Draft minutes of the meeting of Folkingham Annual Parish meeting held on 15th May 2025
Present: Cllr Martin Smith, Nicky Bush (Clerk),
Members of the Public: Twenty eight members of the public, four parish councillors and Lincolnshire County Councillor
Meeting started 7.00 pm
25/008 Apologies for absence and reasons given.
None
25/009 Draft minutes of the Annual Parish meeting held on 7th March 2024 to be confirmed and signed as minutes.
It was resolved to accept the above draft minutes. They were confirmed as minutes and signed by Cllr MS.
25/010 To receive the Chairman’s Report on Parish Council Activities for the past year.
Each of the Cllrs present introduces themselves. Cllr M Smith then ran a presentation including all the elements of the agenda, firstly introducing a QR code so that residents could log on and have their say. He then went on to outline the role of the parish council and they areas that they are responsible for.
The council in the last year have
- Installed a solar street light off West Street and petitioned SKDC to improve street lighting in Market Place.
- Worked with LCC/Highways to defer resurfacing of A15 to get local voice and ensure safety measures.
- Taken ownership of the K6 telephone box in Market Place.
- Added HGV restriction to Greenfields Lane.
- Taken ownership of the pavilion for the community.
- Undertaken a tree survey of green areas and commissioned essential tree maintenance.
- Secured a grant to improve the playground.
- Put up VE Day 80 images in the Market Place.
- Started the process of creating a Neighbourhood Plan.
- Supported the Folkingham Feastival & other events.
- Renovated the village notice boards.
- Provided a village skip
25/011 Presentation on Neighbourhood Plan
Cllr MS outlined what a neighbourhood plan is and the progress to date including: the vision of the neighbourhood plan, its objectives, policies and heritage and environmental plan
He then asked for feedback on each area.
● Do you agree with the vision of the draft Neighbourhood Plan?
● Do you agree with the objectives of the draft Neighbourhood Plan?
● Do you agree with the policy areas of the draft Neighbourhood Plan?
● Do you support an extension to the conservation area to include the historic buildings and landscape of Low Farm, Spring Lane, Millennium Green and area opposite the former castle on Billingborough Road?
● Do you support protection zones around Folkingham to ensure development does not impair the rural context and important views to the historic village?
● Would you be willing to get involved in helping with a Neighbourhood Plan?
25/012 – Improvements on the A15 in the Market Place, carpark areas – ideas and discussion
We have a major A road running right through the historic conservation area.
● The width of the road encourages speeding and overtaking, particularly down the hill.
● There are currently no safe places to cross.
● The current ‘crossing’ on the corner is dangerous and there was recently a serious accident involving a pedestrian. LCC Highways were about to resurface the road ignoring formal requests to Martin Hill at LCC about investigating a crossing point in the Market Place.
● The decision was finally made to defer resurfacing to allow consultation with the community on the design of the road and a crossing point.
● This includes road and car park surfaces, road safety, road narrowing and a crossing point A15 in Bourne, use of beige surface dressing to slow traffic.
We could suggest all the of Market Place uses this surfacing which will also enhance the historic setting.
- Do you support improving traffic management, safety and the visual appearance of the A15 and car park areas in the historic Market Place?
- What ideas do you have for traffic management, safety and visual improvement of the A15 and car park areas in the historic Market Place?
Archer strips were put down previously, however this did not show that there was excessive speeding. Suggestions put forward were flashing lights where the new 30 mph speeding limit starts, potential for rumble strips, however this may cause excessive noise for residents. Narrow the road in certain sections which could be used for parking.
25/013 Flooding and ideas for improvement
A changing climate means we are getting heavier rains in certain periods and so more flooding.
● In January the A15 was closed, Billingborough Road was flooded along with Millennium Green and areas upstream to Low Farm.
● What should we ask Lincolnshire County Council to do to improve the risk of flooding in these areas?
● Flood warning signs and sand bags at Village Hall?
Residents agreed that sand bags were needed, and commented that ditches are no longer cleared out. Cllr M Hill said it may be that the pipe is possibly not big enough. The question was raised as how much water could be held back from upstream.
25/014 – Ideas for the phone box
● We have been trying to get a grant from SKDC to restore the K6 phone box in the Market Place.
● Our aim is to restore and repaint the box and put up a heritage interpretation board and images relating to the historic Market Place.
● We can also use the box for exhibitions and displays.
● Do you support restoring the telephone box and using it for heritage interpretation?
● What ideas do you have for other ways in which the telephone box could be used?
25/015 The future of the playing field and pavilion
● FPC is responsible for all the playing field including the playground, pitch, pavilion, allotments and woodland area.
● Currently there is no football club using the facilities. Does anyone know of a club who may want to use it?
● Do you have any suggestions of how we can use the pavilion?
● How can we improve the playground area?
Suggestions put forward were a section of the field be used for a dog park, netball for older children.
25/016 Allotments and future provision
● There is a growing waiting list for the limited number of allotments on the playing field.
● There is a large amount of unused space behind the far goal of the pitch to add around 6 new allotments. Is this a good idea?
● Do you support adding more allotments at the unused far end of the playing field beyond the goal?
Potential for additional allotments, however concerns that some of the allotments were not being used, which the councillors confirmed this was on the agenda for the meeting on the 22nd May 2025.
25/017 Wildflower areas
● FPC is responsible for many of the green areas around the village including many in the Market Place and in Churchfields. There is also plenty of green space at the playing field.
● Should we be looking to designate some of these as wildflower areas to encourage biodiversity and insect life?
● Do you support creating wildflower areas in selected green spaces in the village?
● Which green areas do you think would be best for wildflowers?
It was agreed that the clerk would upload maps of the areas the Parish Council are responsible for so that residents could suggest areas for consideration.
25/018 Emergency plan – volunteers willing to be part of the plan
All councils are tasked to create a Emergency Plan with details of people in the community who would be willing to assist in the event of an emergency.
● Would you be willing to be part of such a plan and in what way could you contribute?
● Do you think we should do more to protect against flooding?
● What can we do to better protect areas of the village from flooding?
● Would you be willing to put yourself forward as someone who can assist in an emergency
25/019 Other matters
Street lighting proposal
Should we turn off streetlights after 12 midnight to save energy like they do in Stamford and other places?
Do you support improving the street lighting in the Market Place to uniform heritage low energy bulbs?
● Do you support turning off streetlights after midnight to save on energy and light pollution
A15 South speed Limit
The current speed restriction is causing traffic to travel too fast round the corner with two recent accidents of cars leaving the road. Should we move the 30mph restriction to just before the Folkingham sign to better slow traffic, Lincolnshire County Council as already put a TRO consultation out regarding this.
● Do you support extending the 30mph speed zone on the A15 to just before the south Folkingham sign?
The Ford
We have already put up a HGV restriction sign on Greenfields Lane to prevent large vehicles damaging the verges and ford.
Do you think the ford should be closed to through traffic given that all properties can be accessed via Greenfields and Spring Lane?
Solar Farms
● There is already one solar farm been approved within the parish on a site bordering Mareham Lane and Billingborough Road.
● Another larger site will be resubmitted by Ridge Energy on the site of RAF Folkingham.
● An advantage of these is that related Community Infrastructure Levy (CIF) can be allocated for the benefit of the community.
● Do you support the development of a solar farm at the former RAF Folkingham?
Signed: