BARTON-ON-THE-HEATH PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF AN ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
HELD IN THE VILLAGE HALL on 15th October 2010 at 7pm
Present:
Councillors: Brigadier J F Rickett (Chairman), Lt Col J B Henderson (Vice- Chairman), Mrs G Cathie, Mrs L Hayman-Joyce, Mrs D Pelczynski
Clerk: Mrs H Seymour-Smith
Hon. Treasurer: Capt J Castle RN
Internal auditor: Mr J Shipton
Public: Mr J Matthias
District Councillor S Gray, County Councillor C Saint
- No Apologies
- The Minutes of the Ordinary General Meeting on the 21st May 2010 were approved and the Chairman signed them. Matters arising:
- a) The Vice-Chairman raised the dirty state of all road signs in South Warwickshire (see item 5 below)
- b) The Vice-Chairman also raised Mr Poulsom’s previously minuted question about the display of photographs in the Village Hall. The Clerk agreed to raise the point at the next Village Hall Management Committee meeting.
- c) It was noted that an annual fee of £50 was being paid to Little Compton’s First Responders.
- Financial Matters.The Honorary Treasurer was asked to take council members through the pending issues;-Interim Financial Statement for 2010-11. (attached). He reported that income and expenditure were in good order and that he had no issues of concern. The Council accepted the reports pending in good order –nothing of concern.
Parish Council Fixed Asset Register. (attached). The treasurer recommended that the value of the Fixed Assets should remain unchanged except that the website should be increased to £60 which is its annual replacement cost.
Maintenance Account. (Attached). The Treasurer reminded the Council that this nominal account had been established in 2006/7 to create a reserve for an eventual “big ticket item” for repairs or replacement. Looking at the “Balance” column, the account should have started showing a positive balance of £430 in April 2010. But due to the national financial crisis and the decision to “freeze” the Precept for 2009/10 the nominal balance in the account on 1 April 2010 (the end of the financial year) had been transferred to a separate deposit account as had been intended. The money had instead been used to hold the precept for 2010/11 for a second year at its previous level. For the 2011/12 precept the Treasurer recommended that the new account on should be opened on 1 April 2011 with a transfer of £150. Thereafter regular transfers would be made each year and the funds “ring fenced” for maintenance and not taken into account when calculating future precepts. The Council approved the Register and the £150 transfer to start the separate Maintenance Account.
Precept Calculation. (Attached).
End of Year Balance. The Treasurer explained his forecast for the end of year balance at 1 April 2011. The Council accepted the figures giving £716 as the amount available to the Parish with the Maintenance Account started with £150 at the same time.
Estimated Budget for 2011-12. The Treasurer explained that this was based upon previous experience except for “restoring the election reserve” by £25 over each of the next 4 years. (The Council had spent £100 this year on the uncontested re-election of the parish Council). He also recommended repeating the contribution to First Response of £50.
Precept Calculation. The treasurer asked the Chairman if the Council had any specific objective for setting the Precept for 2011/12. If the amount to be set aside for future maintenance was reduced from 3% (£501) to £350 as a realism measure following the procedure adopted for 2010/11 the precept would be £896, an increase of 2.8%
The Chairman said he did not want an increase. He felt it was important for the Council to set an example by not increasing the precept. The Vice-Chairman felt the increase was acceptable and whilst other members agreed, they felt that the Chairman’s view was correct in the present financial circumstances. The Chairman directed the Treasurer to adjust the “realism measure” for funding the Maintenance Account so that the Precept for 2011/12 was £876.
Estimate for Rates. The Treasurer then forecast that the Band D rate for Barton in 2011/12 would about £16.87 or possibly slightly lower due to the completion of Underhill House and its new contribution to the Tax Base for Barton.
ACTION: The Chairman asked the Treasurer to make the appropriate application to Stratford District Council in January 2011 for £876 unless there were any late changes to the village finances which would require another meeting.
The Chairman thanked the Honorary Treasurer.
- Website update by Mrs R Graham
The Chairman made a plea for more input from the village. - Any Other Business
- a) TheVice-Chairmanagainaskedwhyroadsignsweresodirty,someevenon the ground.Councillor Saint said he hadn’t been at the last meeting, but had sent a note about it to Geoff Morris. Councillor Saint suggested a list be made of the signs that need fixing or cleaning. The Vice-Chairman said he would produce a list and send it to Councillor Saint.
- b) Councillor Gray wished it to be known that he had a new e-mail address, which the Chairman noted.
- c) The Chairman mentioned two workshops in November on planning enforcement, and asked if anybody was interested in attending. It was agreed this wasn’t particularly relevant.
- d) The Chairman mentioned The Vision for the Star Capital Improvement Project. The details were passed to Mr Matthias for the Village Hall loo project. Councillor Saint said it would definitely be worth applying.
- e) TheHonoraryTreasurersaidthatFirstResponsewasnowupandrunning, and that there were currently four active responders.
- f) Councillor Gray said that Council Tax was intended to stay within 2.5%, but that he was waiting for the Comprehensive Spending Review the following week.
Elections may change from being every 3 years, to being all at once, every 4 years, so, next elections in 2015. - g) Councillor Saint mentioned the County Council maintenance service – it had been Carillion, but their contract was to end on the 5th May 2011, with Balfour Beatty to then take over.
- h) The Vice-Chairman asked if all local police stations would be kept. Councillor Saint couldn’t say, although Shipston was ok. There was to be a quarterly forum on the 30th November at Ettington.
- i) The Chairman reported that Mr Johnny Leck had requested a salt bin for the top of the hill. It was discussed, but the council agreed they couldn’t afford it.
6. Dates of next meetings Ordinary General Meeting: Annual General Meeting: Ordinary General Meeting:
18th February 2011 27th May 2011
28th October 2011
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