FINANCE AND POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING

Lytchett Matravers Parish Council

MINUTES of the Meeting held on 10th April 2017 in the Methodist Church, Wareham Rd, Lytchett Matravers at 7:00 p.m.

PRESENT: Cllrs K Norris, M Colvey, C Wood and the Parish Clerk (Mr T Watton).

1. APOLOGIES. Cllrs A Bush and P Webb. It was also noted that Mrs Julia Gracey had resigned from the Parish Council.

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 6th February 2017 were ACCEPTED as a true record and signed by the Committee Chairman.

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. Carried forward.

Minute 15, 8th August 2016 – Sports Club rent invoice. The committee again noted that the Sports Club had still not paid outstanding invoices for rent or refund of Council expenditure on repairs and maintenance to the Lytchett Astro. It was agreed to ask the Parish Clerk to prepare a statement to be sent to the Sport Club for the outstanding rent, together copies of the previous invoices and an invoice for rent for 2017. Action: Parish Clerk to prepare these accordingly. It was also agreed to RECOMMEND to Full Council to allocate an initial sum of £500 for legal advice towards recovery of the outstanding monies and any subsequent action required.

Minute 13, 6th February 2017 – Steps adjacent to Library Walk. The Parish Clerk reported that he had written to the last known owner of the pharmacy about this matter, but had not yet received a response.

Minute 14, 6th February 2017 – Arrangements for Annual Parish Meeting 2017. Cllr Colvey read out the invitation letter which he had prepared to go to 600 named residents at approximately 300 local addresses. The Parish Clerk confirmed that he would provide Council members with copies of the letters of objection sent to PDC regarding the Deans Drove RES and Wessex Water reservoir development planning applications. Cllr Colvey also confirmed that Cllr Bush would prepare a fact / briefing sheet for members on the Neighbourhood Plan to refer to at the meeting in response to public questions.

6. Receipt of yer end 2016/17 bank reconciliation and accounts. The Parish Clerk referred to the bank reconciliation and accounts update which had been circulated to all members prior to this meeting. He passed round copies of the year end bank statements for signature to record agreement with the bank reconciliation statement.

It was resolved to RECOMMEND acceptance of the Bank Reconciliation and Accounts update as attached at Appendix 1 to these minutes.

7. Sports Club and Lytchett Astro update on progress towards regularising financial issues.

Due to the absence of Cllrs Bush and Webb no update was available.

8. Review of Council land in Castle Farm Road currently rented to a Bee Keeper.

The members present were reminded that the letter from the nearby resident who had expressed interest in buying this land had addressed his letter to District Council members, not the Parish Council. It was noted that Cllr Carswell had obtained details from the Land Registry which appears to show that the highway access to the gate to the land in question is outside of his property boundary. It was agreed to RECOMMEND to Full Council that a request is sent to Dorset Highways to verify the matter of public right-of-way access to the field.

9. Proposed Council meetings timetable 2017/18.

After brief discussion it was resolved to RECOMMEND to Full Council the adoption of the meetings timetable as attached at Appendix 2 to these minutes.

10. Consideration of members’ proposals for responses to Housing White Paper consultation (see email to members 09/03/17; and Full Council minute 12, 20th March 2017)

It was agreed to respond to PDC with a statement supporting the view that greenbelt land should only be developed in exceptional circumstances. However it was noted that clarification is needed of what “exceptional” means in practice in this case. It was also agreed that the Council’s response should support the statement that there needs to be a reduction in the scope for Neighbourhood Plans to be undermined.

11. Consideration of quotation for Rocket Park fence and gates (see email of 29th March 2017).

It was agreed to RECOMMEND to Full Council the acceptance of the quotations 2 and 3 from Poole Business Services i.e…..

2. Supply and affixing (4 screws) new fence pales to the inner side of the fence along the long side adjacent to the zip wire – i.e. the “trial” the council specified. £1237.30 + VAT. A local contractor (Andy P Ltd Upton Rd, Poole) has quoted £1683 ex VAT for the same job.

3. Supply and install the above mentioned 2 x “monohinge” self-closing 1.2m wide gates. £2768.80 + VAT. This seems to compare well with the £895.43 purchase and delivery only price (i.e. excluding installation) obtained by Cllr Huggins, given the substantial groundworks needed and the fact that the suppliers he contacted are increasing their prices at the end of March.

12. Consideration of request for Parish Council to pay the £30 membership fee for CALM to join the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE).

It was agreed to RECOMMEND to Full Council that this £30 payment is approved, and that it is made in the form of a grant award.

13. Consideration of a request from CALM for a grant of £500 to set up its own website.

It was agreed to RECOMMEND to Full Council that this £500 payment is approved, and that it is made in the form of a grant award.

14. Timetable and other requirements for completion of Annual Return for year 2016/17

The Parish Clerk referred to the forms sent to the Council by the appointed external auditors, BDO – to enable all Council members to note that the formal approval by Full Council of section 1 (Annual Governance Statement) and section 2 (Accounting statements 2016/17) of the Annual Return will need to be completed and signed at its meeting on 19th June 2017. To achieve this deadline, the Internal Audit will need to be complete in time for the internal audit report to be accepted by Full Council at its meeting on 15th May 2017. The accounting records of the Council for the 2016/17 year must be made available for inspection under the requirement for exercise of “electors’ rights” between 3rd July and 11th August 2017.

15. Review and consideration of 2017 year end Asset Register.

The Parish Clerk reported that he had completed this and undertaken and initial verification of its content with Cllr Bush. A copy of both the horizontal and vertical versions of the statement are attached at Appendix 3a and 3b to these minutes. It was agreed to RECOMMEND its acceptance to Full Council.

16. Review and consideration of 2017 year end Earmarked Reserves.

A copy of the draft year end Statement of Earmarked Reserves 2017 is attached to these minutes at Appendix 4. The content of this was noted by the Committee members and it was agreed to ask Cllr Bush to review this so that an updated version could be presented to Full Council for consideration on 24th April 2017.

17. Report of annual review of Standing Orders & Financial Regulations – Cllr Norris & Parish Clerk.

Cllr Norris reported that he and the Parish Clerk had undertaken reviews of these documents. The only proposed change is to section 11 of the Financial Regulations – in accordance with the 2016 published amendment to the standard model version which reflects changes in regulations affecting procurement. It was agreed to RECOMMEND to Full Council that the text attached at Appendix 5 to these minutes replaces Section 11.1 of the Council’s Financial Regulations.

It is further RECOMMENDED that no other changes are currently necessary to the Council’s Standing Orders or Financial Regulations at this time.

18. Report of annual review of burial records – Parish Clerk.

The Parish Clerk reported that Cllr Wilson had reviewed this and had reported one minor discrepancy to him – which had since been satisfactorily resolved. It was RECOMMENDED that the Full Council notes that the annual review of the Burial Records has therefore been successfully concluded.

19. Report of annual review of insurance cover – Cllr Colvey & Cllr Wood This had not been completed. It was agreed that the Parish Clerk should forward a copy of the current Insurance documents to Cllrs Colvey and Wood to review in time to report back at the April Full Council meeting. Action: Parish Clerk to forward the Insurance documents to Cllrs Colvey and Wood accordingly.

13. FINANCE AND POLICY RELATED CORRESPONDENCE

There was none.

14. MATTERS OF INTEREST AND INFORMATION RELATED TO FINANCE AND POLICY

There as none.

There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 20:40

Annotated by/on …………………………. Approved by/on ………………………

FinanceMinutes170410 Appendix 4 (Draft Statement of Earmarked Reserves at 31 Mar 2017).xlsx
FinanceMinutes170410 Appendix 3b (Fixed asset schedule 2016 17 – Horiz).xlsx
FinanceMinutes170410 Appendix 3a(Fixed asset schedule 2016 17 – Portrait).xlsx
FinanceMinutes170410 Appendix 2 (Draft Meetings schedule 2017-18).doc
FinanceMinutes 170410 Appendix 1 (Bank Rec).xlsx
FinanceMinutes170410 Appendix 5 (Amendment to S11 of Fin Regs).doc

Minutes of Finance & Policy Committee meeting 10th April 2017