DIGBY ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Wednesday 22nd April 2026 at 7.00PM at DIGBY MEMORIAL HALL
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Minutes from the Annual Parish Meeting held on Wednesday 22nd April 2026 at 700.pm at Digby Memorial Hall
There were 10 parishioners present.
1. CHAIRMAN’S OPENING REMARKS
The Chairman of Digby Parish Council welcomed everyone to the meeting, she explained this is not a parish council meeting but in her capacity of Chairman she will preside over the meeting and the Clerk will take notes.
2. APOLOGIES
Apologies were received from G Garton, S Preistley, M Carr, N Bathard.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 2025
The Clerk read out the minutes from the Annual Parish Meeting held on 23rd April 2025. These minutes were approved by Anne Barnham, seconded by James Bourne and approved as a true record. The Chairman signed the minutes.
4. PRESENTATIONS - Each of the following groups had been invited to give a short presentation. There was then the opportunity for attendees to ask questions.
• Digby Parish Council
Report from the Chairman of the council and presentation of the accounts
Cllr Groves spoke of the councils activities during the year, including the attendance to the solar farm consultations, the installation of the telementery devices and successful objections to a housing development to the north of the village. The financial balance is healthy due to planned and careful budgeted. This has enabled us to carry out immediate work in the playing field with the removal of 20 trees with Sooty Bark disease. The council will also be able to help Bowls Club with hedge cutting this year. The major project, taken on by the council, is to be the removal and replacement of all the play equipment. The existing equipment has come to the end of its life and after much work during the year a grant has been secured. We have also been able to carry out work in the village hall garden with the help of LCC volunteers. Areas of borders have been reduced to assist with maintenance and new shrubs and bulbs have been planted
The village Defibrillator needs to be replaced this coming year it has also come to the end of its serviceable life.
The Clerk had proved copies of the Income and Expenditure accounts
There were no questions.
• Lincolnshire County Council
Councillor Kendrick spoke of the change of administration, and the participation in scrutiny meetings. He explained the Council received bonus of £50millon from the government. Also the Government has approved the bypass for Lincoln and the Governments has approved the Solar Farm. LCC Highway Volunteers have supported most of the villages around the area. The Armed Forces Commmunity Service has set up a car service to take people to hospital and it has been extended to this area. They also provide a service to take pets to the vets.
There were no questions.
• North Kesteven District Council
Cllr Bailey was not present and no report had been forwarded.
• Digby Bowls Club
Dermot reported the club now has 17 members and 8 additional players. A match against the local pub was successful. Volunteers are needed to keep the club running and the help with cutting the hedge will be much appreciated. Another match with the pub is being planned. CCTV has been installed. For the future they will be working on identifying grants that may be available to make improvements, possibly from the Springwell community grant, once it is set up.
There were no questions but an objection was raised regarding the Springwell community grant.
• Village Hall
A written report was forwarded from the village hall management committee explaining the bookings are healthy the coffee mornings are still popular and help raise funds for the maintenance of the hall. A repair is needed to the flat roof area, and patch repairs are to be carried out in the car park as the total resurfacing of the area is beyond the halls budget. Further LIVE performances are planned and the joint activities with the pub are working well.
There were no questions.
• Allotments
James Bourne spoke on behalf of the committee. Most of the allotments are let, there are currently 2 still available. The allotments are run by a lively and social committee. Local events are planned for the year, and will be notified via Facebook. The committee received a grant for a rotavator and generator for the allotment holders to borrow when required.
There were no questions.
• Digby Primary School
Miss Winters, headteacher, explained how well the Federation of the three primary schools, Digby, Dunston and Nocton, work. The Ofsted went to outstanding and there are now 63 children at the school. A Forest School has been formed jointly with the preschool and is working well. This year the joint Federation has been able to offer support to other small schools. There are currently 2 vacancies on school Governing body so any volunteers would be welcome.
There were no questions.
• St Thomas Church
Gill Gray, firstly praised the Allotments and the Village Hall facilities and stated how lucky Digby is to have these amazing community facilities. She then explained that church roof needs repairs and unfortunately due to illness some of the fund-raising events were not able to take place, but hopefully this year there will be improvements in that area. The roof needs to be repaired before it becomes beyond help. They do not want to see the church boarded up and fenced off.
There were no questions.
• Community Speed Watch Team
Pete Langford explained all the 6 members are now all retired, so hopefully the group will be able get out more. They are have monitored the B1188 section of Digby on several occasions and collected 100+ registrations and these were submitted to the Lincolnshire Police. They have worked in conjunction with Scopwicks Community Speed Watch Team and planned to do this again this summer.
It was suggested the parish council now look at speed warning cameras as a permanent reminder to check speed.
There were no questions. It was commented that the white gates at the village entrances also work in slowing traffic.
• Emergency Plan Team.
The Clerk explained a team and equipment had been set up, and Pete Langford said there had been no further information from the Resilience Team that co-ordinate emergencies in Lincolnshire, since the drone survey had been completed.
There were no questions but Cllr Kendrick will help to check on the next step to be taken.
5. PUBLIC FORUM
The meeting was opened to talk about any local matters.
There was an announcement of a rally to challenge the Springwell Solar project that to take place on Fri 24th April, meeting at RAF Digby sports field. All very welcome.
The Billinghay doctors surgery will be putting on monthly coffee morning for Veterans.
There was a request to extend speed limit beyond bridge, it was explained it had been requested before but was refused.
Subsidence on Fen Lane has returned and Walcott Road has deteriorated to a dangerous state. Cllr Kendrick reminded everyone to report these issues via FixMyStreet.
Before the meeting closed a resident spoke of his appreciation for the work the parish council. The success in helping to turn down housing development and the support against the solar farm has been much appreciated.
20.10 hrs There being no further business the Chairman declared the Annual Parish Meeting closed