Parish Meeting - Chairman's Report
Dated 11th May 2026
As usual, my thanks to all Councillors for their support during the last twelve months and I would also like to thank Councillors Charlotte Vernon and Penny Robins for their continuing support for our community at County and District levels respectively.
Last May we welcomed Valentino Calabrese to the Parish Council, which means we have a full complement of five parish councillors serving our community. A resident of the village for many years, Valentino has regularly volunteered his help in keeping the village street furniture decorated along with Martin Hyde, to whom we should also express our thanks.
The village website, www.witham-hill.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk, has been an issue for some time. However thanks to the singular efforts of Cllr Dave Haydon, this is not only up to date but being run much more as a live service with regular bulletins to promote village activities and the like, in conjunction with the village WhatsApp group.
Our village landmark, the stocks, is still surrounded by the protective screening SKDC put up over a year ago, but progress is being made. There is a scheme of works to refurbish the supports and the slate roof and listed building consent was granted in March. There remains the question of when the work will be carried out, hopefully this year, as soon as SKDC can get the funding confirmed. The same applies to our request for replacement of the permanent picnic tables/benches on the green.
The deteriorated state of the road in Bottom St, is still a frustrating issue, as the earlier works did not go far enough and damage caused to underground pipes at the time has caused another leak with continuous water running down the road. Continued requests are being made to LCC Highways to get repairs done.
The reactive speed sign continues to provide a helpful reminder to motorists to check their speed through the village. It also shows that there are still comparatively few instances of significant speeding. The sign is moved periodically from one end of the village to the other.
Cllr Dave Haydon organised a training evening last December, in the use of a defibrillator and when to use it, which was attended by seventeen residents. In due course this valuable exercise will be repeated.
Planning applications during the year have mainly related to arboreal work, however two applications for newbuild development have been given consent. One at Corra Lynn opposite the Six Bells, where the existing bungalow will be replaced by a new home and we look forward to welcoming Ian and Sonjeeta Brown into the heart of the village when they eventually move from West Farm. The other, is a new development on the pasture between Cleeve Acre and Witham Grange on the opposite side of the valley overlooking the church. Two earlier applications were refused and it was the Parish Council’s view that this application should also be turned down. SKDC planning committee considered the application last December and I attended the meeting to present the Parish Council’s objections to the proposal. Although the committee was almost equally divided for and against, it was decided to grant consent given there are dwellings on either side of the site, even though it is outside the traditionally recognised curtilage of the village. Local resident’s opposition to the proposal was not deemed by the committee to be a significant consideration.
Cllr Valentino Calabrese represented the Parish Council and laid the wreath at the Remembrance Sunday service in St Andrew’s Church last November. Our thanks to Cllr Dave Haydon whose ‘Tommy’ silhouettes were again on show around the village.
As usual I would like to thank our local landowners for helping to keep the footpaths clear from obstruction. In particular I want to thank John Furlong, for his generous donation to Parish funds this year, and the improvements he has made to the land on the north side of the village. The bridleway from Lound which joins Bottom St has largely been resurfaced and several residents have mentioned how much they enjoy the new wild flower strips which border the sixty acre field.
I conclude by wishing everyone well, and my thanks to Bernard for his help and advice over the last twelve months.
Charles Henriques
Chair; Witham on the Hill Parish Council 11/05/26