Minutes for the PC meeting 8th June 2026
Minutes of the Barrowby Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 8th June 2026 at the Reading Room, Church Street, Barrowby at 6:45pm
Public Forum (6:45pm – 7pm) There were 2 members of the public present.
i. Clerk made representation on behalf of the Barrowby Open Door group. Request for a joint event with the Parish Council to host a series of Fraud and Crime prevention talks delivered by the police. There was unanimous approval to support this with Parish Council providing the venue and Open Door hosting the event.
ii. A question was asked about the Neighbourhood plan. What budget is there to use a consultant when considering response to the Independent Examiner? At this time, Parish Council are not considering the use of a consultant in response to the Neighbourhood Plan examination. Response will be made by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.
Meeting started 7.01pm
Councillors in attendance:
Michael Brown, Paul Brown, JP Durand, Nigel Eaton (Chair), Jo Footitt Tim Lees and Hugh Staunton
Officers in attendance:
Claire Vink (Parish Clerk) Colin Billing (RFO)
District and County Councillors:
District Cllr Robert Leadenham
1. WELCOME (26/018)
Cllr Eaton welcomed members and members of the public to the meeting.
2. APOLOGIES (26/019)
Clls Bosworth, Cupit, McConnell-Good, Whittington and County Cllr Richard Litchfield apologies were NOTED
3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST (26/020)
a) No declarations were made.
b) No dispensations were made.
4. MINUTES (26/021)
It was RESOLVED to approve and sign the minutes from the Parish Council meeting on 11th May 2026. There were 2 abstentions
5. ANNUAL GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY RETURN (26/022)
a) The Annual Internal Auditor’s Report 2025/26 was NOTED
b) The recommendations and matters arising from the Internal Auditor’s narrative report were NOTED
c) The Annual Governance Statement 2025/26 was completed, RESOLVED unanimously and signed by Cllr Eaton
d) The Accounting Statements 2025/26 were received, RESOLVED unanimously and signed by Cllr Eaton
e) The statement of accounts and the bank reconciliation 2025/26 were received and NOTED
f) The explanation of variances was received and NOTED.
g) The dates for the period of public rights were NOTED as being 10th June – 21st July 2026
7.14pm RFO, C Billing left the meeting. 1 Member of Public joined the meeting
6. FINANCE (26/023)
a) It was RESOLVED to approve the May 2026 bank reconciliations
b) The income for May 2025 was NOTED
c) It was RESOLVED to approve the payments list
7. REPORTS (26/024)
a) Verbal update received from local government representatives:
i. District Councillor Leadenham: Ongoing issues being progressed, namely:
i. Barrowby Community Speedwatch volunteers were thanked for their support over the weekend at the Forbidden Forrest event at Belvoir Castle. Community Speedwatch training will take place as soon as possible
ii. The next meeting of the Belvoir Ward Group is currently being arranged. Alicia Kirkman, Head of Public Protection will be the guest speaker. Date TBC.
ii. Written update received from County Cllr Litchfield:
i. Rectory Lane. Work will be carried out to restore the verge and footpath between 6th and 13th July. They will not be installing any barrier to parking at this time.
ii. Caravan on Casthorpe Road: LCC will again start the formal process to have this removed.
b) The following verbal update from the Working Groups was NOTED:
i. Recreation and green space (RAGS) group: RAGS were congratulated on winning the Pride in the Community Award at the SKDC event. Their next project is to agree planting on the Village Green in front of the metal fence. To be considered at Building and Assets meeting
ii. Flower Group: Spring / summer planting is near completion and looking wonderful. The community herb garden sign will be installed this week. The hanging baskets are ready to be installed at the Reading Room.
iii. 20’s plenty: 1st Meeting of the group took place 20th May. Those who attended were thanked. An infogram was shared detailing the next steps for the group.
iv. Pavilion Users Group: Verbal update regarding ongoing discussions with users was shared. Request for minimum requirements for the Pavilion in order for the Football Club to still qualify for FA funding is still outstanding. This is required before discussions with the architect can take place.
8. PLANNING (26/025)
a) S26/0048 Coop at the Heathers. Additional information added. Cllr Durand shared the comment prepared by the Planning Working Group. It was RESOLVED to approve the comment. Cllr Leadenham has called this in for discussion at SKDC Planning Committee and requested representation from Parish Council. Date TBC.
b) S25/2471: Land West of Grange Paddock. Additional Documents added relating to drainage. Deadline extended to 26th June. Discussion focused on need for hydrological report. ACTION: Clerk to contact Geoscience Consulting Ltd for cost and options for access to land. A member of the public asked that the following be minuted: “If the development goes ahead the burden of evidence will be with the Parish Council to prove that increased flooding on Parish Council land and resident properties is due to the new development.” Concerns raised included: risk of water getting into the gas system due to the presence of a high pressure pipe line, requirement for a 1yr ground water survey be completed, why SKDC paid for an environmental study while stating the an Environmental Impact Assessment was not required from the developer. Cllr Leadenham to clarify if there is a cut off date for submission of extra documents by a developer in line with the limited time for public consultation. It was RESOLVED to approve the following next steps:
i. Approve via email addendum comment prepared by the Planning Working Group based on the new documents loaded to the Planning Portal
ii. Formally request that SKDC carried out an independent hydrological report on the Land West of Grnage Paddock to categorically prove or disprove claims made by the developer on the dispersal of water due to the imminent threat to Parish Council land and assets and surrounding residents’ properties.
c) Butt Lane: A request to provide a provide a factual community statement regarding Butt Lane was considered. It was RESOLVED to approve: That Barrowby Parish Council agrees to provide a factual community statement in relation to Butt Lane, limited to the Council’s observations regarding amenity value, condition, maintenance and community benefit, and not making any legal determination regarding ownership or the adverse possession application. Cllr Durand to circulate comment for approval via email. Cllr Leadenham to send the Clerk the contact details for Bridleways contact at LCC
d) Verbal update from the Planning Working Group was noted.
e) No additional applications received.
8.13pm 1 Member of Public left the meeting
9. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN (26/026)
a) The Examiner’s clarification of the Barrowby Neighbourhood Plan examination was NOTED. The Neighbourhood Planning Steering Group are preparing Parish Council response. It was RESOLVED that approval of the final statement will be made via email. It was NOTED that the Parish Council can not make changes to the plan at this stage but will request that the examiner make changes based around the comments submitted.
b) It was NOTED that SKDC is preparing a further focused consultation on the Basic Conditions Statement Addendum. This is understood to mean that there will be a limited consultation on additional information explaining how the Neighbourhood Plan meets the required legal/basic conditions tests, rather than a full reopening of consultation on the whole Neighbourhood Plan
8.38pm 2 members of the public and Cllr Leadenham left the meeting. Cllr M Brown left the meeting. Meeting disrupted by medical emergency.
10. SKDC COMPLAINTS (26/027):
A verbal update on the SKDC complaints was received. It was NOTED that we are still waiting for the draft report from Weightmans.
11. BARROWBY NEWS (26/028)
It was RESOLVED to approve that Cllrs Footitt, McConnell-Good and Staunton would support the Barrowby News. It was recommended that no financial support would be offered by the Parish Council until an audited set of accounts was received. It was NOTED that there is strong support for the Barrowby News in the community consultation with it being a preferred method of communication for the Parish Council to Residents. Discussion around possible funding options were put forward such as S137 grants and the Barrowby News registering with the SKDC Lottery.
12. TREE SURVEY (26/029)
It was NOTED that the tree survey received in January 2026 was not explicit enough in the required works leading to the potential for unnecessary removal of branches. It was RESOLVED to approve Cllr Durand as the lead member on the tree works. Clerk and Cllr Durand to work with the arborist to confirm exact requirements for the tree work and pass this on to Crimson Kings.
13. COUNCILLOR COMMUNICATIONS AND OFFICER INSTRUCTION (26/030)
It was RESOLVED that Barrowby Parish Council agrees that the Code of Conduct and Standing Orders provide the standards and formal governance framework, but that a short Councillor Communications and Response Protocol is required to set out practical expectations for email responses, urgent matters, non-responses and officer instruction. ACTION: Clerk to prepare a draft protocol for consideration at a future meeting. All emails to contain FYI or ACTION in the title to ensure timely response.
14. COMMITTEE MINUTES (26/031)
a) No meetings held in the time period
15. CLERKS REPORT (26/032)
A verbal update was received from the Clerk in respect of the Clerk’s Report, and the outstanding actions listed therein were NOTED. Correspondence of note: Request to lay fibre broadband along the verge for the Village Green. Cllrs Lees conducted a site visit and provided a verbal update. It was RESOLVED to approve the request with Cllr Lees supervising.
16. COMMUNITY CONSULTATION (26/033)
A verbal update on the community consultation was received. 72 responses have been received so far with 8 from the Colleys. The consultation will run for another 4 weeks with Councillors encouraged to share the consultation with residents.
17. CAPTURE OF FUTURE ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION / AGENDA ITEMS (26/034)
Review of Budget at end of Q1
NALC Bronze Award requirements.
18. DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING (26/035)
Monday 13th July 2026 at 6.45pm in the Reading Room for the Parish Council Meeting