Minutes 1 November 2025
FOTHERBY PARISH COUNCIL.
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF FOTHERBY PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER 2025 AT 7.30 PM IN ST. MARY’S CHURCH
Present: Cllr Steve Mansfield (Chair), Cllr Christina Chen, Cllr K Ensell, Cllr Lee Sutton.
In attendance: Mrs. Viv Davies (Clerk)
4 resident was present.
OPEN FORUM:
No items were raised.
Cllr Mansfield advised that Quickline were erecting further poles to enable high fibre broadband. Notices for this had been placed on lampposts etc throughout the village. Cllr Mansfield advised on a vehicle speeding issue in the village. Cllr Sutton did not consider speeding to be an issue. Others thought it was worthy of consideration and so speeding would be placed upon the agenda for our January meeting. He also asked if anyone had noticed that the post box, which used to be in the wall at Brackenborough Lawns had disappeared. He would ask the Post Office at Louth if they had knowledge of this. The Chairman asked the assembled members if they knew of who had cleaned out all five bus shelters with water and suds running out of each. No one seemed to know so he would investigate.
127/20205 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr Neil Tomlin, ELDC Cllr E Mossop, LCC Cllr N Hastings and Cllr Tim Hunter.
128/2025 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – TO BE STATED IN ANY PROPOSITION
There were no declarations of interest.
129/2025 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF 6.10.25
Cllr Sutton proposed, seconded Cllr Chen approval of the minutes of 6 October 2025. Cllr Mansfield signed the minutes
130/2025 CLERKS UPDATE
The Royal British Legion had written to thank the parish council for the £30 donation.
120/2025 MATTERS ARISING FROM ACTION PLAN/MINUTES
Cllr Ensell had updated the Action Plan. There were no other actions outstanding.
131/2025 PLANNING APPLICATIONS.
There were no current applications. The chair did point out that with regard to building within our village, we seemed to have potentially three sites although no comment can be made until we have a formal plan to consider
NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN
Cllr Mansfield would contact Cllr Mossop to ask about how the Parish Council could continue to pursue the reclassification to small village for Fotherby. Cllr Chen asked if any progress had been made in starting a Neighbourhood Plan, the council having discussed it sometime ago. She would now progress with this and was provided with some information.
132/2025 FINANCE
Cllr Mansfield had verified the bank reconciliation. Cllrs noted the financial reports. Proposed Cllr Sutton, seconded Cllr Mansfield approval of the cheques below.
Chq No
1476 V Davies Clerk Salary £301.32
1477 V Davies Clerk Expenses £25.41
1478 Bush Landscaping Mowing £600.00
1479 Information Commissioner Data Protection £52.00
1480 Parish Magazine Printing Keyhole £122.43
8.9.25 Bank charges £8.25
Community Account (Formerly Treasurers Account) £6,935.18 of which £209.78 relates to ring fenced account for Fotherby Common (20.10.25)
COMM INST ACCESS (Formerly Business Bank) £2,571.00 (9.9.25)
Income
9.9.25 Lloyds Bank Interest £1.42
Consideration for Budget 2026-27
Quotations were awaited for the bus shelters 1 & 2 repairs from a local craftsman. When the information was available, Cllr Ensell would distribute a draft budget to councillors to consider prior to the December meeting. This would include provision for removal of the bull rushes. .
133/2025 FLOOD RISK ITEMS
There were several options to reduce the bull rushes.
A quote had now been received from Bush Landscaping to clear these and take them away (£500 plus VAT).
Removal using a digger, to dig out the bulrushes. A quote for £400 had been received for the digger and a local farmer would donate the use of a grain trailer to take away. Concerns were raised regarding potential damage to the highway.
We would ask the parishioner, who had removed the bull rushes earlier in 2025, if they could remove the bull rushes on a more regular basis.
Further discussions would take place regarding these options.
Discussion ensued regarding clearing of the ditch in Allenby Crescent. The Chair would send a reminder to Steve Ross at ELDC to ask if he could remind the farmer of his offer to sort this out after the harvest.
134/2025 PARISH COUNCIL ASSETS
FOTHERBY COMMON:
There were 2 further stages of tree felling outstanding before the felling licence expired November 2026. Cllr Mansfield had met with a contractor who was able to complete Stage 2 within the next 4 weeks at a cost of £500 plus VAT and Stage 3 in the Autumn of 2026 at a cost of £200 plus VAT. Cllr Ensell proposed, Cllr Mansfield seconded and it was approved by all councillors
ROAD AT FOTHERBY TOP
Cllr Sutton had obtained a quotation for an A3 disclaimer sign. £109.85 Plus VAT. Proposed Cllr Sutton Seconded Cllr Ensell and agreed by all cllrs to approve the quotation. The clerk would arrange for payment and Cllr Sutton would collect and erect the sign.
BUS SHELTERS
Cllr Mansfield was awaiting quotations for repair of the bus shelters.
135/2025 LITTER STRATEGY & FLY TIPPING UPDATE
Litter picking continues. Thanks were given to Cllr Ensell and the litter picking team.
136/2025 RATIFICATION OF POLICIES
Members had, had an opportunity to peruse these documents and it was
proposed by Cllr Mansfield, seconded by Cllr Ensell approval of the policies below:-
Financial Regulations
Standing Orders
Risk Assessment
137/2025 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 1 December 2025 at 7.30pm