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NEWTOWN PARISH COUNCIL
Hampshire
Minutes of a meeting of Newtown Parish Council held on Tuesday 27th May 2014 at 7.00pm in Newtown Village Hall.
Present:Chairman: Mr Tim Kelleher
Councillors: Mr Simon Betts, Mrs Liz Ellis, Mr CraigRegan
In attendance:Clerk:Mrs Kathy Summers
1.Apologies
Apologies had been received from Mr Webb
2.To receive the Councillors’ declarations of acceptance of office
The declarations were completed and signed by those present. It was agreed by all members that Mr Webb be permitted to sign his declaration of acceptance of office prior to or at the next meeting of the council.
3.Election of Chairman of Parish Council for 2014
Nominated by Mrs Ellis and seconded by MrBetts, Mr Kelleher was elected unanimously.
4.To receive the Chairman’s declaration of office
The declaration was completed and signed by Councillor Kelleher.
5.Election of Vice Chairman
Nominated by Mr Kelleher and seconded by Mr Betts, Mrs Ellis waselected unanimously.
6.Declarations of interests
Councillors were reminded that they must complete and submit a register of members’ interests form within 28 days of their election. There were no declarations of interests.
7.Dispensation under s.33(2) Localism Act 2011
Councillors were reminded that in view of the fact that all members reside within the parish they should apply to the clerk for a dispensation to enable them to consider and vote upon matters relating to the budget and precept.
OPEN FORUM–No matters were raised
8.Appointment of representatives to outside bodies
Village Hall management committee – MrBetts was appointed to the committee, no second representative was appointed.
9.Appointment to committees
Newtown Common Management Committee – Mrs Ellis would continue as Chairman, Mr Betts and Mr Regan were also appointed to the committee. As regards non-councillor members Mrs Ellis reported that these wereDenise Anns, Colin Farrant, Simon Melville, Bob Miles, Sue Morris and Susan Wellman.
10.Approval and signing of the minutes of the meeting held on 6thMarch2014
The minutes wereapproved by the Council and signed by the Chairman.
11.Report for “News from the villages”
Mrs Ellis undertook to write the report for this meeting.
12.Report from district and/or county councillor
There was no report.
13.Matters arising from the Parish Assembly not on the Agenda
Prior to the assembly the clerk had received an email regarding drainage issues and litter on the B4640. It was agreed that these matters could perhaps be dealt with by the Lengthsman.
14.Matters Arising from the minutes not on the Agenda
There were none.
15.Highways and traffic issues
a) B4640, traffic survey and HGV diversion
An email had been sent to Tom Thacker for an update on these matters but the reply was unhelpful. It was hoped to get an update at the parish assembly as Mr Thacker had agreed to attend and provide a report. However he did not turn up. The Clerk was asked to contact Mr Thacker to get an update on these matters.
b) Drainage defects
(i) B4640 (Winchester Road)
The clerk reported that she had met with a surveyor from Highways and the small inspection hole in the footpath had been filled with grit. However we are still waiting for the manhole covers to be replaced in the verge. The clerk was asked to chase this up again and emphasise that Highways will be responsible if someone is hurt.
(ii) Broad Lane/Well Street
No further issues had been reported in this area.
16. Planning and development control
Any planning applications and decisions notified to parish council
Beeches (14/00747/HSE) - Erection of single storey extension to replace existing conservatory.Councillors had been circulated with the details and had no objections. The application was approved by Basingstoke and Deane.
17.Newtown Common
Update by Chairman of the Common Management Committee
Mrs Ellis reported that the annual common inspection would take place on 4th June. The purpose of the inspection is to decide on the areas of bracken which need to be sprayed in late July. It will also be an opportunity to identify any problem/dangerous trees, to look at the area where the pine was felled in October 2012 and also the areas of scrub clearance last winter.
Second stage of the felling
The Chairman circulated some correspondence he had received with regard to this matter. Plans for the consultation document will be discussed at a later meeting.
18. Finance reports
a) To consider and approve Statement of Accounts and Annual Return for 2013/14
Copies of the draft documents had been circulated prior to the meeting. The chairman checked the year end bank reconciliation to the cash book and the bank statements. It was agreed that the Receipts and Payments Account, Bank Reconciliation, Explanation of Significant Variances and Supporting Statement be approved and signed by the clerk and the Chairman.
The Annual return was considered
Agreed: Section 1: The Accounting Statements be approved and signed by the clerk and the Chairman.
Agreed: Section 2: The Annual Governance Statement be completed to the effect that:
1. The Parish Council has prepared its Accounting Statements in the way prescribed by law.
2. The Parish Council has made proper arrangements and accepted responsibility for safeguarding the public money and resources in its charge.
3. The Parish Council hasonly done what it has the legal power to do and has compliedwith proper practices in doing so.
4. The Parish Council has during the year given all persons interested the opportunity to inspect and ask questions about the council’s accounts.
5. The Parish Council has considered the financial and other risks it faces and has dealt with them properly.
6. The Parish Council has arranged for a competent person, independent of the financial controls and procedures, to give an objective view on whether internal controls meet the needs of the council.
7. The Parish Council has responded to matters brought to its attention by internal and external audit.
8. The Parish Council has disclosed everything it should have about it business activity during the year including events taking place after the year end if relevant.
Resolvedthat the Annual Governance Statement to be signed by the Chairman and the clerk.
b) To receive the report on the Budget for 2014/15
The details of actual income and expenditure to date, projected out-turn, note of current account balances and bank reconciliation had been circulated prior to the meeting. The only item of note was that the first instalment of the precept had been received from Basingstoke and Dean.The chairman checked the bank balances to the bank statements and initialled the report.
c) To consider insurance renewal
As the council had come to the end of afixed term agreement with Came & Company the clerk had approached two other insurers for quotes, Aon and Zurich. Zurich appeared to be offering a better level of cover than either of the other two insurers. The clerk was asked to clarify the wording of the Zurich policy and to approach Came and Co to see if they could match the cover offered by Zurich. Councillors would then be in a position to decide between the two.
19.Approval of payments
The following expenditure was ratified:-
Knapsack sprayer£21.91
Meals for Sparsholt students£54.04
Delivery cost of logs£50.00
Dogs on leads notices£10.00
The following payments were approved:-
27.5.14 Open Spaces Society, subscription, £45.00 (cheque no. 000501)
27.5.14 HALC, subscription, £145.00 (cheque no. 000502)
27.5.14 E Ellis, expenses - newsletter and parish assembly, £99.25 (cheque no. 000503)
27.5.14T Kelleher, expenses - parish assembly, £69.42 (cheque no. 000504)
20. Parish Lengthsman – work for July/August
The clerk and Mrs Ellis had met the new lengthsman at the end of March. It was agreed that he should be asked to undertake the repairs to the bus shelter and to fix the brass plaque near the Jubilee Oak.
20.Correspondence
Most correspondence had already been circulated but the following correspondence was tabled:-
Invitation to “Paths to partnership” 5th June 2014 – Noted
Request for donation to Open Spaces Society, “Save our threatened greens” - The council felt there was no justification for a donation
Consultation on Revised Pre-Submission LocalPlan – There were unlikely to be any aspects of relevance to Newtown but Mr Betts agreed to look at this.
21.Any other business
There was none.
22.Dates of next meeting - Thursday 3rd July 2014 at 7.00pm
The meeting closed at 9.30pm
SignedDated