FINANCE AND POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING
Lytchett Matravers Parish Council
MINUTES of the Meeting held on 4th April 2016 in the Methodist Church, Wareham Rd, Lytchett Matravers at 7:00 p.m.
PRESENT: Cllrs K Norris, A Bush, M Colvey), C Wood, and the Parish Clerk (Mr T Watton).
1. APOLOGIES. Cllrs J Taylor and P Webb.
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 was none.
4. MINUTES OF THE MEETING on 8th February 2016 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. Carried forward.
6. Receipt of year end 2015/16 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. A copy is attached at Appendix 1 to these minutes. Members present viewed and signed the bank statements to confirm their agreement with the figures on the bank reconciliation.
It was noted that the 23p discrepancy which had been shown on all reconciliations throughout the year remains. This will be addressed as part of the internal audit after the end of the financial year. The performance against each of the budget subheads was reviewed and the following was noted:
Admin…………..£800 underspent
Allotments………£650 overspent, due largely to allotment rubbish clearances at the beginning of the year.
Burial Ground….£130 underspent
Open Spaces……£4850 overspent, due to the £4990 exceptional expenditure on repairs to the Lytchett Astro.
Grants…………..£3570 underspent
Overall………….£1000 overspent
It was resolved to RECOMMEND acceptance of the Bank Reconciliation and Accounts update as attached at Appendix 1 to these minutes.
7. Timetable and other requirements for completion of Annual Return for year 2015/16
The Parish Clerk explained that the Annual Return had only just arrived, and an “Intermediate” (supplementary) audit form had also been included. He had queried this requirement with BDO and confirmed that this had been sent because BDO had assumed that the level of turnover would be above the trigger point for the “Intermediate” audit data requirement, similar to 2014/15. It was confirmed with Louse Caplan at BDO that in fact it was below this point, so an Intermediate audit formed did not need to be completed and returned to them.
The following key dates for the Annual Return process were noted:
- Internal Audit – completed in time for approval at Full Council on 16th May 2016
- Council approval of Section 1 of Annual Return (Annual Governance statement) Full Council 16th May 2016
- F&P Cttee review of Section 2 of Annual Return (Accounting statements) 13th June 2016
- Council approval of Section 2 of Annual Return (Accounting statements) Full Council 20th June 2016
- Exercise of public rights commences1st July, and ends on 1st August
- Annual return submission to BDO by 25th July 2016
These dates were noted by the members present.
8. Review and consideration of 2016 year end Asset Register.
The members present examined the draft version prepared by Cllr Bush with inputs provided by the Parish Clerk. A copy is attached at appendix 2 to these minutes. It was agreed to RECOMMEND this to Full Council for approval. Thanks were expressed to Cllr Bush for his efforts in preparing this and setting it out in a clearer vertical format.
9. Review and consideration of 2016 year end Earmarked Reserves.
Cllr Bush had prepared a document showing the available funds and the current commitments for earmarked reserves. Following a discussion based on this document it was agreed to RECOMMEND to Full Council that:
(i) the following reserves are maintained:
Foxhills Open Space Maintenance £163,000 (fixed sum invested to generate yearly income)
Skate park sinking fund £6,000 currently held, to be increased at £1400 pa.
(ii) that following new reserves are established at the indicated annual contribution rates
Foxhills play area sinking fund £5400 pa
Rocket Park play area sinking fund £7000 pa
Village Centre project earmarked reserve 25,000 pa
It was also agreed to look into the opportunities for application to grant funds for future projects in a more systematic / dedicated way.
10. Regular review of performance of the Council’s investment with Prudential.
It was noted that based on the statement issued by Prudential at 31st December this investment is making satisfactory progress, having grown by 13.07% since it was established in 2014.
11. Consideration of grant applications for 2015-16.
Grant applications as listed in the document attached at Appendix 3 to these minutes were considered and REOMMENDED for approval of Full Council.
12. Consideration / prioritisation of issues raised with DCC Councillor Finney.
The document originally prepared as a summary of the issues raised at the site visit in 2014 was considered in detail and it was established that most of the outstanding actions are linked as part of achieving a holistic solution to the problems at the Primary School plus gaining use of the field behind it for sports use. Consequently it was RECOMMENDED that Full Council notes that all of the outstanding points except for "Area around Tesco", the route to Lytchett Manor School and the "Round the Village Walk" are being progressed as part of Neighbourhood Plan. These remaining three are prioritised as follows:
Item Priority Lead council member, Action
Area around Tescos High Cllr Wood, check responsibility of utility companies for making good after road works
Route to Lytchett Manor school High Cllr Huggins, to work on data to prove the need.
Round Village Walk High Cllr Taylor, to look at practicalities of Glebe Road-Foxhills Rd link
13. Consideration of draft letter and invoice for reimbursement of expenditure – Lytchett Astro repairs.
A draft letter and invoice prepared by the Parish Clerk was briefly considered and approved. The Parish Clerk was asked to send it.
14. FINANCE AND POLICY RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
The Parish Clerk reported that a communication had been received from the Churchwarden at St Mary’s church asking what celebrations might be planned to mark the queen’s 90th birthday. The Council Chairman explained that he intended establishing an informal picnic event on the open space behind the war memorial – the “Old School Green” – to take place in June.
15. MATTERS OF INTEREST AND INFORMATION RELATED TO FINANCE AND POLICY
There was none.
There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 20:20
Annotated by/on …………………………. Approved by/on ………………………
FinanceMinutes 160404 Appendix1 (Bank Reconciliation).xlsx
FinanceMinutes160404 Appendix2 (LMPC Fixed Asset Register 2015-16v5).xlsx
FinanceMinutes 160404 Appendix3 (Grants control form 2016).doc