the money that the government had put into the Football Foundation they were not going to grant funds for the building of football pavilions. The maximum we could get from them was £25,000, possibly another if they felt the need was urgent, the reason for this was they are no longer supporting rural areas. All the money is going into urban areas. This came as a great shock to us as we had been relying on some funding from them and they had always indicated that they would help us with this, apparently there was a new rule that came out in October 25, but we can find no record of this, as a result Chris Brandon King who is chief fundraiser and I went to Westminster to talk to John Hayes who is helping us with this project he is trying to arrange a meeting with the executives of the Football Foundation and myself we are now waiting for this to happen.

We are trying very hard now to find a cheaper way of doing this we have made the building smaller and are looking at other contractors that significantly reduce the price but are of the same standard. We have now gone from £436.0652 to £299.520 but this obviously does not include the cost of all the groundwork that has to be done as well.

We are also looking at a company who works with the Football Foundation and their buildings are apparently a lot cheaper, but we have tried very hard to arrange to see one of these buildings but so far, we have not been able to arrange this. The one positive, we do have outline planning permission for this building.

If as a community we want to go ahead with this sports pavilion we might possibly have to go for a public loan with your consent and this will be put onto your council tax but we are trying not to go there, if this becomes the only way of doing this, we will have to call a public meeting and you will have to make a decision on what you want us to do.

I will just say one more thing.

Without a sports pavilion we would no longer have a football team because it is a requirement that in order to play in the league, they have the correct changing facilities.

Did you know there has been a football team playing at Sutton Bridge since 1918?

Also, with the new Play zone coming soon, the users will also need the pavilion so they can change, shower, use the toilet including mother and baby changing room, the club room and the kitchen.