FINANCE AND POLICY COMMITTEE of Lytchett Matravers Parish Council
Meeting held on Monday, August 14th 2017, at 7.00 p.m. in the Methodist Church, Wareham Rd, Lytchett Matravers
PRESENT: Cllrs K Norris, B Barker, A Bush, M Colvey, C Wood, P Webb and the Parish Clerk (Mr T Watton).
Public participation. There was none
1. APOLOGIES. There were none.
2. Declarations of Pecuniary Interest; and consideration of requests for Special Dispensations under Section 33 of the Localism Act 2011.
There were none.
3. To receive and approve minutes of the Finance & Policy Committee meeting held on 5th June 2017. These were ACCEPTED as a true record and signed by the Committee Chairman.
4. To receive and consider reports of past subject matters. The following matters were included in the Clerk’s report:
i. 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.
ii. Minute 15, 8th August 2016 – Sports Club rent invoice. Now paid in full including the value of the addition invoice for 2014. It was RESOLVED that this item may be DISCHARGED.
iii. Minute 13, 6th February 2017 – Steps adjacent to Library Walk. It was noted that the owner of the pharmacy premises would join the “High Street Shared Space” Working Group and that this matter would be incorporated into the remit for that group. It was therefore RESOLVED that this matter be DISCHARGED as a separate item from this meeting.
iv. Minute 13, 10th April 2017 – Grant payment to CALM for its website. This was authorised in principle by Full Council at its May meeting. Mr Gracey’s invoice for £480 for the work was received and paid by the Council in July 2017 – and this is recorded in the Council’s financial records as a Grant to CALM. DISCHARGED.
v. Minute 9, 5th June 2017 – Tracking of CIL Monies. Date and amount of CIL money received is recorded as such in the Council’s working financial records. CIL income and expenditure is now also included as a memorandum item on the Bank rec / snapshot report presented to F&P Cttee at each of its meetings. DISCHARGED
vi. Minute 13, 5th June 2017 – removal of Multi stemmed Ash tree at Library Walk. This work has now been completed. DISCHARGED.
vii. Minute 14, 5th June 2017 – replacement of steps on Foxhills Open Space. This work has been satisfactorily completed and the invoice paid. DISCHARGED.
viii. Minute 15, 5th June 2017 – renewal of Council Insurance. This was renewed on time. DISCHARGED.
5. To receive and note report of latest 2017/18 bank reconciliation and accounts.
This statement was circulated to members separately, and it was RESOLVED to receive and note their content. The supporting bank statements were examined and signed by the Chair of F&P committee to confirm matching with the Bank Reconciliation report. A copy of the bank reconciliation statement is attached at Appendix 1 to these minutes.
6. To consider a proposal for Working Group priorities, and verification of project lead for each listed priority. (members to see the paper by Cllr Norris emailed on 8th August 2017). Each project area was considered in turn. Minor adjustments were made to the title and /or scope of some items. Membership, and leadership, of each group was confirmed and, where appropriate, adjusted. Each Working Group leader’s initials are shown in red. This this is attached at Appendix 2 to these minutes. It was RESOLVED that each Working Group leader will be responsible for ensuring formal written reports are prepared, as necessary, for circulation to all members and / or in good time as pre reading for Council meetings. It was also RESOLVED that Working Group leaders will be responsible for ensuring that timely and appropriate requests are made for agenda items whenever formal decisions from Council are required.
7. To receive and note any available progress reports on the Working Group projects included in agenda item 6 above. It was noted that no formal written reports were made available. Members were however reminded that an approach had been made to Alan Davies, PDC Planning Department, to request him to attend a Council meeting to discuss how the Lytchett Matravers Neighbourhood Plan will in future be used by PDC and what influence it will have on the PDC decision-making processes. It was noted that the date previously set up for this visit is impractical and a new date needs to be agreed with Mr Davies. Action: Cllrs Colvey and Wood to arrange with Mr Davies.
8. To receive and note the content of reports of the Highways issues raised with DCC representatives during a visit to the village on 18th July 2017. Members were referred to the actions list prepared for the DCC members which was circulated to all members by email on 4th August 2017, and the various responses to issues within that list which were subsequently circulated by email form. It was RESOLVED to accept this. A copy is attached at Appendix 3 to these minutes. It is expected that progress on these issues will be incorporated into the various Working Groups’ remits.
9. To consider a proposal to review possible alternative providers of telephone and broadband suppliers for the Parish Office. It was RESOLVED that Cllr Barker would look into this and report back.
10. To receive and note a report from Parish Clerk regarding the fees payable to Mark Pincott & Associates for top-ups to the Prudential investment. Members’ attention was drawn to a separate report into the Parish Clerk’s investigation into this which was circulated separately on 14th August 2017.It was RESOLVED to accept option (a)– Mr Pincott’s offer to charge a £500 (discounted) one-off fee for this further top-up of £13,800 to the Council’s investment. As detailed in the minutes of the June Finance & Policy Cttee minutes this sum is made up of the budgeted 2017/18 contributions to Earmarked reserves as follows: Skate Park £1400, Play areas £2000, Lytchett Astro £5000 plusa further £5400 representing 2017 sinking fund budget contributions to it; making a total further investment of £13800. Action: Parish Clerk to contact Mr Pincott accordingly.
11. To receive and note a report on progress towards approval of the Annual Return for year 2016/17. The Parish Clerk reported that one minor question / issue had been raised by the external auditors, BDO; the omission of the value of the high level swing gates on the statement of fixed assets (box 9 of the Annual Return). This has been corrected. The Council expects to receive an unqualified approval & sign-off from BDO for its Annual Return 2016/17.
12. To note correspondence received. Cllr Bush referred to a letter from the Lytchett Matravers Sports Club dated 14th August. The letter explains that the Sports Club has re-established its governance structure, including the Astro fund, and made a partial payment of £1000 towards the Astro repair & maintenance – with £2993 remaining outstanding. Astro rental funds are now accumulating for use to contribute towards future ongoing maintenance costs. However the letter suggests that given the current Astro rental rate it is unlikely that the Sports Club will be able to further significantly reduce the outstanding amount; and it thus asks the Council to review the progress to date and consider writing off this remaining amount.
There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 20:50
Annotated by/on …………………………. Approved by/on ………………………