Many in the community may recall that on 18 January 2018, Veolia withdrew their planning appeal for their Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) production plant in Long Leys. Five years have now passed which seems an appropriate opportunity to review activity on LLRA /Stop Veolia funds after the handover to LLRA from the Stop Veolia trustees in May 2018.
Summarised below is activity for the period from the handover to the end of 2022. For those with greater interest, then the LLRA Fund Review PDF gives full details, broken down by financial year based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Individual inspected financial year reports have always been available on the long-leys.org website.
What Has Been Spent Over Five Years & Where Are We Now?
The LLRA / Stop Veolia fund balance as of 22 May 2018 when the transfer from the trustees occurred was £12,246. Since then, LLRA has had expenditure of £8,559 and income (a S106 grant & donations) of £2,899, resulting in a net reduction of the fund of £5,660 over five years.
Currently LLRA has £6,586 in its bank account which relates to the Stop Veolia fund. At LLRA’s 2023 AGM, a proposal will be put to the community on LLRA funding for the long term and the minimum level of reserves which should be held for a general rather than a Veolia specific legal defence fund.
Where Has The Money Been Spent Over Five Years?
- £3,600 on legal fees for a barrister for the August 2021 Public Inquiry run by the Traffic Commissioner regarding Veolia’s Vehicle Operating Licence. This has now been resolved to both LLRA’s and Veolia’s satisfaction.
- £3,084 to purchase and operate SID (replacement batteries etc). This was primarily funded by the S106 grant of £2,760 and a personal donation from a management committee member of £125.
- £900 on public liability insurance for community activities.
- £495 on printing the newsletters delivered to all homes by volunteers.
- £196 on land registry search fees (to identify maintenance and other responsibilities).
- £135 on AGM and Carol Service refreshments.
- £69 on bank charges, introduced by the bank in 2022.
- £79 on miscellaneous expenses including £30 on costumes for the Santa visit.
LLRA is fortunate to have a Treasurer who maintains the accounts to the IFRS standard which is well beyond that required for a resident’s association and of the same standard as professionally produced accounts. LLRA accounts are also inspected independently by a local business owner with experience of producing financial accounts. LLRA’s robust and well developed constitution means there is no spend without proper and appropriate oversight from the LLRA Management Committee.
Other Funds
LLRA maintains separate costs centres for the following projects, although all are held within the same bank account:
- COV – Tesco Grant:
In September 2020 LLRA successfully applied for a grant from Tesco for £500. This enabled LLRA to continue supporting vulnerable residents at home, providing free access to the Dial-a-Ride service and brightening up Long Leys with volunteers planting daffodils on the Long Leys Road verge by West Common. - ALB – Lot 2b and 3 at Albion Crescent Acquisition Funds:
Two parcels of land were purchased from CW & A Suthrell, whose family historically owned the land around the Albions. Lot 3 (Albion Crescent Green) was purchased with specific resident contributions, with matched funding from Section 106 Money jointly authorised by LLRA and Lincolnshire County Council (LCC). Lot 2b was purchased with crowdfunding contributions combined with Section 106 money. Following a lot of hard work by volunteers over a 12-month period, a small surplus was achieved on Lot 3. Some contributing residents from this funding have donated their share of the surplus to general LLRA funds. - NP – Neighbourhood Plan
During 2019-20, LLRA started work on the Long Leys 2021-2040 Neighbourhood Plan. This was subsequently suspended when the city council decided to review the recently produced Central Lincolnshire Local Plan. Prior to suspension £2,756 was spent on background work with a planning consultant.
For full details see the LLRA Fund Review pdf.
Thank you for all your hard work Jon Davies and the volunteers of the LLRA. The Veolia development would have been an absolute and utter disaster for this area. Many people owe a great debt of gratitude to those who continued the fight to oppose their proposals and curtail their traffic movements.
To me they still pose the biggest threat to this area and we should not rest until they are relocated to a more suitable site.
Chris Hobbs