FINANCE AND POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING
Lytchett Matravers Parish Council
MINUTES of the Meeting held on 13th October 2014 in the Sports Club Pavilion, High Street, Lytchett Matravers at 7:30 p.m.
PRESENT:, K Norris (Chairman), M Colvey, I Maitland, P. Webb, C Wood and E Wilson.
1. APOLOGIES. Were received from Cllrs A Bush, and J Taylor, and the Parish Clerk.
2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
There was none.
3. Declarations of Pecuniary Interest; and consideration of requests for Special Dispensations under Section 33 of the Localism Act 2011.
There were none.
4. MINUTES OF THE MEETING on 11th August2014 were ACCEPTED as a true record.
5. MATTERS ARISING
Minute 12, 6th June 2011. Security of council papers & records. It was noted that one Council minute book is still with Cllr Bush, who is currently making an electronic copy.
Minute 6, 2nd December 2014 – Bank Accounts. The money from the Santander accounts has now been transferred to the HSBC accounts.
Minute 12, 9th June 2014 -Lytchett Link. Cllr Norris will send a map for distribution of the Lytchett link to all Councillors, as well as distribution costs, so that decisions can be made by Full Council at its meeting on the 20th October, 2014 as to how the Lytchett link will be distributed, and at what costs.
Minute 10, 11th August 2014 – Footpath between Foxhills Development and Deans Drove. As it has been established that the footpath in question is owned by Lytchett Matravers Parish Council, it is recommended that its future maintenance is incorporated into that for the Foxhills Open Space.
6. Receipt of Latest bank reconciliation and accounts for 2013/14 to date.
Bank Reconciliation update for 2014/15 had been circulated to members in advance of the meeting. A copy is attached at Appendix 1 to these minutes. Receipt of this bank reconciliation and update of the working accounts is RECOMMENDED to full council. The discrepancy of £86.99 is noted for investigation within the next regular internal audit.
7. Consideration of FUTHER Grant applications for 2014/15.
A grant request has been received by Cllr Colvey from the Sports Club for £1600 to replace the doors to the Sports Club pavilion. It is RECOMMENDED to full council to make a grant of £1600 to the Sports Club for this purpose.
It was also suggested that the Council’s grant process should be reviewed in preparation for publication on the council’s website. Action: Parish Clerk to circulate the process to all Councillors for consideration and to include an agenda item for full council accordingly.
8. Consideration of completed Annual Return 2013-14 and “issues” report from External Auditor.
The completed annual return and the issues report from the external auditors was received from the Auditors (BDO) and had been circulated to council members in advance of the meeting. A copy of the Annual Return has been put on the Parish Council noticeboard in accordance with the required procedures, and a copy of the issues report is attached at appendix 2 to these minutes.
Regarding the issues highlighted in the Auditors report, it was noted that:
- Grant money received by the council had been incorrectly shown on the annual return in the box which is intended to be used solely used for the precept. However this error was understandable as it was the Council Tax Support Grant payment from Purbeck District Council, and thus is money which had formerly been part of the precept and is employed in identical ways to the precept.
- The auditors felt that the differences between boxes 7 and 8 on the Annual Return had been explained with insufficient detail. However, notably, this opinion did not prompt them to ask for more information during the audit process. The detail of the explanation provided to BDO is shown in appendix 3 to these minutes.
- The Council has been given a “Qualified” audit on the basis that it signed off its “accounting statements” (section 1 of the audit) beyond the 30th June deadline – i.e. one week late, on 7th July. BDO advise that this is a breach of regulation 13 para 3a of the Accounts & Audit (England) regulations 2011. The Parish Clerk lodged an appeal against this decision by BDO, by explaining that due to it being Local Council election year in Purbeck (only) and that the elections were necessarily delayed to accommodate the European elections which had to take precedence, consideration of the council’s accounting statements had to wait until there was a full complement of councilmembers to consider them. However, their response makes it clear that BDO have no flexibility over this.
9. Neighbourhood Plan – update.
It was reported that the Parish Council Planning Committee meeting on 7th of October was attended by some local residents concerned about any development of the Wessex Water reservoir site. It had been explained to them that the Neighbourhood Planning team is having informal discussions with Wessex Water and thereby hoping to favourably influence any future development proposals which may be brought forward. Mr. David Bevan has produced a draft outline Neighbourhood Development Plan. An invoice for Mr. Bevan’s professional services is to be considered at the full council meeting on 20th October 2014.
10. Consideration and approval of Primrose Solar Community Support application / conditions acceptance letter.
Ms Adrianne Allen and Mr Roger Emerson, representing the Village Hall Committee, were present throughout the discussion on this item. A copy of the draft acceptance letter had been circulated to all members in advance of the meeting. It was agreed by those present to RECOMMEND to full council the acceptance of the process, application, conditions and details of the acceptance letter itself (as attached at Appendix 4 to these minutes) – on the basis that no work is commenced until the requested £25,000 has been received by the Parish Council. It was noted that the Village Hall Committee has already formally confirmed that they will fund any expenditure on this project above the grant figure eventually received from Primrose Solar.
11. Consideration of proposal to invite DCC Officer to a Council meeting to explain the logic behind any proposed changes to DCC Member representative areas.
It was agreed by those present that such an invitation would now be premature, and that this item should be carried forward to the next Finance and Policy Committee meeting.
12. FINANCE AND POLICY RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
Cllr Wilson had received a letter drawing attention to issues in the Halls Road and Middle Road area, but no further action will be taken as it was sent anonymously. .
A letter was received from Mrs Maureen Munford, chairman of the Upton and Lytchett Minster Age Concern Group, thanking the council for the grant award.
13. MATTERS OF INTEREST AND INFORMATION RELATED TO FINANCE AND POLICY
There was none reported.
There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 20.45pm
Annotated by/on …………………………. Approved by/on ………………………
FinanceMinutes 141013 Appendix3 (Annual Return explanation box 7 vs box 8)v2.xlsx
Finance Minutes141013draftv2.doc
FinanceMinutes141013 Appendix4 (Community Support acceptance letter draft 09 Oct 14 v3).docx
FinanceMinutes141013 Appendix1 (Bank Reconciliation).xlsx