Minutes
MINUTES of the Annual Parish Meeting held by Cranwell Brauncewell & Byards Leap Parish Council at 6.30 pm on Monday 28th April 2025 in the Village Hall, Old School Lane, Cranwell.
Present:
Cllr D Graves (in the Chair)
Cllrs J Bhunnoo, O Curtis, S Daley and A Youle
Cty Cllr R Wright and Dist Cllrs J Clarke and A Hagues.
Wing Commander Thornton (RAF Station Commander) and Cpl Chris Worley and Ian Whitehead.
PC Green.
5 members of the public.
1. The Chair welcomed all present and the Minutes of last year’s APM were signed.
2. The Chair gave his report which is attached.
3. The Clerk/RFO gave her report which is attached.
4. Richard Wright then spoke about devolution and the new Mayoral position which is often confusing. Devolution devolves powers down to Lincolnshire County Council, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire which then become a combined Mayoral authority which will be effective in June this year. Westminster dictates what money Lincolnshire gets but has approved a £20m upfront payment for existing schemes and a £24m annual payment for the next 30 years. This is guaranteed whereas at the moment, the County has to bid for everything it gets from Westminster. There is a 3 year break point within this devolution arrangement.
Then Cllr Wright went on to talk about Local Government reorganisation which wants to see District and County Councils disappear. They were asked to submit comments which they did and they now have to submit a full business case by November. Any outcome is likely to be a number of years away.
5. Wing Commander Thornton then spoke as the new Station Commander. He takes his responsibilities very seriously and is keen to help the local people. RAF Cranwell will change as they are growing – work starts on the first project in a few weeks’ time but other projects will be later this year going into 2026. He confirmed that RAF Halton will be moving to Cranwell and all training will be done from Cranwell. There are not likely to be any increased flight training aircraft.
6. PC Green then spoke and said that Cranwell is still one of the safest places to live and has a low crime rate. There are no burning issues currently. Any suspicious activity should be reported using 101. Most incidents are family related but currently there are a number of diesel thefts along the A17 corridor. Off road motorcycles are using fields at Byards Leap and the Police can now impound vehicles which is a deterrent. Speeding through the village is always an issue and PC Green will liaise with Cllr Daley and RAF Chris Worley on this matter. Police resources do not allow for more beat Police – other than Sleaford town centre which is a “hot spot”. Financially there is a black hole of £19.8m and they are still fighting for more – they have been given £5.8m but this will only last till August. There are 3 options in budgeting: the first and worst case is for funding to remain the same which will mean Police will reduce from 1600 to 1000 ; the second option is to fill the void and stay as they are and the third option and the best option would be to get the appropriate funding so that they could the increase the Police Officers by 200.
The public were then invited to raise any questions:
Could we have rumble strips – PC Green did not recommend them and said they are very noisy.
CSW – could the 60 mph area between the village and the camp be reduced to 30 mph. Cllr Wright said that as there are no properties at all in that area no Traffic Regulation Order would be allowed. Further, there are no accidents to ask for a reduction to 50 mph.
A member of the public thanked the Chair for heading up the CSW in the village and in the neighbourhood.
Wing Commander was then asked for assistance in clearing the various ginnels around the village which he was keen to do. Ian Whitehead will liaise.
A member of the public aid that the cabins and cladding had given a great result and that Dyson are doing a good job with their new development.
VE Day celebrations will include a Church Service in the village Church, a cake sale at the hub (run by the RAF but open to the public) and the Craft Club will be decorating the Village Green. There will also be guided free tours of the War Graves at St Andrews Churchyard on 7th or 10th May run by the RAF - booking is required.
There being no further questions the meeting closed at 7.30 pm and refreshments were made available.
CHAIRMANS REPORT
Good evening, everyone, thank you for coming.
In the event of a fire the muster point is in the car park at the side of the Old School
This evening, we have 3 guest speakers,
Councillor Richard Wright, Lincolnshire County Council
Wing Commander Thornton OC RAF Cranwell
Sergent Stuart Mumby- Croft and PC Green from Lincolnshire Police, based in Sleaford.
You will have opportunity to ask questions of ourselves and each speaker on conclusion of each presentation.
I would like to thank Maria and Lesley for the tea and cakes which will be available at the end of the meeting.
Chairmans Report
The Parish has been busy with 12 meetings and the normal administration and maintenance of the village, the play area, playing fields and village green, hedge and grass cutting, fix my street etc.
At present we have 8 councillors and our Parish Clerk and RFO who I would like to introduce to you
Firstly, your Parish Clerk, and RFO. Lesley Francis, who joined the Council almost 2 years ago and has worked very hard to bring us kicking and screaming into the 21st century, Lesley will provide the financial statement. A copy of the Parish Accounts can be made available if anyone wishes to view them.
Your Councillors are, Adam Youle (Vice Chair), Sarah Daley, Olivia Curtis, Peter and Sandra Liivet, Geraldine Fox and Javed Bhunnoo. There is still a vacancy for anyone who wishes to join, please speak to our Parish Clerk at the end of the meeting.
Each of your councillors have an area of responsibility within the parish which they monitor to ensure that if there is a problem it can be investigated and hopefully fixed as soon as possible
I would like to stress that they are all volunteers who give their time freely for the wellbeing of your Parish.
We have also been liaising with the Local Police and the RAF and Dyson Farming. I would like to thank Dyson Farming for their continued help and support, particularly during the flooding problem last year.
Flooding
LCC has completed the repair of the pipework under the road on Cranwell Ave to allow the water accumulation on the south side to dissipate into the dyke along side Thorold Ave.
Footpaths
We still have 2 DMO’s (Digital Mapping Orders) in place, and we do keep reminding the County Council, who are still struggling with staffing issues.
Road Safety
The SID’s Units are both functioning and have had a significant impact on reducing speeding. We are currently investigating the installation of a third unit by the school. The speedwatch group has been a little inactive during the winter mainly due to bad weather and ill health. We are always looking for volunteers. The more people we have the more roadside sessions we can organise.
We do now have quite a team, With PC Green, Sarah Daley (RAF Road Safety Team), Cpl Chris Worley (RAF Police) and the speedwatch Group there is a lot of effort trying to reduce speeding.
Pavilion
The pavilion project was completed on schedule and as was promised at the EGM the cladding has also been installed.
Old School
The Old School and Council Office was opened on 11th May. The new meeting room can be booked via the Parish Clark.
The Parish Council, Village Hall and Social Club Committee will continue to work hard together for the wellbeing and benefit of your parish.
FINANCE REPORT 2024-5.
The easiest place to start is to say that the money in the bank at the end of March last year was £49,700 and at the end of March this year was £38,900 so £10,800 less.
This was mainly made up of £33,000 spent on the cabins, offset by income/savings of a £7500 grant, £4000 not spent on a SID (which has been carried forward), and £3000 saved on electricity. The rest is various items where money was budgeted but not spent. At this meeting last year I did say that we were very tight on funds and we have therefore made a concerted effort to reduce spending.
I am pleased to say that this new year is looking better but we will always look at spending and try to keep within the budgets set.
We have had one or two lettings of the Old School and the feedback is good but so far we have not been able to secure regular hires. It has been used for a training session, yoga classes, and alternative therapy sessions.
We were let down very suddenly in March when our grass contractor said he was not coming back and you will be pleased to know that we have now successfully contracted with a more local contractor who quoted very favourably (in fact we are paying less than before) and who comes with excellent references. He has already done his first cut(s).
Our annual accounts will be advertised on our website and on the noticeboards once the external auditor has signed then off which may not be until September.
That’s it - thank you