March 22 2018 Minutes - Annual Parish Meeting
NOTES OF THE FENTON & TORKSEY LOCK ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Held on 22 March 2018, 7pm in the games room of the White Swan, Torksey Lock
Parish Councillor Geoff. Newton chaired the meeting supported by parish councilor Frank Harris and by Ms. Ruth Keillar, the Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer to the Parish Council.
No members of the public were present.
The Chairman, Cllr Newton welcomed all present
The chairman stated that this is not a parish council meeting however, being the Parish Council Chairman, he is responsible for the management of these proceedings.
1. TO READ APPROVE AND SIGN THE NOTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING.
The Notes of the previous Annual Parish Meeting of 9 March 2017 were signed by
Cllr Newton as a true record of those proceedings.
2. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT ON PARISH ACTIVITIES FOR 2017/18
The Chairman reported that the year had been a difficult one for the parish council with a number of resignations and failed co-options. The status of the PC is currently described as “precarious”, it being just one member above the minimum allowed for it to remain quorate and therefore carry out its normal business. Despite the PC’s efforts to recruit more members throughout the year, it is disappointing to have to report that these efforts have drawn almost zero interest from the rest of the parish. It has to be made clear that the PC can therefore only operate at a minimum level – just to keep it going. Unless parishioners put themselves forward to serve on the PC, its future will remain uncertain.
The S106 Agreement for the play area at the Fenton Fields development has continued to be addressed. WLDC were advised that the PC would not support exclusion of the play area equipment and the associated funds from the final implementation. WLDC are still pursuing this amended version of the S106 and have given instructions that the PC is offered transfer of the land with this exclusion. No formal offer has been received.
Regular crime reports are received from the local police and incidents in the parish are being monitored.
The PC has adopted the telephone box in Fenton and is pursuing a contract for its refurbishment prior to it being used to house a defibrillator to be acquired under a WLDC sponsored scheme.
Since Lincolnshire County Council stopped/curtailed its verge grass cutting activities, the parish council took on the cutting of the amenity grass areas in the village. Frequency of cutting these areas during the 2018 season is to be increased.
New financial audit arrangements come into force after 31 March 2018 and new Data Protection legislation is due to come into force on 25 May 2018. The latter is anticipated to be especially challenging for small PCs such as ours.
3. TO RECEIVE A REPORT OF PARISH COUNCIL FINANCES FROM THE RESPONSIBLE FINANCIAL OFFICER TO THE COUNCIL, RUTH KEILLAR.
The Deposit Account.
At 22 March 2018 = £7041.91
Nothing has been paid into this account since the previous year, interest accrued will be added up to 31 March 2018.
This account was opened in 1995.
A reserve of £2000 is kept for Election costs.
The remainder was previously earmarked for the S106 agreement costs for the Play Area, however the Parish Council can re-allocate funds to other projects by resolution.
The Current Account.
Amount carried forward from the previous year was £2,329.94 minus unpresented cheques of £441.59 giving a total carried forward of £1888.35
Precept for the current year, 2017-18, = £5250, a reduction from the previous year which was £6250.
The total income on 1 April 2017 = £7138.35
Income:
a) Allotment rent of £25.00
b) LALC Transparency Fund Grant for laptop, scanner, software, and a contribution to staff costs (up to 31 March 2017) £777.58
c) WLDC Councillor Initiative Fund Grant = £500.00 towards the costs of refurbishing the Heritage Telephone Kiosk
d) LALC Transparency Fund Grant for contribution towards staff costs £432.00 (from 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2018)
e) VAT Refund = £222.90
f) LCC Grass-cutting contribution of £39.06 ex vat
Expenditure:
All payments are noted in each month’s Minutes.
This includes:
a) plants purchased for the flower beds at Chestnut Corner at a cost of £135.00
b) Purchase of the Heritage Telephone Kiosk, Lincoln Road, Fenton, at a cost of £1.00
c) Parish Churchyard upkeep at a cost of £444.00
d) Meeting room costs have been eliminated by changing venue from Kettlethorpe Village Hall, to the Games Room, The White Swan.
The Precept required to cover anticipated costs for April 2018 to March 2019 is £5710.00.
The budget for 2018-19 was agreed at £7310. The Parish Council anticipated that £1600 of savings would accrue in the 2017/18 accounts and that all of this saving would be put towards the required budget and reduce the precept request thus keeping the Fenton element of the increase to ratepayers as low as possible. (8% as against 39%)
Audit arrangements:
Accounts for the Parish Council to be audited by T Halloran Accountancy.
A full Statement of audited Accounts for this financial year, April 2017 – March 2018, will be presented to the full Parish Council Meeting when completed.
The external auditors for 2017-2018 year end are PKF Littlejohn; the Parish Council will be exempt from submitting the accounts, however the Audit documents will be completed and displayed as required.
4. TO CONSIDER ANY POINTS WHICH ANY PARISHIONER MAY WISH TO RAISE.
No members of the public were present.
5. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Thursday 21 March 2019, 7pm in The Games Room at the White Swan, Torksey Lock
The meeting closed at 7:15 pm
Chair.................................G. NEWTON.............................................Date 21/03/2019