You Are Hereby Summoned to the Meeting of the Finance/Administration Committee
Whittington & Fisherwick
Parish Council
You are hereby summoned to the Meeting of the Finance/Administration Committee.
To be held on 7th February 2018
Commencing at 7.30 pm
A G E N DA
- Apologies received in writing.
- Declaration of interests on agenda Items and consideration of dispensations where appropriate.
- Approval of the minutes of the meeting held on 15th November 2017.
- Matters Arising from the Minutes.
- Current financial position and audit of financial matters.
5.1 Nationwide Investment £50k (see below)
5.2 Tree Work – Tonks Quote (see below)
5.3 Consideration of any projects to be included in a three- year budget strategy
- Consideration of Grant applications received
- Allotment Land Leases (see below)
- Consideration of the maintenance work required on the BMX track at Jubilee Park.
- Consideration of issues arising from land transfer of land at Langton Crescent.
- Date of next meeting: 2nd May 2018.
CONFIDENTIAL ITEMS: EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC WHEN NECESSARY, DUE TO THE CONFIDENTIAL NATURE OF THE ISSUES TO BE DISCUSSED.
Mr. David Walton Clerk to the Council, Park House, Fisherwick Road, Fisherwick, WS13 8PR. Tel: 01543 432842 or email
Members of the Finance Committee: Chair: Cllr. Martyn Bennett, Cllr. C Millar, Cllr. J Cannon, Cllr. G. Hyde
ITEM 5.1 – NATIONWIDE BS.
Fixed term deposit accounts
Earn our highest amount of business savings interest if you’re able to put away your money for 1 year
Earn 0.75% gross p.a./AER (fixed)
Interest will be added to your balance when the fixed term ends and your account matures.
Make a single deposit between £10,000 and £10 million
No further deposits are allowed during the fixed rate period.
No withdrawals during the fixed rate period
You'll receive an options form on maturity to choose what you wish to do with your business savings.
No fees and charges
There are no fees and charges for any of our business savings accounts.
ITEM 5.2 - Tree Works
Dear Mr Cannon,
Jubilee Park and Noddington Park Tree Work
Further to your request, please find below details of the work you require carried out:
Jubilee Park
1 x Cherry
Top RHS corner by bench
Tree needs replacing. We will remove the remaining roots/tree free of charge for you when next carrying out work for you
Noddington Park
1 x Ash
Reduce branches growing towards west boundary towards number 19 by 2-3m approx back to a suitable growth point and maintaining crown’s natural shape
Price £350.00+vat
ITEM 6 – Grants Applications
GROUP NAME / Grant requested / GRANT PROJECT / FURTHER DETAILS(1) Friends of the Staffordshire Regimental Museum / £500 / What is the Grant assistance for?
To purchase educational equipment (laptop, projector and screen) to enhance presentations given during school visits to the Regimental Museum
Give a breakdown of the total costs: £
Projector £450
Wall mounted screen£95
Lap top £400
Total £945
How much grant assistance do you seek from the Council? £500 / Volunteer community talks and displays. We have a team of ‘educational advisors’ who look after school parties, give talks and offer the children real experiences in the Museum trenches.
What is the timeframe for your project?
Would like to be completed by June 2018.
How many people do you expect to directly benefit?
Although in excess of 20,000 people pass through the Museum in any one year, school/educational visits average from 2 to 3 per week.
What is the total cost of your project? £925
As Friends of the Regiment Museum Treasurer I am totally involved in the Fair organisation as Fair Coordinator. My wife Rosemary Smith is a Museum volunteer and also involved in the Fair in numerous roles. The museum volunteers have supported the Show for many years providing entertainment as World War 1 soldiers re-enacting the roles and providing regimental memorabilia for the public. All for no cost. The Volunteers always endeavour to sell raffle tickets for the Fair.
(2) Whittington Wednesday Club / £350 / What is the Grant assistance for?
The grant is partly to fund our 10 year Anniversary afternoon tea and entertainment and also our Christmas Function, mince pies /wine/ entertainment.
We also wish to advertise BOTH events around the Community and invite those who are NOT members of the club but would fulfil our entry criteria. i.e ‘Of mature age and looking for more out of life’ thus attracting more members to enjoy the benefits of the club OR simply providing a one off experience to the wider community who are not club members, at no expense to them.
The reason for this application is to enable the committee to return something to the members who have supported the club during the last 10 years.
Give a breakdown of the total costs:
Description £
Afternoon tea for 65 people
at £4.00 per head 260
Afternoon refreshments for
65 people (tea and coffee/ wine) 130
Two entertainers for afternoon
tea project 180
10 year gifts for members 325
Christmas Function Entertainer 150
Christmas Function Refreshments 185
Christmas Function Raffle Prizes 45 / What is the timeframe for your project?
July 2018 and December 2018
How many people do you expect to directly benefit?
Minimum 65 members. Unable to give any number for non-members we may attract.
(3) Whittington Cricket Club / £ 500 / What is the Grant assistance for,
The upkeep & ongoing yearly maintenance of both grounds at Vicarage Lane & the cricket square on Bit End Field are essential if commitments and ongoing quality are to be met.
Without essential work & maintenance being completed, it would not be possible for example for the Saturday 1st team to continue to compete in the most senior Staffordshire Clubs league.
With also a vibrant Junior section, it is essential both grounds are kept to the highest order.
Give a breakdown of the total costs:
Description £
Loam 852.00
Seed 159.24
Machine hire 492.00 / What is the timeframe for your project? Autumn & Winter 2017/18
How many people do you expect to directly benefit?
110 Senior & Junior members, plus any new members who seek to join.
What is the total cost of your project? £1,503.24
We realise how important it is for us to continue to make essential parking available at the top end of our ground on fair day for the use of stall holders.
We continue to specifically support the Fair by supporting \& selling grand draw tickets & will also continue to support fair meetings by ensuring a member attends.
(4) Whittington PCC - Church Hall Committee / £500 / What is the Grant assistance for, and how will your project significantly benefit the Community?
To replace two pairs of wooden emergency exit doors from Church Hall with new PVC double emergency exit doors, with double glazed windows. Security is always a concern at the Church Hall, with frequent break-ins in the past occurring through the emergency exit doors which have been easily opened from the outside. These new ones will be more secure, heavier, better fitting and more difficult to force open from the outside. In addition, being PVC, they will not require to be painted regularly but will maintain a smart appearance, unlike the existing doors which are suffering from peeling paint and rotting timber.
Give a breakdown of the total costs:
Description £
Supplying and fitting 2 pairs
of fire exit French doors with
toplights above, low aluminium threshold, internal push bars,
no external handles. £4,380
/ What is the timeframe for your project? Work to be completed in 2018
How many people do you expect to directly benefit?
All users of the Hall will benefit from increased security, and particularly those village organisations which store their equipment in the Hall or old Telephone Exchange. This includes: Rainbows, Brownies, 2 Guide troops, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Sunbeams, Whist and Bridge groups, Gents’ Lunch Club, Kaleidoscope Choir, the Church.
What is the total cost of your project? £4,380.00
Please provide additional information on how your Organisation supports the Countryside Craft Fair
All of the outdoor trestle tables and all of the indoor tables owned by the Church are borrowed every year by the Countryside and Craft Fair, as well as some chairs.
Some of the gazebos owned by the Church are borrowed by the Countryside and Craft Fair.
The Church organises and runs the Pavilion Teas on the day of the Fair. Half of the profit from the Teas is paid directly to the Parish Council. All the cakes are donated by Church helpers and the milk is also donated.
Church Hon Treasurer (Richard Dyott) helped to count the money in the Pavilion office.
Many books of raffle tickets were sold by members of the Church.
(5) Whittington Craft Club / £300 / What is the Grant assistance for, and how will your project significantly benefit the Community?
To fund one or two workshops during the year, so that all members have a chance to explore new ideas and discover skills within themselves of which they may have been unaware. Such stimulus is important, particularly for retired members who benefit greatly from both the social aspects but also from the personal growth point of view. One workshop will be based on Corn Dollies, if we are granted the funding, and the other on either copper engraving or ink etching (or both if we can afford it).
Give a breakdown of the total costs:
£
Simply Straw Corn Dolly
workshop 200
Copper engraving 100
Ink etching 100 / Provides a weekly focal point for anyone in the Community who wishes to develop craft skills of any type and to share them with others, in a welcoming and friendly atmosphere.
What is the timeframe for your project?
Ideally, a workshop in Spring and another in Autumn.
How many people do you expect to directly benefit?
20+
Please provide additional information on how your Organisation supports the Countryside Craft Fair
We have always responded to requests for volunteers, providing helpers for the raffle and selling all the raffle tickets we have been given. I personally have been in charge of the publicity for many years, helping to build numbers considerably, and am happy to take photographs for the Council’s use and for the press coverage. I also help a little on the field on the Friday for setting up.
(6) Woodhouse Farm and Garden CIC / £500 / What is the Grant assistance for, and how will your project significantly benefit the Community?
In a bid to take the project further and give it a more sustainable future we have started work on the refurbishment of our community building. The project in total will cost £86,000, but we have broken the work down into phases. We have been successful in securing £22,500 from Enovert Community Trust this will be used to pay for disposal of the old asbestos roof, concrete to create seven pads which will be the base for a new steel frame, purchase of a new insulated roof, road stone, sand, insulation and concrete for a new floor and creation of a new entrance. £25,000 will get us the materials for the shell of the building much of the labour to dig out the old floor and put down the new one will come from directors and volunteers. We have secured a second grant from South Staffordshire Community Energy for a contribution to the windows. We had hoped to secure a large grant from Staffordshire LEADER but unfortunately, we were unsuccessful this has left us with a lot of internal work to do and lots of money to raise. Once the shell of the building is completed the next phase of the build is to erect stud work to create a new entrance lobby, main room and enclosed kitchen area. We are applying to both Awards for all and HS2 but desperately need to secure funding, we need to have a usable space for our first event of the year World Fair Trade Day May 12th 2018. The completed building will be used for workshops including food based projects, field to fork type activities working with village youth groups, social cookery, small café project offer supported volunteering opportunities and an additional space for events in bad weather.
Give a breakdown of the total costs:
£
Steel frame and new insulated roof
£12,991
Windows and new door £3,096
Building work (cost is an inclusive price for floor, fitting of window, stud work, updating of electrics, plumbing, addition of heating system, fitting of new kitchen and external cladding, we hope to reduce this figure by volunteer labour and doing work ourselves)
£56,254
Car Park £13,316 / We started life as a way of saving a small historic farm on the outskirts of the village, with the replanting of the walled garden and restocking of the farm we not only created a place for local food but also a free venue for people to visit and enjoy. Since those early days we have added an outdoor community space that is used by the village Cubs, Guides, Rainbows and Brownies for outdoor events, camp fire cookery and volunteering evenings. We also have a small indoor space which is very basic but allows us to offer refreshments to visitors, do simple cookery, in the past we have made Christmas puddings with the guides and held visits from local groups. We also have yearly visits from Elswick Nursery and hope our proposed refurbishment develops further links with Whittington Primary School.
We are open two days a week giving free access to the garden and farm animals for families and individuals, arrange several events including a summer BBQ, Apple Pressing and work in partnership with Whittington Fairtrade to celebrate World Fair Trade Day.
We are a small group with four directors, working with people from the village offering volunteering opportunities and have a consultation group Friends of Woodhouse who help us fulfil our community focus with projects and events. We are a company limited by guaranteed but we are also a Community Interest Company, we are not for profit and our directors receive no benefit or bonus for their roles as directors. We are trying to make the project sustainable through the sales of fruit and veg via a community supported agriculture (members sign up to the season, receive a weekly share of fresh veg and share in the uncertainty of small scale production. We also have a small butchery unit on site producing free range pork and beef sold mainly through the Whittington Village Market. Visitors to the farm currently are seasonal as our community building an old piggery is cold, damp and unusable through the winter months.
What is the timeframe for your project?
Phase two of the refurbishment to be completed by May 12th 2018
How many people do you expect to directly benefit?
2,000
Please provide additional information on how your Organisation supports the Countryside Craft Fair.
We sell raffle tickets, have advertising flyers at the farm and on any stalls we have leading up to the event. Cannot help on the day as we have a stall at the event and someone needs to be at the farm but have offered to help deliver flyers around the village but no-one took me up on my offer.
(7) Whittington Allotment Society / £l25 / What is the Grant assistance for, and how will your project significantly benefit the Community?
We need to pay for maintenance of the Society's mower (purchased using Parish Council grant about 3 years ago) so that it remains safe to use by members of the society to keep the grass paths cut at the allotments. Failure to maintain the mower would invalidate the Society's employer's liability insurance which covers members using the mower. The mower has not been serviced since it was new. If we are unable to use the mower we would not be able to keep perimeter and dividing grass paths maintained and safe for allotment holders and visitors alike. The appearance of the whole site would be adversely affected to the detriment of existing and prospective future members. Grass needs to be cut at least weekly during the growing season.
Servicing of rotary mower £125 / Whittington Allotment Society is a small, self-funded, not for profit organisation. Plotholders pay their annual plot rent directly to Whittington and Fisherwick Parish Council. We are responsible for the maintenance, cultivation and safe use of 31 allotments located in Whittington village. The allotments provide a social, healthy and educational facility for allotment holders of all ages as well as the opportunity to grow (and share) their own ftuit, vegetables and flowers. It also introduces young family members to the joys of gardening and makes them aware of where their 5 a day comes from.
What is the timeframe for your project?
The mower is currently awaiting servicing at C&G Mowers in Lichfield
How many people do you expect to directly benefit?
It is of direct benefit to all the allotment holders - currently 21 separate tenants of the Parish Council. This is a smaller number than the total number of plots because some plotholders rent more than one lot and a few plots are currently vacant.