2025 Annual Parish Meeting

 

The Chairman of the Parish Council, Councillor Stewart Sharman presided and opened the meeting with a welcome to those present.  There were 5 members of the public present, 5 Parish Councillors, a District Councillor and 1 member of staff.

Apologies were recorded from Cllr A Maughan, Cllr Rann and Cllr Pope.

 

1. The minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held in 2024 were approved and it was unanimously agreed that they be signed.

 

2. The Chairman gave his report and a copy is attached to a hard copy of these minutes.

 

3. The Chair gave a financial report and a report is attached to a hard copy of these minutes

 

4. The annual report of the Hough on the Hill Relief in Need Charity was read out and a copy is attached to the hard copy of these minutes.

 

5. Parishioners question time.  A member of the public would like to share his proposed plans for an outline planning application he wishes to submit for Wayside Farm, Hough on the Hill.  He would like to engage community effort in the design and any comments should be forwarded to his planning officer before submission to SKDC.  He is intending to place the plans on the Church noticeboard, Next Door and village noticeboards.  Parishioners will have 21 days to submit their comments before he submits his outline planning application to SKDC.  A member of the public asked how many houses were to be submitted.  The MOP replied two houses and a bungalow.

 

6. The meeting closed at 8.01p.m.

 

The Chair thanked everyone for attending.

 

Attachments:

Chair’s Annual Report 2024-2025

HOH Financial Report 2024-2025

Hough on the Hill Relief in Need Charity

 

1.   The last 12 months has been a period of consolidation across the PC and the Parish.  The focus has continued to be on positive projects but also adopting a more collaborative approach involving the wider community – specifically building relationships with SKDC, LALC and the LCC – the Clerk, Donna Lang, who has been key in this regard, has been excellent.  

 

 

2.   Below is a list of activities and deliverables over the last 12 months:

 

a. Flooding – Storms Bibbet and Henke (autumn 23) caused significant flooding in Brandon (x 2 homes) and in Hough where High and Lower roads were almost impassable. 

 

i.    Hough - Works initiated 2/3 years ago to rectify the issues in Hough have now been completed. The 2024 Autumn storms passed without incident, ditto Jan 25.  N.B.  there is a still a minor problem with the well outside John Lords house.  

 

ii.  Brandon - Drainage works identified in 2023 have now been completed as part of a collaborative effort between the PC, LCC and SKDC.  This saw the repair and cleaning of the drain from Church Lane to the Brant.  Following the 2024 Autumn storms this work seemed to have addressed the problem – however, the storm 6 Jan 25 saw water cascading down the footpath in front of Church Lane Farmhouse onto Church Lane –unfortunately the pipe near the Brant could not cope with the volume of water and the Stables owned by the Faulkner’s was flooded - again. The other issue in Brandon is at the other end of the village where Old Hall Cottage is under constant risk of flooding.  The problem is run off from a new garage built at Old Hall and a culvert under the Stragglethorpe road that cannot handle the volume of water. 

iii.   Solution - The PC brokered a meeting with the LCC Highways Department and local residents to understand the problems and work towards a solution – this work is still ongoing and will be subject to funding and competing priorities.  Thank you to all concerned but this issue has still to be satisfactorily resolved - the PCs main effort over the next 12 months.

 

b. Parking Brandon Church.  Parishioners raised concerns that visitors to Brandon Church are parking on the grass area to the East of the Church.  This area becomes churned up and unsightly, visitors are then parking on the verges creating further problems.  A Cllr Sue Allen has put together a proposal to create a parking area for up to 6 vehicles.  Submitted to the Diocese as they own the land, the plan was well received.  The scheme is now in the design and approval phase to determine the options, secure funding and seek formal approval from the Diocese.

 

c. Emergency Plan – Cllr Sue Allen has done some sterling work in producing a draft Emergency Plan.  Aimed at providing a range of responses from low level (community based) able to deal with local requests for support – through to national emergencies and how the Parish would plug into a wider call to arms.

 

d. Neighbourhood Plan.  The NP plan was progressing until a parishioner rightly questioned the process associated with the timings and outcomes of the Locality Grant.  The question raised was upheld and as a result all works on the NP and DC had to stop to satisfy the Locality rules and process.  This issue has now been resolved and the NP is back on track.  

 

e. DEFIBS. The roster for the monthly checking of the DEFIBs is working v well – thank you Sue Allen, Alistair Knott and Martin Rodell.

 

f. SIDs. The almost scarlet pimpernel deployment of the SID continues across the Parish - Andrew Barret – the Percy Blakney of the Parish – thank you– they seek him here etc etc. There is a project in train to raise funding to pay for another SID.

 

g. Grass Cutting – The previous mowing contract lacked flexibility, having appointed a new contractor the service is much improved – summer of 2025 will confirm that the new regime is working well – thanks to Hough Gardening Services for their flexible approach.

 

h. Grit Bins. The Grit bins have been regularly checked and reports sent to LCC Highways as required.  The PC oversaw the deployment and then subsequent relocation of a grit bin in Brandon.  As a local resident complained re the location of the new bin the PC lobbed LCC. The bin was moved to a new location – a seemingly small issue but resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. 

 

i. Community Orchard – As part of the ongoing Playground Project there is a option to plant some fruit trees in the Playground.  Flyers have been distributed to seek comment. 

 

j. The HotH Play Area.  The Play area has been inspected monthly and maintenance works carried out  - as a result of the inspections – the bark surface has been topped up – tree limbs that fell during the Jan 25 storm have been removed and proposal for fruit trees ongoing. 

 

k. Litter Pick. A very successful litter pick was organised by Cllr Pope –  more planned before the vegetation begins to grow this spring.

 

l. No contentious Planning Issues.

 

 

3.  A productive year, the ongoing flooding issues are still a concern and remain a priority. BAU is now well established but the NP together with the Emergency plan and raising money for another SID are front and centre.

 

 

Yours 

Stewart Sharman MBE

Chair

 

We have a total bank balance of £7915.96 at end of February 2025.  Of this, £3,681.90 is in the savings account which is held for any major play area repairs or new equipment.  Funds continue to be set aside for projects:

1. Neighbourhood Plan £200

2. election expenses £700 

3. Defib maintenance £1580.60

 

We have £2,375 held in the current account for our Neighbourhood Plan update which will be spent by 31st March 2025.

 

Other outgoings are:

 

1 ongoing maintenance of the HOH website

2 LALC membership

3 play area

4 landscaping

5 speed indicator devices

6 general maintenance costs

 

 

2024-2025 £8,526

2025-2026 £10,941 

 

An Increase of 28%.  

1 gardening maintenance

2 election expense

3 increase in insurance

4 clerk’s increased working hours

5 general maintenance costs

 

The Parish Council strive to use funds carefully to ensure the parish is maintained in a condition you as residents expect.

 

The Parish Council will be planning their budget for Financial year 2026/2027 in November 2025 so if you have any ideas for projects please do pass them to us (costings, etc included) prior to this date to allow time for all projects to be considered.

 

 

In 2024 the Charity’s income was £1375 and expenditure £1067, principally made up of 17 grants to eligible households in the Parish. We were able once again to increase the grant amount distributed at Christmas 2024, now at a figure of £70. The balance carried forward from 2023 was £1823 and forward into 2025 was £2135.

 

Reserve funds have grown in the last 2-3 years: the Trustees wish to publicize the existence of the fund more widely to attract requests for assistance from those in real hardship. It is hoped that Parishioners with demonstrable need will feel they can engage with Trustees in confidence to explain their need and seek appropriate support from the Charity, albeit we can only help in a modest manner. To this end a text has been prepared for display on parish notice boards and in News and Views.

 

 

There have been no changes in the board of Trustees in the last 12 months The Trustees re-elected Andrew Barrett to serve as Chair for the following year 2025-2026. 

 

The current list of Trustees is as follows:

 

Mrs. Susan Allen

Mr. Andrew Barrett (Chair)

Mrs. Janet Chapman (Secretary)

Revd. Sara Davies

Mr. Pat Morgan

Mrs. Judith Sharman