Minutes 5 October 2026
FOTHERBY PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF FOTHERBY PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY 5 OCTOBER 2026 AT 7.30 PM IN ST. MARY’S CHURCH
Present: Cllr Steve Mansfield (Chairman), Cllr Tim Hunter (Vice Chair), Cllr Lee Sutton, Cllr Kevin Ensell, Cllr Christina Chen.
In attendance: Mrs. Viv Davies (Clerk), ELDC Cllr E Mossop, LCC Cllr N Hastings.
2 residents were present.
OPEN FORUM:
No items were raised.
112/2026 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
All Councillors were present. No apologies.
113/2026 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – TO BE STATED IN ANY PROPOSITION
There were no declarations of interest. Cllr Mansfield noted his interest in the Fotherby Jubilee Committee and therefore the defibrillator.
114/2026 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF 7.9.26
Proposed Cllr Ensell, seconded Cllr Hunter to approve the minutes of 7.9.26. Cllr Mansfield signed the minutes.
115/2026 CLERKS UPDATE
All items were included within the minutes.
116/2026 MATTERS ARISING FROM ACTION PLAN/MINUTES
Cllr Mansfield had arranged to meet the hedge cutter who would meet him to discuss the work required.at the allotments shortly.
Cllr Mansfield had attended a meeting with the Chairmen at Utterby and Ludborough Parish Councils. Procedural matters were discussed including flood risks in the respective villages. Cllr Mansfield had highlighted how planning applications for new developments in all villages could affect flooding in Fotherby. The meeting was very productive and enabled opportunities to collaborate in future. Further meetings with the neighbouring council chairmen would take place periodically. Cllrs highlighted that it would be useful to receive and share the minutes of neighbouring councils and reciprocate in sharing FPC’s minutes. Cllr Mansfield would make enquiries.
LCC had responded to the email sent regarding the request to erect horse warning signs. The Parish council noted the LCC did not approve the signs. The Parish Council noted the excerpt from the TSRGD 9.3.3. whereby the use would normally be considered only where visibility distance is greater than 80m.
117/2026 FINANCE
Cllr Mansfield had verified the bank reconciliation. Cllrs noted the financial reports. Cllr Ensell, seconded Cllr Hunter approval of the cheques below.
Cheque No
1526 WAVE Allotment Water £31.63
1527 V Davies Clerk Salary £360.72
1528 V Davies Clerk Expenses £28.39
1529 Bush Landscaping Mowing £60.00
1530 V Davies Reimburse cost of Poppy Wreath £24.05
Bank Charges
7.9.26 £7.25
Community Account (Formerly Treasurers Account) £4,931.94 of which £209.78 relates to ring fenced account for Fotherby Common (9.9.26)
COMM INST ACCESS (Formerly Business Bank) £2,583.75 (10.8.26)
TO APPROVE FURTHER ITEMS OF EXPENDITURE
There were no further items of expenditure
TO AMEND THE REGISTERED ADDRESS WITH LLOYDS BANK
Proposed Cllr Ensell, seconded Cllr Hunter and approved by all councillors to amend the correspondence address with Lloyds Bank.
The authorisation form was signed by Cllr Ensell and Cllr Hunter.
118/2026 FLOOD RISK ITEMS
The flood plan would be updated on Fotherby Parish Council website in April. There has been no flood reports from residents this month being very few rainfall events.
119/2026 PLANNING APPLICATIONS
Councillors approved the following comments on the planning applications in Utterby. Proposed Cllr Ensell, seconded Cllr Hunter.
Planning Application Ref: 03467/25/OUT
Outline erection of 2no. dwellings.
Land Rear of Queens Close, Grange Lane, Utterby, Lincolnshire
Fotherby Parish Council strongly object to this application. For years our village, at times of medium to heavy rainfall has suffered from flooding, causing the man-hole covers around the area of Allenby Crescent/Allenby Close to spew out sewage water and indeed often raw sewage. Properties in the area have had to endure this completely filling their toilet bowls, causing them to be unusable for many hours.
It is not decent or proper for residents to have to walk through such overflow outside their homes, even treading it back inside; totally unacceptable standards in the 21st century.
The problem is caused by several factors:
The Pumping Station within our village has reached full capacity and it cannot cope with more properties being linked to it. Anglian Water have confirmed this with us.
The sewage flow from Ludborough, Utterby as well as Fotherby all flow through the Fotherby pumping station and onto Louth sewage treatment works.
The sewage spills seen frequently under moderate rainfall, in Allenby Crescent/Close as described above are hydraulically linked to the transfer pumping sewer from Utterby and Ludborough. Therefore, more flows from these nearby villages have a direct impact on the sewerage issues that Allenby residents suffer.
Fotherby Parish Council have produced their own extensive Flood Plan (the ELDC Planning Dept. has been sent a copy) and have been objecting to any further development until this matter, which has been occurring for many years, is finally rectified.
It is imperative that we force agencies like the LPA, AW and developers to look at alternative solutions to standard sewer connections for all new properties. This stance will alleviate some of the impact on the public sewer system in all three villages.
In passing planning applications which feed into this existing sewerage system ELDC Planning authority is creating Victorian conditions on our doorsteps.
New builds must be instructed to fit their own independent sewerage systems, in reality, a Foul Water Package Treatment Plant. Already Fotherby properties are following this line:
At a property in Short Lane recently (00033/26/FUL):
‘Anglian Water has reviewed the Foul & Surface Water General Arrangement 7948/100 Rev P2 and the Foul & Surface Water Strategy 7948 Rev A dated 15 April 2026. The applicant is now proposing to discharge foul drainage with a Package treatment Plant.’
There is only one message planners can should realistically send out…… stop granting planning permission to properties that are adding to the sewerage flow through Fotherby.
It is the duty of all professional agencies to tackle this issue once and for all so we hereby strongly object to this planning application.
It was noted that Cllr Chen had drafted a complaint to East Lindsey District Council based on a presentation by a villager at the previous meeting. This had been circulated to councillors to fully consider, regarding planning decisions relating to the incapacity of the sewerage system to cope with additional developments. It was proposed by Cllr Mansfield, seconded Cllr Hunter and approved by all Councillors.
The Chairman would submit both items to ELDC today.
The Parish Council noted Planning application Ings Lodge, Ings Lane Section 73 seeking to remove the agricultural occupancy condition. This was because agricultural works were no longer taking place on site. It was noted that the site was several acres in size.
Cllr Mossop reported on new planning legislation 1 November 26. The scheme of delegation had changed. District Councillors were no longer able to call in planning applications to the Planning Committee giving Council Officers more powers to approve or disapprove applications. It was also noted that the deadline for processing applications had been reduced markedly to 21 days. It was noted that this timescale does not fit well with the cycle of monthly Parish Council meetings and that any comments that the Parish Council might wish to make on applications received after 1st November will need to be made more promptly and where necessary, with additional meetings to approve any decisions.
119/2026 LITTER STRATEGY & FLY TIPPING UPDATE
Litter picking continues across the village and nearby lanes to maintain standards by volunteers. There had been several fly tipping incidents outside the village notified by a diligent resident which were reported to ELDC Cleansing and Fly Tipping teams for collection. A fridge was dumped in Barton St recently and was removed within a few days. ELDC were thanked again for their prompt attention to fly tipping events.
The Parish Council would write to thank the resident for her support in reporting fly tipping issues around the local lanes.
Cllrs noted that an appointment system will be implemented at the recycling centre. The matter was briefly discussed. Any increased risk of fly tipping should be monitored by ELDC after the new system is made live. It was noted that this should be monitored for the time being.
120/2026 VILLAGE ASSETS
The annual safety & condition inspection would be conducted in the coming weeks
An additional Keter store would be purchased for sandbag storage.
Bus Shelter Repairs. Refurbishment of Bus Shelter 2 had been completed.
Cllr Mansfield would seek suitable quotes for the recoating of Bus Shelter 1.
The final phase of tree works at Fotherby Common would be organised in the coming weeks.
121/2026 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 2 November 2026 at 7.30 pm.
Cllrs agreed that the December meeting would be moved to Monday 30 November 2026.
122/2026 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
The poppy wreaths would be laid at the Remembrance ceremony.
FOTHERBY DOCK
The information had been compiled to send to Lincolnshire County Council confirming LCC’s ownership of Fotherby Dock and therefore maintenance liabilities.
A request had been received from LCC to complete planning application information for the commemorative WWII aircraft at Fotherby Dock. This would be an agenda item at the November meeting.
The meeting finished at 8.40 pm.