2022 Annual Town Meeting

Minutes of the Annual Town Meeting of Market Deeping held on Tuesday 19 April 2022 at 7.00 pm at the Green School, Church Street, Market Deeping   

Present:

Cllr D Shelton (Chairman)   
Cllr Mrs J Sked   
Cllr Mrs P Redshaw   
Cllr Dr P Byrd   

Approximately 40 people in total were in attendance.

Representatives from the following voluntary sector organisations were also in attendance with displays:

•   Age Concern (The Deepings)
•   Deepings Heritage
•   Deepings Scouts
•   Deepings Business Club
•   The Raft race committee
•   The Deepings Youth group
•   First Responders 

1.   Welcome and Introductions

Cllr Shelton welcomed the residents to the meeting. He apologised on behalf of the Chair and Vice Chair who were not present due to unforeseen circumstances.

He explained that the Town Council has a legal requirement to ensure a meeting is held for the residents each year, so the meeting is a town meeting rather than a council meeting.

2.   Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 5 March 2019

Cllr Shelton asked the residents if they had read the minutes and that they accepted them as a true record of the meeting held on Tuesday 5th March 2019. 

It was unanimously agreed that the minutes were a true record of the meeting dated 5th March 2019. Cllr Shelton duly signed the minutes.

3.    Presentation by Cllr Shelton acting for the Chairman of Market Deeping Town Council

Cllr Shelton explained that the purpose of the Annual Town meeting was to give residents an opportunity to ask questions of the Council and to hear about what Market Deeping Town Council have been doing.

4.   Presentation by Cllr David Shelton, Chairman of the Planning & Highways Committee, Market Deeping Town Council

•   The purpose of this Annual Meeting is to review the Council's responsibilities, in this case the Planning and Highways Committee, and to highlight progress since the last meeting on the 5 March 2019.

•   Our role is to scrutinise all local Planning Applications and to support residents’ applications and objections, encouraging their attendance where relevant to the committee meetings.

•   We should be involved in the pre planning phase of any major site developments, both commercial and residential through the following processes.

•   We must input to, and monitor the SKDC Local Plans and Reviews.

•   The Deepings Neighbourhood Plan was made by a successful Referendum on 6th May 2021. The plan includes 16 Policies and 24 Improvement Projects, and they are subject to Implementation, Monitoring and Review. You can view all of this on line. Already the Plan has been successfully used in planning applications.

•   We are negotiating with SKDC through the Neighbourhood Plan, as we believe that the Plan should lead us into a more formal relationship with pre application projects.

•   Finally, we monitor local Highways concerns, as we do with Planning, but with the responsible body being the Lincolnshire County Council, LCC.

5.   Presentation by Cllr David Shelton on behalf of Cllr Bob Broughton, Chairman of the Amenities and Open Spaces committee, Market Deeping Town Council

Cllr Shelton informed the residents that he would like to bring their attention to a few items in his report:

•   Despite the pandemic the park keepers have kept the Council’s fields well maintained this has been an undoubted godsend for our Town’s people to socially distance in throughout the pandemic.

•   A lot of tree planting has been possible with donations from outside bodies which the Council has been able to take advantage of.

•   The BMX track continues to be a popular attraction for local youngsters to let off steam.

•   Much work has been carried out renovating Cherry Tree Park opposite The Vine public House.  We must congratulate Cllr Pam Byrd for organising everyone on what proved to be a major project for all the volunteers, myself included.

•   An arboriculturist was commissioned to inspect all 237 of our trees and steps are being made to carry out the actions required.

•   I inspected our parks and facilities on 13th April and with the cherry blossom out, it all looks immaculate and a credit to our small town.

6.   Presentation read by Cllr Shelton on behalf of the Town Hall and Cemetery committee, Market Deeping Town Council

Cllr Shelton presented a report prepared by the Chair of the committee:

Town Hall 

The Clerks were thanked for their hard work and support to ensure that the Town Hall was open within the guidelines of central government over the last few years.  The Town Hall is now being used for council meetings now that restrictions have been lifted and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Deepings Community Centre and the Green School for the use of their facilities during the last year.   

The Town Hall’s refurbishment has been difficult to progress due to limited availability of builders, but hopefully this will be progressed over the next year to preserve the building for many years to come.  

Cemetery 

The Park keepers and the cemetery keeper were thanked for their hard work over the last few years, particularly during the limitations during the pandemic.  

The cemetery has been kept very tidy and is a peaceful place for people to sit and remember loved ones.  The new Sanctum has now been installed along with a beautiful planting scheme and benches to compliment the area.  The Sanctum is now available for those wishing to purchase a lease for 10 or 20 years. 

The cemetery will soon see the bedding plants being placed in boxes and additional planters will be installed on the park-keepers shed too.

Spinney

The Spinney continues to be in regular use for scattering of ashes, with plaques placed on the paving edge if requested.  Various shrubs are permitted within the Spinney in memory of a loved one.  It is set in a peaceful setting and surrounded by beautiful woodland and grassed areas. 

Finance Committee

Details of the council finances including annual expenditure were presented to residents in the report provided at the meeting.

7.   Update on the Christmas Market and Jubilee celebrations by Cllr Dr Pamela Byrd, Market Deeping Town Council

Jubilee celebrations 2-5 June 2022

Thursday 2 June 2022
Band and Churches together service on Riverside Park.

Friday 3 June 2022
Vehicle Motorcade through Market Deeping 11am – 12nn.

Saturday 4 June 2022
Residents are encouraged to have street parties with neighbours.

Sunday 5 June 2022
Party in the Park organised by The Deepings Lions in John Eve field.

Christmas Market - Sunday 4 December 2022
It is hoped to have craft and general stalls, a stage, a Christmas tree festival in the Town Hall and a big Christmas tree with lights.

It is hoped that it will be an opportunity for local shops to open too.

All stall holders were thanked for their attendance and apologies were issued for the lack of public in attendance.

8.   Update from Deepings Business group and Deepings Raft Race by Andy Pelling

Deepings Business Community

The group is a not-for-profit group which exists to support local businesses which costs £40 p.a. for any local business to join.  It offers advice about available business grants and shares resources with its members.  It runs a Love Deepings campaign each year and makes awards to local businesses who are voted for by members of the public.

Deepings Raft race 

The Raft Race will be back on Sunday 7 August 2022 and will have a 1980s theme.  The Raft race has raised almost £50,000 since 2017.

They are looking for volunteers to help with marshalling in 2/3-hour slots.

9.   Open Forum and Questions

No questions were received prior to the meeting and the following discussions took place:

Scouts – Remembrance parade 2021 – only 40 places allocated but group have 120 members.  It was hoped that places would be available in 2022.

Town Hall – residents were advised that the Town Hall had been purchased for £1.

Rectory Paddock – a resident stated that it looked wonderful.  It was agreed to research the purchase a duck house for the pond.

Dog walking on Glebe field – it was stated that dog walkers not paying attention to the rules was causing issues.

Precept – a discussion took place regarding the Precept and £6,000 allocated to the Deeping Youth Group.

Police station in the Deepings – it was stressed that all incidents need to be reported and that any issues should be reported to the Police Commissioner who is Mark Jones.

Deepings Leisure Centre – MDTC were asked to press LCC/SKDC for a reopening date.

Joint town Council for the Deepings – Cllr Shelton explained that this needed to be voted upon and agreed to by Councillors. 

Allotments – Cllr Shelton explained that the Section 106 agreement had been agreed and that it is hoped MDTC will have allotments in the future.

The meeting finished at approximately 8.35pm