December 2025 Minutes
Digby Parish Council
Notes of the PARISH COUNCIL MEETING held on Wednesday 10th December 2025 at 7pm, in Digby War Memorial Hall.
PRESENT – Cllr K Groves, Chairman (KG); Cllr J Bourne (JB); Cllr G Garton (GG) and Cllr M Lewington (ML)
In Attendance – Mrs A McDonald, Clerk and Proper Officer.
Public Forum.
There were no members of the public present.
District & County Councillors' Matters.
Cllr Kendrick reported LCC will be setting their budget in the new year.
He asked for any local work for the Highways volunteer team to be forwarded to him for assessment.
The meeting was declared to be in session.
1.Chairman’s Opening Remarks. (25/191)
a) Welcome.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2. Apologies for Absence (25/192)
a) Apologies.
Apologies were received from Cllr D Green and H Snowden.
3. Declarations of Pecuniary Interest & Applications of Dispensation (25/193)
a) Declarations of Interest.
ML declared an interest in item 5c.
4. Signing of the Minutes (25/194)
a) It was proposed by GG, seconded by ML and resolved to accept the notes of the Parish
Council Meeting held on Wednesday 12th November 2025 as a true and accurate record. The Chairman signed the minutes.
5. Planning Matters (25/195)
a) Planning Applications Received.
25/1421/FUL – Land at Grange Farm, Digby Fen, Billinghay – Construction of 4no.dwellings and associated garaging/carports.
This application was found to not in our parish and so there were no comments to be sent to NKDC Planning.
b) Decision Notice Received.
23/1429/FUL – Land off Station Road – Erection of 35no. dwellings, new estate roads, surface water drainage infrastructure and play area (part of residential site allocation NK/DIG/001)
This application has been approved by NKDC Planning. The full decision and conditions can be viewed via NKDC planning online.
c) Planning Concern – To question the completed height of the temporary building at 33 Chestnut Close.
ML had declared an interest and took no part in the decision.
It was proposed by GG, seconded by JB that the reports that the new building can be seen from the Greendykes and appears higher than the height granted in the permission will be forward to NKDC Planning for investigation.
6. General Parish Matters (25/196)
a) Update on the move to a Gov.UK.
All but two of the councillors have moved to the new councillor email accounts. The Clerk confirmed all general contacts of the council have been notified of the change of address and the website has been updated. The Clerk attended a NALC training session on Assertion 10, which highlighted the importance of adopting the Gov.UK domain for the security of the council and the public. An IT Policy will be produced for the next meeting for consideration and adoption to include this new system.
7. Highways (25/197)
a) Highways Issues.
JB confirmed he had reported the pot hole on Digby Fen near Dovetail Farm
8. The Village Hall (25/198)
a) Minutes from the latest Meeting of the Committee.
ML confirmed that no further meetings of the committee have taken place.
9. Drainage (25/199)
a) Public Event held by Flood Resilience Programme Co-ordinator.
The event was held on 24th November in the village hall. It was poorly attended. The invoice from hall hire has been sent to LCC. We did learn the telemetry devices are only funded for 10yrs by the Ground Water project.
b) Correspondence on drainage matters.
These were moved from Item 13
Correspondence from EA was received, asking if there are any issues with the Beck during the recent rainfall. The council are still concerned about the build up of silt. This will be reported back.
Correspondence from LCC, via Local MP, regarding no further support for additional flood defence is planned. The Council were not satisfied with the response and further communications will take place.
Action: The Clerk to respond to the correspondence.
10. Playing Field, Play Areas and Village General (25/200)
a) Monthly Inspection of Play Equipment and update on the equipment repairs.
The monthly inspection report was completed by GG and presented to the clerk.
The rusted goal post has now been removed and repairs to the fibreglass surface of the toddler multi-play equipment have been carried out. Pest control are dealing with the moles.
b) Funding Raising event held for the new Play Equipment Project.
The Christmas themed fund-raising event took place on 29th Nov, it was well attended and raised £300.60. A further donation for the play equipment fund of £65.00 came from the Friends of Digby School tombola stall at their recent Christmas fair. A thank you letter is to be sent to the school. KG wished to say a big thank you to everyone that helped with setting up, running stalls and clearing up at the end of the event, it all went very smoothly.
Action: Clerk to send ‘Thank you’ message for the Friends of Digby School.
c) Quotations for the work on the Trees within the Playing Field.
The Clerk confirmed the quotations are still to come in. Site visits are organised for next week.
d) To discuss the Bowls Club lease and the invoice from the Solicitors.
The invoice from the solicitors for the work carried out so far has prompt the council to relook at completing the lease. ML agreed to look at the lease and report back to the council.
Action: ML to read the current lease paperwork.
11. Allotments (25/201)
a) Updates from the Allotment Committee.
There are no meetings planned in December. There is social event taking place for the allotment holders at North Kyme.
12. Finance (25/202)
a) Bank Balances and Approval of the Bank Reconciliation
The bank balances were reported as:-
PC General Account £20,534.86
Allotment account £7,512.43
Mary Gresswell Trust £ 5.58
b) Income.
Income received from Fund Raising event - £300.60
Income from donation from Friends of Digby School - £65.00
These amounts are included in the bank balances.
c) Approval of Payments.
It was proposed by ML, seconded by KG and all agreed the following accounts be paid.
Salaries/Expenses 903.30
Lloyds bank charges 4.25
Fred Bradshaw -play equipment repairs 101.00
Autela Payroll services 84.00
Adie/Pepperdine solicitors 910.80
NKDC Tree inspection service 298.20
d) Budget for 2026-27.
The finance group produced a budget for 2026-27. This was distributed to all the councillors prior to the meeting so the details could be fully considered. The finance group had taken into consideration the increase in cost of services and the need to take on the maintenance of Greendykes and The Beck. Also, the cost of replacing the defibrillator needed to be added. This means there will be an increase in the Precept request of £5,625 bringing the total of the Precept to £30,920.00.
The Precept Calculator from NKDC for 2026-27 is not yet available.
It was proposed by ML, seconded by JB, to accept the budget as presented. It was agreed this will be the amount needed to cover all the additional costs to the parish.
13. Correspondence (25/203)
a) LALC Newsletter - Distributed to all councillors.
b) NKDC Newsletter - Distributed to all councillors
c) New Healthwatch Survey – Details were forwarded to the councillors
d) NKDC – Snowdrop event 2026 22nd Feb 12.00 to 15.00hrs at Whisby Nature Park
e) NKDC Chief Exec visit to wards – NKDC A Bailey is collecting comments/complaints/
questions for the visit.
14. Dates of Future Meetings (25/204)
Parish Council Meetings for 2026 – Second Wednesday of the month – 14th Jan, 11th Feb, 11th Mar, 8th Apr, 13th May,10th Jun, 8th Jul, 12th Aug, 9th Sep, 7th Oct, 11th Nov, 9th Dec.
Annual Parish Meeting 22nd April 2026.
15. Any Business to Note for the Next Agenda (24/205)
IT Policy
Pads for Defib
National Wage increase
16. Closed Session (25/206)
For confidential items in accordance with the Public Bodies Act 1960.
This item was not required.
20.30hrs. There being no further business the Chairman declared the meeting closed.