18 February 2026 Full Council Minutes
Minutes of the Bardney Group Parish Council held on Wednesday, 18 February 2026 at 7pm in Bardney Village Hall
Present: Cllr I Fleetwood
Cllr M Corbould
Cllr B Linton
Cllr B Percival
Cllr M Brown
Cllr K Clarke
Cllr F Bates
Cllr R Darby
Cllr E McTernan
Also present: Anne Wilson Assistant Parish Clerk and RFO
One member of the public
Public Forum: On behalf of John Papworth and the Play Area Working Party the Assistant Clerk and RFO reported that the new zip wire costing about £24k had been vandalised and had had to be removed. Suggestions were made around CCTV and who could pay for it. Cllr. Fleetwood agreed to speak with West Lindsey District Council who monitored another play area in West Lindsey to see if there was any spare capacity available. Implementation at Bardney would be a lot of financial cost. Cllr. Darby said it was not the responsibility of the Parish Council but that of the Village Hall Committee, that the Parish Council was not a cash cow and we only hold the deeds to the site nothing more.
There was concern about the way in which the grants were handled at the January 2026 Council meeting. A local resident read out the rules pertaining to the what the grants were applied for and read the rules set by the council out, stating that they were ignored. It was concerned that they had not yet been paid.
26-26 Minutes/Note taker for meeting.
The Assistant Clerk and RFO was present at the meeting and would take the minutes.
26-27 Election of Chair: The Chairman, Cllr. I. Fleetwood handed in his resignation as Chairman at the meeting citing the fact that there were many things he was unhappy about after his few weeks as Chairman.
RESOLVED to note that no one offered to be Chairman of the Council so it was RESOLVED that Cllr. M. Corbould take the Chair for this Parish Council meeting. Proposed by Cllr Corbould and seconded by Cllr Fleetwood.
26-28 Election of Vice-Chair: There were no nominations for a Vice-Chair.
26-29 Fire Safety Announcement: The Chairman gave a fire safety announcement.
26-30 To receive apologies of absence: RESOLVED to receive and accept apologies where valid reasons for absence have been given to the Clerk prior to the meeting, in accordance with Local Gov. Act 1972, Sch 12, para 40 from:
- Cllr. B. Percival – personal reasons
- Yvonne Colverson Parish Clerk - unwell
26-31 Co-option of Councillors: It was resolved to co-opt Mr Peter Waddinton and Mr Martin Hare to the Council. They were formally welcomed to the Council.
26-32 Declaration of Interest: Cllrs Corbould, Darby, Linton, Clarke and Percival declared interests in the awarding of grants at point 26-39.
26-33 Exclusion of Press and Public: It was agreed that members of the press and public would be asked to leave the for discussion on point 26-43.
26-34 Minutes: the Minutes of the meetings due for approval were not to hand and it was agreed that they should be taken at the next meeting.
26-35 Clerk's Report: The Assistant Clerk spoke about the following:
- Both the Clerk and Assistant Clerk were leaving as they felt that their appointment to both roles being for ten hours a week with just one day a week for the Parish Council did not suit the needs of the Council and their resignations gave the Council the opportunity to reflect on what they actually needed and appoint to suit them.
Cllr. Waddington thanked both members of staff, on behalf of the parishioners who were very grateful for their work and for doing a good job. Their efforts were appreciated by the village.
- Today had been about tying up loose ends and leaving paperwork in the office.
- Sorting out the issues regarding the non-payment to the NEST pension scheme due to new information that had come to light the day of the meeting. Paperwork is now resubmitted.
- Filing all the minutes and agendas into a new file.
- Updating the bank reconciliation.
26-36 District Councillor’s Report: a verbal report was received from Cllr Fleetwood giving notice that local elections would not be held this year and that the next election due would be next year. He also reported that Lincolnshire is undergoing Local Government Review with electoral revision and that boundaries are expected to change. There were now six models for Lincolnshire which was going out for public consultation in March 2026. Lincoln City Council would like to inherit a lot of local villages including all villages in the Parish Group. Lincolnshire would like to have one Council covering Lincolnshire with approximately 100 Councillors. Potentially they would not see Councillors as they would have a large area to visit. Consultation was open on the website for comment and people were urged to put forward their thoughts about this.
- Notice for allotments
To give an update on serving notices on allotments tenants that are not complying with tenancy agreement.
It was not least why this was on the agenda as this had been discussed at a previous meet.
- Funerals
To give members an understanding of how interments are staffed and paperwork completed in the cemetery.
Cllr. Fleetwood expressed concern about the state of the interment paperwork and how it was not up to date.
The Assistant Clerk explained, as the Parish Clerk had done previously, that the paperwork was not correct going back before she had started working for the Council and that she had begun a tidy up and update, which she had not been able to complete. The names on the maps on the computer do not match those in the paperwork relating to the same.
Councillors asked about training in interments and cemetery-based matters. The Assistant Clerk and RFO told Members about training through YLCA and ICCM.
(Yorkshire Local Councils Association & Institute of Cemetery and Cremation Management)
- Any update on the appointment of new Parish Clerk and RFO
RESOLVED that following lengthy discussion that a Parish Clerk and RFO be appointed for 22 1/2 hours a week, with three days attendance in the Parish Council office 9.30 – 3.30 p.m. with flexibility and the additional hours at home, taking into account the evening meetings.
Further RESOLVED that the advert would be posted through LALC and other local methods as agreed at the Extraordinary Parish Council meeting.
26-38 Finance:
- RESOLVED to receive account balances to 31st January 2026.
There had been issues with regard to amending the signatures on the bank account and currently no invoices could be paid, which meant that all bank accounts had been paralysed. Cllr. Fleetwood had followed the formal complaints procedure of Unity Bank and about the Council was now able to process transactions.
- RESOLVED to approve invoices for payments, report prepared by the RFO.
Members noted that it was difficult to carry out a budget analysis due to the lack of meaningful budget and accounts paperwork from 2024/2025.
Cllr. Darby asked about the funds agreed for a new piece of play equipment in the play area in Bardney.Cllr. Brown stated that Keith Laughton had been taking this forward through the play area group and that the Council would be made aware of it. It was believed that the Parish Council would be purchasing a dual toddler swing and a small toddler climbing frame although they were more than the Parish Council had agreed to spend. Keith was negotiating with the company. Cllr. Darby asked how the Council would make sure that these funds were still available and the Assistant Clerk and RFO stated that the money could be earmarked at year end.
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Cllr. Brown asked about invoices for payment Wave and Npower as she could not see them on the paperwork. Wave was on the accounts earlier in the year and it was expected that the Npower invoice only came once a year for the unmetered supply on the green for the Christmas Tree. She also asked about the subs for LALC as the printed sheet about payments to be approved was 8p different to the account’s sheets – the RFO would look into this.
26-39 Grant Funding
The RFO confirmed that the Grant Applications from January 2026 meeting cannot be paid due to having not received all the backup paperwork attached to them as part of their application.
The RFO offered to chase everyone for the paperwork to complete their applications for consideration at the March Full Council meeting.
The RFO collected in all the Grant paperwork as it did not have all the relevant attachments with it. The RFO would obtain all the relevant paperwork for the next meeting.
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26-40 Potterhanworth Dog Club Grant Application: this would be subject to the above request and considered at the next meeting.
26-41 Bardney Play Park Equipment: This item had been covered earlier in the meeting.
The meeting went into closed session for the following items
26-42 Clerk/RFO Hours and days of work
This item had been covered earlier in the meeting.
26-43 Staffing Matters: Members were updated on the current situation with regard to the staffing matter.
Cllr. Corbould was thanked by Cllr. Fleetwood for her work in the office.
On behalf of the Parish Council Cllr. Fleetwood thanked Yvonne, Parish Clerk and Anne, Assistant Parish Clerk and RFO for all their work for the Parish Council during interesting times and wished them good luck in the future. Some areas still need sorting out but things are now starting to head in the right direction.
26-44 Date of Next Meeting: this was confirmed as Wednesday, 18 March 2026 at 7pm in Bardney Village Hall