Parish Council Meeting of 20th April 2009
The Parish Council meeting held on Monday 20th April was chaired by Mr Tony Prior, who made a plea yet again for 2 new councillors. He said, however, that since Mr Michael Edmonds had been co-opted the Parish Council had a quorum and were able to discuss Allotment issues.
The minutes of the last meeting were signed after some small amendments were made.
The Clerk, Elizabeth Carmichael, informed the Parish Council that the new grass cutting contractor had agreed to start cutting before 1st May. Mr Prior instructed the Clerk to ring and remind him as the grass had started growing.
It was agreed to discuss arrangements for Beating of the Bounds outside the meeting, as advised by the Clerk.
The Clerk then advised the councillors that if they made an unlawful decision about spending money the External Auditor could expect the councillors to personally refund that money. If decisions that were not financial but were deemed unlawful, members of the public would be able to bring a legal action against the Parish Council.
Councillor Tony Routledge agreed to reply to a resident regarding the increase in the Precept.
The Village Plan Steering Group had agreed to pay for the hall hire at the Parish Assembly and the councillors agreed to spend £30 on wine, and ask the Steering Group to pay for any excess incurred. It was agreed not to have cheese. Mr Prior agreed to purchase the wine at Baydon Village Stores.
It was agreed that the Allotments on the Parish Field fitted the definition of Statutory Allotments according to the Allotments Act.
Cllr Tamsin Witt added that all the advice from the solicitor seemed to agree they were.
Mr Prior and Mrs Witt declared an interest in item 6.4 which was to consider the options presented by the National Association of Local Council solicitors, they therefore left the building whilst the item was discussed and voted upon.
Cllr Alison Tomkins was voted in as chairperson in Mr Prior’s absence and she outlined the 2 options set out by the NALC solicitor.
Option 1: was to agree that the allotments should not be on the Parish Field and that some other activity would be instated. However this would mean that the allotments would have to be provided elsewhere at considerable cost to the Parish Council in providing land and setting the allotments out.
Option 2: is for the Parish Council to agree to take over the management of the allotments and follow Section 28 of the Allotment Act to the full.
At this point the public were asked if they had any views. Mr Kevin Witt said he felt allotments created a great social activity; it was healthy and environmentally friendly. The allotments, he said, were a benefit to village people and for future generations. He added that he hoped the Parish Council would vote for Option 2.
Mr Tony Routledge replied that there was no disagreement on the Parish Council’s part, but to date they had been hand tied.
Ms Alison Tomkins added that the present council members had inherited the problem, and probably the process could have been handled better. However they could not go back to the beginning and the present council had taken advice from the legal services of NALC.
When put to the vote all councillors agreed on Option 2
A number of duties flow from that decision added Ms Tomkins, but the Parish Council were already working on those duties, there was a need to liaise with those who opposed the allotments and then to move forward.
It was agreed to minute that the Parish Field be appropriated retrospectively as allotments. The Clerk asked if the Parish Plan had thrown up any other use for the remaining part of the Parish Field.
Mr Michael Edmonds replied that the meeting was drifting from the agenda. It was agreed to raise the matter at a later meeting.
At this point Mr Prior and Mrs Witt rejoined the meeting and along with other councillors consider the work to finalise documents associated with the provision and management of the Allotments.
It was agreed that Mr Edmonds produce a draft Tenancy agreement.
Mrs Witt would complete a draft Rules for Allotments.
Mr Prior agreed to look into the Relationship document and forms required.
Mr Routledge would draft ideas for a procedure to answer any queries about Allotment rules between meetings.
The Risk assessment for
providing rabbit proof fencing for the allotments was discussed.
With a few amendments the Risk assessment policy was agreed.
The next item was to discuss outstanding correspondence regarding the allotments raised the question as to what was outstanding as no document had been provided by the Clerk. The Clerk replied that no one had asked for letters. However the clerk was requested to draft the letters of reply and email copies to the councillors for comment before they were sent.
The amendments to the Model Publication Scheme was discussed and agreed upon. Assets to be listed were Village Notice board and Parish Field.
The Councillors had no comments to make in response to the Wiltshire Local Transport Plan and the North Wessex Downs AONB Management Plan.
Planning:
Full planning was granted re
the Swimming Pool at Heddons Cottage,
Finance:
The Wiltshire Association of Local Councils and the NALC subscriptions were agreed at a total of £167.75
The Parish Council insurance
cover was studied, and the Clerk asked whether she should renew it with
The quarterly budget report was again reviewed. Mr Prior said he felt the document should be expanded. The language, he said, was used too broadly. At present it looks as though the council has overspent, but in fact it should be under spent. It should be clear what the overall budget is. The recommendations were agreed and accepted.
Two quotes were received for the position of Internal Auditor. It was agreed to employ the firm Auditing Solutions at a cost of £100 + VAT if they agreed to check all invoices back to the minutes.
The decision on the Financial Regulations document was deferred until the councillors had had time to read it more thoroughly.
Mr Routledge said that he had written an action plan to resolve the External Auditors proposals concerning the past years financial audits. There were 16 points, he said, but three to be dealt with immediately. How soon, he asked the Clerk, could the VAT be claimed back for the years 2006-7 and 2007-8. The Clerk replied that she could make it a priority but she had other important work to do writing up minutes and preparing for the next meeting.
Mrs Witt offered to do those jobs but the Clerk declined the offer.
The Clerk was asked why the VAT had not been claimed before, and she replied it just didn’t get scheduled. At the moment the meeting take 7 to 10 hours to prepare, therefore it is difficult to do all that is necessary with so many extra meetings.
It was pointed out to her that there had been no extra meetings in 2006-7.
Mr Prior asked would the Clerk do extra hours for the Parish Council if paid.
Mr Routledge disagreed and said that enough money had been wasted to date. It was not good policy to pay money out to get money back.
Mr Edmonds said that it was just a matter of filling in the appropriate forms from invoices and he could do it.
The Clerk replied that it may not be considered appropriate for anyone but the Clerk to reclaim the VAT. It was agreed that the Clerk use 3 hours on the work as a priority.
Mr Routledge’s next item concerned tax that had been paid on interest for 6 years. He said he wanted the Clerk to sort the matter by 30th April.
Mr Routledge was also concerned about the evidence provided by the Clerk as to whether she is correctly employed.
The Clerk said that she was self employed and therefore self assessed, and risks were all hers. Mr Prior said he had had advice that Office holders were employees. After some disagreement it was agreed that the Clerk produce a letter of clarification from the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
Other items on Mr Routledge’s list are to be discussed at the next meeting.
It was agreed that Mr Routledge become the third signatory to the Parish Council’s current account.
Mrs Witt said she had arranged another meeting of the Traffic Calming Working Party to discuss a letter from Highways, and was bringing their proposals to the next meeting. She also asked for the matter of disabled access to the Parish Field is put on the next agenda.
The Chairman then questioned the Clerk on various matters outstanding, such as had she brought her copy of the employment agreement, she had not.
It was noted that the s106 monies had not yet entered the Parish Council’s bank account. Mr Prior said that he would chase the matter up. He also asked that the Financial Document be placed on the Notice board as well as the Website as it was important that it was seen by the public.
When asked, the Clerk said the next Marlborough and Village Community Area Partnership meeting would be held the day following this meeting. Mr Edmonds agreed to attend.
Mr Prior said that there was a structural issue here that the Parish Council didn’t know about meetings sometimes until it was too late.
The meeting closed at 10.25pm.