8 September 2026 Minutes
The Minutes of the recreation & opens spaces committee meeting held at 8.00pm on Tuesday 08 September 2026 in the meeting room at the Institute 38 Church Street Deeping St James PE6 8HD.
Present: Councillors Neville, Rose, Shinkins-Hoppe and Stevens.
The minutes were taken by the Parish Clerk
27.14 To receive and accept apologies where valid reasons for absence have been given to the Parish Clerk prior to the meeting.
Apologies had been received and were accepted from Councillors Halls, Hosking, Smith and Townsin.
27.15 To receive declarations of interest.
Agenda item 27.23 - Councillor Stevens, Proprietor of I’d rather be in Deeping magazine.
27.16 To agree the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 14 July 2026.
Agreed and signed.
27.17 To receive the Clerk’s report.
-Summer activities for primary school aged children were offered by Our Forest Garden Artivity and Madcaps during July and August 2026. They were all well attended and enjoyed and Our Forest Garden and Artivity have already committed to offering the same again during the Summer of 2027. Artivity have also said they would be interested able to offer funded sessions at other times of the year if this was agreed.
-The funded Scooter Skills session being run by Future Scooters have been well received with an average of about 20 attendees per week, not all Deeping residents. It has appealed more to primary school age children and more to boys.
-Communication continues with SKDC and Solicitors regarding the transfer of ownership of land at Millennium Wood and St Vincent’s Close. A quote of £300 has been obtained for valuation of the land which the Clerk has accepted.
-Communication also continues with the Solicitors regarding the amendment to the inaccurate plan which is attached to the lease of the land within the playing field on Spalding Road/Linchfield Road
-On 24 August 2026 a contractor visited Jubilee Park to rectify some of the issues mentioned in the independent play equipment operational reports of August 2025,– toggle entrapment at the top of slide, corrosion on slide and a climbing frame, tightening of spring clamp bolt on butterfly springy, replacing worn anti wrap shells and chain links/shackles on the swings. The in-house team, have painted the spring on the butterfly springy and it is the intention to paint other equipment when time allows.
-Now that the Schools have returned from the summer break the Stamford Bourne and Deeping Neighbourhood Policing team intend to visit following the recent fire at Woody Heights
-The in-house team have started cutting back of the bio-diversity area at Jubilee Park. It has been a full-time job over the last three weeks with all 3 of the maintenance staff being involved and it is not yet complete. The Clerk has approached two tree service providers to obtain quotations for work to reduce the height of the Silver Birch and some of the perimeter hedging – although the in-house team may be able to deal with this.
-The in-house team have also weeded the slabbed paths and cut back one of the planted areas at Manor Cut Gardens with another planted area being cleared by an outside contractor.
Action: Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe to seek advice and purchase appropriate grasses to plant in the circular planter.
-The footpath walk planned for Thursday 20 August 2026 did not go ahead due to low numbers and poor weather forecast.
-The Deepings Duck Race organised by The Deepings Lions Club is due to take place on Sunday 06 September 2026 was opened by the Parish Council Chairman Councillor Phill Neville, with Councillors Bowell, Shinkins-Hoppe and Stevens volunteering to act as Stewards. The Parish Council banner was on display.
-Regarding the artificial grass pitch on the playing field at Spalding Road/Linchfield Road an email was received on 14 July 2026 providing assurance “that Lincolnshire FA and the Football Foundation remain very keen to explore and progress this project to meet the shortfall of artificial grass pitches in Deeping. The project remains firmly on their radar and is discussed regularly at LFA & FF review meetings given the strategic need which has been identified via the Local Football Facility Plan for South Kesteven”. A site visit has been provisionally booked to take place on 15 October 2026. It is understood that representatives of SKDC continue discussions with LCC around site ownership and tenure which remains the key issue.
27.18 To receive an update from the Jubilee Park improvements working party.
In the absence of Councillor Smith, the Clerk advised that he had completed two grant applications which had been submitted on 23 July 2026 and the 07 August 2026 respectively to The National Lottery Community Fund and GrantScape (Mick George EOI).
Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe advised that she is in communication with the St Pegas Masonic Lodge, 94 Bridge Street Deeping St James to investigate funding streams.
It had transpired that Parish Councils cannot apply for funding from the Postcode Lottery, however Councillor Neville suggested that the Friends of Jubilee Park community group may be able to.
Action: To investigate this hopefully prior to the deadline for applications which is 1 October 2026, if not to work towards the next rounds deadline
Councillor Stevens suggested that the Lincolnshire Community Fund website may offer some pointers for appropriate grants.
27.19 To receive the annual independent play area inspection reports completed on 14 August 2026 by ROSPA Play Safety (https://www.rospaplaysafety.co.uk)
Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe advised that she had gone through the reports and was pleased to see that the issues raised were all categorised as low risk apart from the lack of a sign that complies with BS EN 14974 for skateparks.
Action: the Clerk to contact a contractor to provide a sign to be installed at the site
The Clerk advised that a contractor had since repaired some of the items listed in relation to the slide, swings and Butterfly rocker at Jubilee Park and that the in-house team would be able to complete many of the others.
As there was funding available within this year’s Woody Heights repairs budget it was agreed that the multi-use games area (MUGA) at Woody Heights should be re-lined as this has never been done since it was installed over 20 years ago
Action: The Clerk to contact a contractor to complete this work
27.20 To receive the independent tree surveys and agree, if any actions.
The Clerk advised that confirmation had been received that the surveys had taken place on Wednesday 26 August 2026 however the reports had not yet been received
Action: The Clerk to chase the contractor for the reports
27.21 To consider the future use of the K6 Telephone Box on Church Street Deeping St James following the recent refurbishment
It was agreed that the refurbishment was a great improvement and many compliments had been received. It was decided to investigate using the telephone box as a seed and produce (for example, nuts, fruits, flowers and plants) sharing point although it was recognised that it would need monitoring regularly.
Action: Councillor Stevens to speak with some volunteers in the community to see if they would be interesting in overseeing this project
27.22 To consider requirements for the Deeping St James Remembrance Parade to be held on Sunday 08 November 2026.
The Clerk advised that the event had been registered with Lincolnshire County council highways and road closure, diversion routes and LANTRA qualification shad been provided although confirmation of acceptance had not yet been received.
Action: The Clerk was asked to contact representatives from the local Royal British Legion, Scouts and Guides and the Mark Williams the Priory Church Vicar
27.23 To consider requirements for Carols in the Marquee to be held at the Waterton Arms on Friday 11 December 2026.
It was agreed that this should be advertised in the ‘I’d rather be in Deeping’ Magazine which would be issued in early December 2026 at a cost of £45 and that the DSJPC banner would be on display at the event.
27.24 To revisit the suggestion of a festive decoration to be installed at Jubilee Park.
Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe put forward a proposal for a metal tree shaped structure which could be manufactured by a local company and permanently installed at Jubilee Park, however this was not favoured by the other committee members . It was agreed that this year some LED lights should be purchased to place inside the refurbished telephone box and around the bars in the jail door at The Cross monument.
Action: the Clerk to arrange the above
27.25 To receive a report showing the position of the expenditure budgets for 2026/27.
|
EXPENDITURE HEADING |
AGREED BUDGET |
ACTUAL SPEND TO DATE |
|
Green Walk Benches |
£1500.00 |
£0.00 |
|
Jubilee Park |
£12000.00 |
£1936.04 |
|
Maintenance of Trees and Hedges |
£8000.00 |
£375.00 |
|
Play Equipment |
£10000.00 |
£5478.00 |
|
Riverbank |
£3000.00 |
£1545.00 |
|
Summer Playscheme |
£8000.00 |
£6638.00 |
|
Trees bulbs hedges & wildflowers |
£250.00 |
£0.00 |
|
Woody Heights repairs |
£1500.00 |
£28.87 |
|
Woody Heights Ground Maintenance |
£2500.00 |
£750.14 |
|
Community Events |
£3000.00 |
£953.33 |
|
Green Waste Disposal |
£3000.00 |
£276.37 |
|
Village Cross and Heritage Telephone Box |
£5000.00 |
£1396.12 |
|
Waste Skip Rental |
£5000.00 | £1403.60 |
Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe advised that the £1500 in the green walk bench budget would no longer be needed as grant funding already obtained would cover the cost of these.
Councillor Stevens advised that a family had offered to donate a memorial bench so a location for this needed to be considered
Councillor Stevens requested that some Daffodil bulbs were purchased to plant around the parish.
Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe offered to contact Heritage England to investigate if the Cross could be cleaned (a previous search had suggested that it had last by cleaned in 2006, by them)
Action: the Clerk to order some Daffodil Bulbs from a local supplier
27.26 To consider the budget requirements for 2027/28.
|
EXPENDITURE HEADING |
AGREED BUDGET |
|
Jubilee Park |
£12000.00 |
|
Maintenance of trees and hedges |
£ 8000.00 |
|
Play equipment improvements |
£10000.00 |
|
Riverbank |
£ 3000.00 |
|
Summer Playschemes |
£ 10000.00 |
|
Tress bulbs hedges & wildflowers |
£ 300.00 |
|
Woody Heights repairs |
£ 1500.00 |
|
Woody Heights grounds maintenance |
£ 2500.00 |
|
Community events |
£ 3000.00 |
|
Green Waste Disposal |
£ 2500.00 |
|
Village Cross & Heritage Phone Box |
£ 2500.00 |
|
Waste Skip Rental |
£ 4000.00 |
Councillor Stevens suggested that we should investigate offering a cooking club alongside the playscheme, art sessions and forest school sessions offered to primary school aged children during the summer holidays.
Action: The Clerk to make contact with Cook Stars South Lincs
27.27 To note the date of the next meeting – 8pm on Tuesday 10 November 2026.