Meeting Minutes: Annual Parish Council Meeting 2024

 PARISH OF KIMBOLTON AND STONELY

ANNUAL PARISH MEETING

HELD IN THE MANDEVILLE HALL KIMBOLTON, COMMENCING AT 7.30pm ON THE 14 March 2024

• PRESENT  Parish Councillors P Seabrook (in the Chair); K Hutchinson; Mrs D Hellett; Mrs R Lloyd; Ms C Jessup; Mrs J Stainer; J Lee; L Farrer and M Buckley

 District Councillor Jonathan Gray

Sgt Rob Streater, Cambridgeshire Police

3 members of the public.

C L Thatcher, Clerk to the Parish Council, recorded the minutes.

• APOLOGIES were received from Councillors  Ms H Bradbury and  R Gooderham 

County Councillor Ian Gardener (illness).

      4     MINUTES of the Annual Parish Meeting of 9 March 2023 were read, approved and signed as a true record of that meeting.

      5.   MATTERS ARISING  There were no matters arising.

      6.   POLICE REPORT.   Sgt Streater said that St Neots sector had received an increase of 2 constables in their team and we are now to get a dedicated officer for Kimbolton and surrounding area.  He is PC Pete Andrews.    It is also likely we will receive the assistance of a Special Constable, Tom Ferret, once he completes his training.

Sgt Streater said that we are fortunate in that we don’t suffer the gang violence prevalent in both Peterborough and Cambridge, which is where most police resources are concentrated.  This area is considered extremely safe regarding crime.

That said, there are wrongdoings here and last year saw 149 investigations here- but that should be compared with St Neots where there were over 1000.

There were 4 domestic burglaries (including 2 outbuildings)

                      2 burglaries of business premises

                      Thefts of and from motor vehicles, including thefts of fuel and number plates.

                      12 domestic common assaults

                       1 actual bodily harm and

                       1 grievous bodily harm (on fireworks night).

The Chairman thanked Sgt Streater who then answered questions.

       7  PARISH COUNCIL REPORT

            Councillor Paul Seabrook read his report on the activities of the Parish Council , a  

            copy of which is attached to these minutes, and invited questions.

      8   REPORT BY COUNTY COUNCILLOR

           Councillor Gardener read his report  and a copy is attached to the original of these minutes.

     9   REPORT BY DISTRICT COUNCILLOR

          Councillor Gray presented  his report, which is

          attached to the original of these minutes.

     10  REPORTS BY LOCAL ORGANISATIONS

• Kimbolton Trust.    Councillor Seabrook said that both he and Councillor Hutchinson were Trustees.  They met twice a year and were happy to consider requests for assistance, usually financial, from people in the area.  They have plenty of funding available for people in need.
• Kimbolton School.  The Bursar, Jenny Agnew, was not able to attend, but it was reported that the Headmaster, Mr Belbin, was retiring in the summer and a new Head had been appointed.  He is Will Chuter and will take up his appointment in September.                   Repairs to the boarding house have commenced and are expected to be complete by the end of May.       An application will be made to divert the public footpath which runs through the school grounds to the perimeter.
• Womens Institute  Mrs Mavis Campion  presented her report on the year.  Her report is attached to the original of these minutes.
•   Kimbolton Castle Rotary Club.   Their report was presented by David Watson.  He said the Club was now back to weekly meetings with a mixture of in-person meetings and Zoom.It had been a great year with 3 new members and 18 regularly attending.  There are 18 members in a satellite club who are not required to attend weekly meetings. Venues have included the Sailing Club and the White Horse.     They have raised £4000 to £5000 for charity at events such as the Galaxy Big Band and a quiz.  The Country Fayre produced the second best attendance ever, raising a net £21,000 of which £12000 went to Rotary and £9000 to Sporting Bears.

They are supporting youth this year and have a ‘Young Artist’ competition which has received 132 entries from local schools.

• Mandeville Hall Committee.   Their report was presented by Jean Stratford, who said that their AGM was on Friday 28 April.
• Kimbolton Football Club  and Kimbolton Cricket Club No report received.
• 1^st Kimbolton Scouts.  Martin Brown said they had had a successful year, with scouts attending their permanent Jamboree and with two Explorer Scouts going to South Korea.

  11   PUBLIC FORUM

           Jean Stratford said that the Mandeville Hall was being upgraded.  They are providing a bigger notice board to advertise activities in the village and Bytes Café is very busy and is providing a Warm Hub.

    12   NEXT MEETING

           The next Annual Parish Meeting will take place on Thursday 6 March 2025 in the Youth Room at the Mandeville hall, commencing at 7.30 pm.

           There being no further business the meeting closed at 2110 hours.