Honington Parish Meeting AGM Minutes 15th April 2026

Honington Parish Meeting AGM on 15th April 2026

Minutes of Honington Parish Meeting AGM on 15th April 2026, held at Honington Grange at 6:30pm.

Present: Mrs. D. Parker (DP) (Chair); Mr. B Hope (BH) (Clerk); Mr. T. Carter (TC) (Webmaster); Mrs. H, Cameron (HC); Mrs. N. Carter (NC); Mr. B. Evans (BE); Ms. K. Evans (KE); Dr.. A Hennessy (AH); Mr. B. Holley (BrH); Mrs. K. Holley (KH); Mrs. K. Madden (KM); Ms. M. Parker (MiP); Dr. C. Paske (CP); Mr. M. Paske (MP); Ms. M. Parker; Mr. S. Perlish (SP); Mr. A. Rattey (TR); Mrs. P Swift (PS); Mr. M. Wing (MW); Mrs. V Wing (VW).

Apologies for absence: Mrs. W. Coney; Mr. R. Coney. Mrs. H. Dyson; Mrs. M. Applewhite; Mr. S Madden; Mrs. R. Ambrose.

1: Minutes of AGM held 3rd December 2025

  • Prior to asking for approval, BH explained that it was necessary to hold the AGM between 1st March and 1st June within the rules defined for Parish Meetings, but further to comply with the requirement for completion of the Government Auditor’s AGAR return following a meeting held between 1st April and 30th June for submission of the completed document by 30th June.
  • Timings had become more random particularly following disruption of COVID in 2020 and 2021, but it was hoped they would now become more regular and within the rules.
  • The previous Minutes were available for all attendees and were unanimously accepted as a true record and were signed by The Chair, Mrs. Parker.

2: Matters arising

  • MP asked if there had been any progress on No.1 Spring Gardens bungalow, which had now been unoccupied for some 3 years. DP said the latest information she had was that whilst some repair work had been done, there were delays in assessing the final work. It was thought that there were also problems in other bungalows needing attention.

Action:  BH to contact SKDC for updated information

  • Footpath diversion: The proposed diversion remains unresolved and VW, whose property is involved in the proposal, confirmed that there was no current progress but would advise when anything changed.
  • Car Port Application: VW also confirmed that they had given up on their plan for a car port, rejected again by SKDC Planning.
  • There were no other matters arising

3: Review of 2025/2026

  • The year had been quiet with no major events held.

4: Agreement of Financial Transactions for 2025/2026

  • The meeting agreed that there had been no financial transactions of income or expenditure during the year and the AGAR form could be completed and returned as required. It will also be circulated to residents, again as required, and posted on the website.

    Action: Parish Meeting Chair.

5: Consideration of future Financial Status as a Parish Meeting

  • The meeting was unanimous in its decision to remain as a Parish Meeting with no precept or financial dealings.

6: Activities/Proposals for 2026/2027

  • DP asked if there were any official celebrations due this year, such as major National Anniversaries, Royal Jubilees as had occurred in recent years. None were known but it was agreed that some form of village activities would be good to organise. BH explained that some years ago there was a separate committee formed outside the Parish Meeting to organise events, so perhaps it was time that a new, separate Events Committee might be formed.

    KE said she had organised events at Work and would be happy to be part of a Committee. BH agreed that he would discuss with KE and issue an email and post on the website to ask for residents to come forward with ideas, and hopefully, join a Committee. BH said he would be happy to be part of such a Committee and use the facilities of the Parish Meeting to communicate such ideas but not as Clerk of the Parish Meeting.

    Action: BH/KE to discuss further.

7: Planning Application, Hallfield Crecent

  • DP asked for any comments regarding the proposal. BH said he had received a few comments from residents:

    The development should be of appropriate materials, reflecting where possible, the dominant stone and slate within the village and the comment referring to common use of red brick should be challenged.

    It should be suitably landscaped retaining the trees on the southern boundary, particularly the very old oak trees.

    Consideration should be given to off-street parking to prevent problems on the narrow road of Hallfield Crescent.

    The houses should be energy efficient, perhaps with flush-set solar panels and heat pumps.

    Both TC and BrH voiced their great concerns over the southern boundary, referred to in the proposal as Calf Close Planation, with a mixture of 11 old oaks several 100 years old, elm, sycamore and holly well established. Perhaps there was not time to seek a tree preservation order, but the Council should be asked to reinforce the wording from ‘should’ be retained to ‘must’ be retained and to begin the process for a tree preservation order.

    Action: BH to liaise with TC re wording of the response to SKDC by the final date of 19th April 2026.

8: Village Website

  • TC as Webmaster confirmed he was willing to continue to update the website but noted that there had been no feedback.

    TR commented that he found the website very useful but was not surprised that there was no feedback, something that generally doesn’t happen these days. Viv Wing also confirmed that she had found the website useful and the consensus was that TC should continue. BH agreed to refer and link more often to it when issuing emails to residents, to remind them to occasionally look.

    It was suggested that an opportunity to improve use of the website could be to canvas residents to advise how they would prefer to be informed, and to give their email addresses where possible. BH advised that this had been done some 4 or 5 years ago but would be worth another go. Also, recent events had revealed that some residents do not wish to reveal their contact details, despite communications being blind copy.

    Action: BH to recruit people to carry out the canvassing operation.

9: Election of Officers of The Parish Meeting

  • DP confirmed the earlier notice posted, that after this meeting she would resign the post of Chair. She said that she had thoroughly enjoyed holding the post for some 3 years and hoped that a new Chair would similarly enjoy the duty.

    Before asking for anyone willing to take the role or for any nominations, BH thought it appropriate to thank both Debbie Parker and her daughter Millie who resigned her Clerk post in December 2025, for both stepping in at short notice in 2023 and doing good service for the community. Attendees endorsed this with a round of applause.

    In the absence of volunteers or nominations, BH proposed the election of Tony Rattey, with whom he had had prior discussion over his willingness to ‘pay something back’ to the village. There was an immediate show of hands to unanimously confirm his selection as Chair to Honington Parish Meeting.

    DP then asked for nominations for Clerk, advising that BH was willing to continue. TC proposed and again, a unanimous show of hands approved the selection.

10: Any other Business

  • DP raised the issue of the defunct Notice Board and said BH had contacted the two local Councillors a month ago, but so far no response. It was suggested that through some fund-raising event, separate from the Parish Meeting, money could be raised for a new Notice Board. There were possibilities of it being made in the village if materials could be provided. This could be a consideration for the proposed Events Committee, but if not, BH would continue to pursue Council funding.
  • The matter of the water leak from the access to Top Row was raised, having been running now for several weeks, creating a nuisance to lower properties on Main Street. Anglian Water have investigated and advised that the leak is on private land, therefore not their responsibility. The Engineer on site advised Michael Paske that they would contact the Coneys and Buckminster Estates, the 2 likely owners of the area, to suggest they get it repaired when responsibility is agreed.
  • In addition, there was a complaint about the overhanging shrubbery to the footpath at Stone Cottage, containing barbed plants such as brambles which could cause serious injury if walking by in the dark. BH advised that his had been an ongoing issue with different occupiers of Stone Cottage over several years and he would contact Buckminster Estates to ask them to fix this issue as well as investigating the escaping water from Top Row.

There being no other business the meeting was closed and BH said that the next meeting would be advised in due course. Finally, a vote of thanks was made to Mr. and Mrs. Coney for allowing the use of Honington Grange for this meeting.

Signed:

Barrie Hope (Clerk)