12th March 2026 minutes
MINTUES ARE IN DRAFT FORM UNTIL APPROVED & SIGNED AT THE NEXT PC MEETING
WILLINGHAM BY STOW PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES of the March MEETING of WILLINGHAM by STOW PARISH COUNCIL
held on Thursday 12th March 2026 at 7.30pm
Present: Cllrs D Bingham (Chairman), M Bates, Q Connell, T Clifton, D Leak,
In Attendance: L Brooks-Sleight – clerk
Absent: A O’Dell
27/2026 Apologies for Absence -to note apologies and reasons given.
Received from Amanda O’Dell with reason accepted. Resolved
28/2026 Public Participation - to agree, if necessary, to temporary suspend the meeting for a period of no more than 10mins to allow for public Participation. No public present
29/2026 Minutes of last Meetings - the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 12th February 2026 were approved as a true & correct record. Proposed & seconded, Resolved
30/2026 Declarations of Interest - to record declarations of interest in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 for any listed agenda items below. None received
31/2026 Representatives Report - to receive any reports from LCC councillor/WLDC councillor/ Police. WLDC Lynda Mullally informed the council of the Winter warm space for all, weekly at Sturton village hall and the consultation of the Cadent Pipeline
32/2026 Clerks Report - to receive Clerk’s report
• Email sent to the Playing Field Committee confirming their grant funding of £1400 to be paid in April 26. The Chair wants to thank the PC and will make sure the forms are sent on time for the 2027/28 Grant funding applications.
• No applications for the members vacancy, will keep vacancy on the website
• VAT reclaimed up to the end of December 2025 - £118.85
• The grant funding from Lynda Mullally’s CIF has been received and the Remembrance large poppies have been ordered.
• I’ve recently attended an online training with LALC to receive up to date information on End of year accounts, audits/AGAR and Assertion 10
• Grit bin has been placed on the corner of Grange Lane
• The Pensions regulator - re-enrolment and re-declaration deadline is 2nd November 2026
33/2026 Assets Register – to approve.
The Assets at a value of £29,540.61 were approved. Proposed & seconded, Resolved
34/2026 2026/27 Meeting dates and venue – to approve monthly and the Annual Parish Meeting date.
The monthly meeting dates were approved, the 2nd Thursday of each month with no meetings in August & February. The APM approved on 9th April 2026 at 7pm. Proposed & seconded, Resolved
35/2026 Website Accessibility – to confirm that the PC website was reviewed & tested for the accessibility statement on 21st February 2026. The Wave Evaluation Tool was used to review & test the accessibility of the site on the 10th March 2026 with results of low contrast between text and background colours, we will aim to fix this issue by 31 December 2026. Proposed & seconded, Resolved
36/2026 LCC Grass Cutting Agreement -to receive & approve. The new updated agreement was approved. Proposed & seconded, Resolved
37/2026 Notice Board – to discuss the condition and consider a replacement. Report received showing the old wooden notice board had rotted, with damp mould and difficulty opening the doors. It was decided to enquire with the local Men’s shed for a replacement. To be discussed at a future meeting
38/2026 Consultation launched for Cadent's H2East Pipeline: Humber to Nottinghamshire – to receive information & date of consultation event. Information received and the consultation to be held on 23rd March 2026 2-5pm in Willingham village hall or can be viewed at libraries.
39/2026 Highways -to consider any highways issues & determine any actions required. Still no replies from LCC Paul Wimhurst or attendance at the meetings
40/2026 Planning -to receive any correspondence/decisions by WLDC and discuss any planning applications. No current planning
41/2026 PC Banking -to receive an update on the bank re: adding signatories and dual authorisation.
Cllr T Clifton is now registered as a signatory and has access to online banking for authorisation of monthly payments. Still waiting for Cllrs Bingham & Leak to be registered for online banking before notifying the bank of dual payment authorisation. Clerk to chase with Barclays
42/2026 Finance -the monthly reconciliation of the accounts with the corresponding Bank statements – up to 28/02/2026 with the bank balance of £11817.42 was approved and the payments listed below were approved to be paid, proposed & seconded, Resolved:
Salary/expenses Feb £845.82
Salary/expenses March £527.32
Meeting room yearly hire invoice £80.00
43/2026 LCC Bus Shelter Grant Scheme – to receive information and consider the scheme. It was discussed to investigate the scheme further to replace the shelters on Stow Rd
44/2026 School Trust Fund – to receive any updates. Research into the past PC minutes has revealed when and how the Trust fund was first setup, further investigation required.
45/2026 Risk Register – the risk register was reviewed and updated. Proposed & seconded, Resolved
46/2026 Internal audit recommendations – to receive an update of completed recommendations and any future actions required. Improvements have been made from the IA observations or suggestions but still to look into cloud-based data backup.
47/2026 Correspondence (sent prior by email)
NALC Chief Executive Bulletin
Lincolnshire Police report
Lalc Enews
48/2026 Agenda Items for next meeting (by 1st April) and to take any points from members
• Residents concerned over the removal of Willow trees on the grassed area of Grange Lane, whether the stumps are to be left and will the trees be replaced. Clerk to enquire with Acis Housing
• Village Newsletter – contact village groups/organisations for articles
The next council meeting - Thursday 9th April 2026 at 7.30pm in Willingham Village Hall committee room
The Annual Parish Meeting will be held on Thursday 9th April prior to the April meeting at 7pm
The Chair closed the meeting at 8.30pm