January 2026 Minutes
Digby Parish Council
Notes of the PARISH COUNCIL MEETING held on Wednesday 14th January 2026 at 7pm, in Digby War Memorial Hall.
Present – Cllr K Groves, Chairman (KG); Cllr A Barnham (AB); Cllr J Bourne (JB); Cllr G Garton (GG); Cllr D Green (DG) and Cllr M Lewington (ML)
In attendance – Mrs A McDonald, Clerk and Proper Officer.
Public Forum.
The council was informed an additional telemetry device has been fitted on the first bridge from the Cross on Beck Street. That was good to hear.
Update on Springwell the recommendations from the planning inspectorate has been completed on 9th Jan, but this has not been made public.
District & County Councillors' Matters.
No County or District Councillors were present.
The Chairman declared the meeting in session.
1.Chairman’s Opening Remarks. (26/001)
a) Welcome.
The Chairman wished everyone a happy new year and welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2. Apologies for Absence (26/002)
a) Apologies.
Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr Snowden due to illness.
AB handed a letter of resignation, due to other commitments, to the Chairman. The Chairman thanked AB for all her work and help during her term on the council. AB then left the meeting.
Action: The Clerk will notify NKDC of the vacancy
3. Declarations of Pecuniary Interest & Applications of Dispensation (26/003)
a) Declarations of Interest.
Nil
4. Signing of the Minutes (26/004)
a) It was proposed by GG, seconded by JB and RESOLVED to accept the minutes of the Parish
Council Meeting held on Wednesday 10th December 2025 as a true and accurate record.
5. Planning Matters (26/005)
a) Planning Applications Received.
Nil to date
b) Decision Notice Received.
Nil to date
c) Response from Planning Officer – 33 Chestnut Close.
NKDC have confirmed the Enforcement Team have investigated and established that no breach of planning control has taken place and no further action will be taken by the department.
6. General Parish Matters (26/006)
a) Approval of the IT Policy.
In line with Assertion 10 the parish council must have an IT Policy. A model policy from LALC was obtained by the Clerk and adapted for Digby Parish Council’s needs. The council have reviewed the policy and it was proposed by KG, seconded by ML and RESOLVED to agree to and accept the IT Policy. All the councillors present signed to acknowledge receipt of a copy of the IT policy.
Action: The Clerk will upload the policy onto the website.
b) Defib – Replacement pads or new defib.
It was agreed not to purchase replacement pads at this time as it will be a waste of money as a new Defib will be replacing the existing one in the next financial year. The spare pads are still in date and can be transferred into the main kit so the equipment will remain operational.
Action: On the next inspection the councillor will swap the pads over.
c) Hedges growing over the Footpaths.
A hedge on Church Street has been reported that it needs cutting back.
Action: The Clerk to request the cutting of the hedge.
d) 2026 Subscription to LALC and the Training Scheme.
The annual subscription to LALC is £263.74. It was proposed by GG, seconded by JB and all agreed to subscribe to LALC for 2026 as it provides all the training and legal support for the parish council. Payment approved for January.
The annual training scheme is £174.00. This provides free core training arranged by LALC and reduced fees to non-core training. It was proposed by KG, seconded by JB to pay the £174.00 to LALC for the training scheme. This invoice will be paid in April.
Action: The Clerk to action the payments.
e) Duke of Edinburgh Award – Volunteering.
A request has been received asking if the parish council could support a local resident by offering volunteer work for them to complete as part of the Duke of Edinburgh award. It was agreed to support this request, GG proposed to offer gardening at village hall and ML proposed litter picking as well if the garden work did not offer enough hours. It was agreed to contact the resident and arrange a meeting to discuss the work with the Chairman and Clerk.
Action: The Clerk to arrange a meeting.
7. Highways (26/007)
a) Highways issues.
JB reported a large pot hole on Digby Fen Road by the entrance to Lamyman’s farm. DG agree to photograph the pothole to send to FixMyStreet.
Action: DG to report pothole on FixMyStreet.
8. The Village Hall (26/008)
a) Minutes from the latest meeting of the Committee,
A copy of the latest minutes and financial report have been received and forwarded to the councillors prior to the meeting.
The Chairman stated that no invoice has been received for the hire of the hall for the fund-raising events that have taken place, so the Clerk has written to the Treasurer and is awaiting a response.
9. Drainage (26/009)
a) Village Issues.
Even though there has been a lot of rain the dykes are running freely. There was a build-up of debris at the Harrowby Close drain, but this has been removed.
10. Playing Field, Play Areas and Village General (26/010)
a) Monthly Inspection of Play Equipment.
The monthly inspection is to be carried out by HS.
b) Quotations for the work on the trees within the playing field.
There has been a delay in obtaining quotes as we needed to call out the NKDC Tree Officer to clarify the work required. A meeting took place on Mon 12th Jan and a total of 22 trees will need to be felled, 20 of them due to sooty bark disease. Unfortunately, due to the vigorous spread of the spores from this disease the contractor will need to wear respiratory equipment when cutting the trees and all the wood will need to be removed from site and destroyed under license. There will be no wood available for the residents from this work. To date one contractor has been to look at the work and the clerk has arranged for further companies to provide quotes ready for the next meeting.
Action: Item to be discussed at the next meeting.
c) The Bowls Club Lease.
During the last month the final draft of the lease was distributed to the councillors and they agreed it is now ready to be sent to the Bowls Club. A meeting will then be arranged with representative from the Bowls Club to discuss/clarify any final points.
Action: The Clerk to forward the Lease to the Bowls Club and then arrange a meeting to get it signed.
d) New Vermin Control Contractor.
The Clerk reported to the council during December, that the vermin control contractor appointed at the December meeting resigned after having several of the mole traps damaged and 2 stolen.
The Clerk has now contacted Sleaford Vermin Control and they are willing to take on the work the rate is £50.00 per visit for the odd call out or up to £80.00 per visit if there are multiple areas to deal with. The council agreed to this and it was proposed by KG, seconded by ML to approved the clerk to contact the contractor to commence work near the football dug out.
Action: The Clerk to call out the contractor.
11. Allotments (26/011)
a) Updates from the Allotment Committee.
JB reported that 5 plots have come available.
12. Finance (26/012)
a) Bank Balances and Approval of Bank Reconciliation
The bank balance was reported as:
PC General Account 18,220.72
Allotment Account 7,508.18
Mary Gresswell Trust 5.58
The Bank reconciliation was approved.
A banking issue of an unauthorised direct debit withdrawal had been identified by the Clerk. This has been dealt with, and the money being returned to the Allotment Account by the bank.
Internal Audit - The internal audit has been carried out during December and the internal auditor confirmed all is order. A copy of the report has been forwarded to all the councillors and will be put on the website.
b) Income.
Income received during the last month.
Wayleave from the National Grid £ 8.31 – This is still to be banked.
LCC reimbursement of hall hire payment £26.00 – This appears in the above statement.
c) Approval of Payments.
It was proposed by ML, seconded by DG and all agreed the following accounts be paid.
Salaries/Expenses 1010.40
Lloyds bank charges 4.25
LALC Subs 263.74
d) 2026-27 Precept request to be sent to NKDC.
The NKDC calculator details for the precept request has been received.
The budget amount for 2026-27 was entered into the calculator. The Precept for 2026/27 will be £30,920.00 which is a 19.69% increase on last year. This increase raises an extra £5,625.00, this will cover the inflation increase in staff, general contractors and maintenance costs, and also cover new parish maintenance of the Beck and Greendykes.
It was proposed by JB, seconded by ML to request the Precept of £30,920.00. The majority agreed.
GG was against.
13. Correspondence (26/013)
a) LALC Newsletter - Distributed to all councillors.
b) NKDC Newsletter - Distributed to all councillors.
c) LCC – information of the planning of the budget – Distributed to all the councillors.
d) County Councillor Rob Kendrick’s monthly update – Distributed to all the councillors
14. Dates of Future Meetings (26/014)
Parish Council Meetings for 2026 – Second Wednesday of the month – 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 (26/015)
TBN.
16. Closed Session (26/016)
For confidential items in accordance with the Public Bodies Act 1960.
This item was not required.
2015hrs – There being no further business the chairman declared the meeting closed.