FINANCE AND POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING

Lytchett Matravers Parish Council

MINUTES of the Meeting held on 8th June 2015 in the Village Hall, Vineyard Close, Lytchett Matravers at 7:00 p.m.

PRESENT: Cllrs K Norris (committee chairman), A Bush, M Colvey, C Wood, P Webb and the Parish Clerk.

1. APOLOGIES. Were received from Cllr A Bush.

2. Appointments of Chair and Vice Chair of Committee – and receipt of acceptance of office. Cllr Norris was nominated as Committee Chairman and Cllr Bush was nominated as Vice Chairman. Both ha indicated their willingness to stand, if nominated. There were no other nominees and so both were duly elected.Acceptance of office forms will be prepared for signature at the June Full Council meeting.

3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

There was none.

4. Declarations of Pecuniary Interest; and consideration of requests for Special Dispensations under Section 33 of the Localism Act 2011.

There was none.

5. MINUTES OF THE MEETING on 15th April 2015 were ACCEPTED as a true record.

6. 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.

Community grant for village hall toilets refurbishment project. It had been previously reported that a response has still not been received from Primrose Solar to the formal application for the grant, which was sent to them on 20th February. This is still the case. Consequently, as it had been agreed at a Full Council meeting, the Parish Clerk passed a copy of the application letter to the Council Chairman to approach Primrose Solar. The Chairman report that the letter is still to be sent.

Minute 12, 15th April 2015 – establishment of pension for Parish Clerk. Cllr Norris commented on some research he had done into the advice available via DAPTC about pension schemes for Parish Clerks. It was noted that the Parish Clerk is already a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme as a result of other previous employment unrelated to his role as Parish Clerk. It was considered that this may make LGPS a good option for the council to contribute to in respect of the Parish Clerk’s employment with the Council. After a brief discussion it was agreed that Cllr Norris would contact the FCA to see if it was permissible for the “clerk’s fund” gratuity pot which had been accumulated for the Parish Clerk to be added to the Local Government Pension scheme as an AVC without being taxed on the way in. At the same time the Parish Clerk is to contact the LGPS administrator at Dorset County Council to ask the same question.

Minute 13, 15th April 2015 – Removal of the tree in the line of the Foxhills-Deans drove path. It was agreed that this matter should be transferred to the responsibility of the environment and amenities committee to manage. Action: Parish Clerk to add this to the next agenda of the environment and amenities committee.

Minute 16, 15th of April, 2015 – consideration of policy for use of land adjacent to the allotments. It was noted that this matter has now been subsumed into the full council agenda. In preparation for further discussion at the June Full Council meeting, the Parish Clerk is to forward a copy of Mr Horlock’s reply to a letter from the Clerk, to all council members. In addition Cllr Webb indicated that he would check with DEFRA what licences and other documentation would be needed by someone keeping pigs. The committee Chairman emphasized that Council members should reflect on the situation and be prepared to put forward a proposal at the Full Council meeting for the future use of this land – to be voted on at the Full Council meeting. Actions: Parish Clerk to forward Mr. Horlock’s letter to all members. Cllr Webb to contact DEFRA.

7. Receipt of YEAR END bank reconciliation and accounts for 2014/15.

The Parish Clerk advised that due to debate over the carried forward figure for the start of the current year, the bank reconciliation and accounts update for year 2015/16 to date had not been completed. He had produced the bank statements and each member present initialled them to confirm they had seen them/. He was hopeful that the remaining issues concerning carried forward figure would be resolved in time to produce the Bank Reconciliation for the Full Council meeting on Monday 15th June.

8. Consideration of annual return submission 2014/15

It was noted that Cllr Bush had identified an issue with the proposed figures for the Annual Return which required further clarification before the return could be completed and formally accepted and signed ready for submission. This matter involves the question of whether an error made in a previous year should be corrected – despite BDO having previously noted it and approved the return in question and other subsequent ones. The resolution of this question affects the brought forward figure from last year and thus substantially affects the whole Return. It was agreed to raise this matter with Pamela White Accountancy Services for their assistance – possibly seeking direct guidance from BDO. If this cannot be achieved – then, acknowledging that BDO is already aware of this “previous year” error, it is RECOMMENDED that the submission be completed on the basis of the numbers prepared by Mrs White, but to be supported by an explanatory note drawing the attention of the BDO officers to this point. By so doing, the Council achieves the submission timetable, demonstrates an open approach to this problem, and highlights the points of concern raised by Cllr Bush.

9. Consideration Of proposed “person specificAtion” for council memberSHIP. The members of the committee reviewed the proposed specification document line by line. The version attached at Appendix 1 to these minutes is RECOMMENDED for adoption by full council.

10. Consideration of quotations for notieboard at the Alloments

The members present acknowledged that they had become aware that a member of the Allotment Society committee has now built a noticeboard which they intend to install. The Allotment Society would like to install it on the site of the former manure heap, but have requested whether the Council could arrange for the heap to be moved to allow this to happen. It was mentioned that the manure heap had been provided by the Allotment Society by direct arrangement with a local contractor. It was therefore felt more appropriate that, whilst the Parish Council is happy to approve this location for the noticeboard, the allotment society should deal with the removal of the heap themselves. The Parish Clerk was asked to write to the Allotment Society accordingly. Action: Parish Clerk to write to the Allotment Society in line with the above. With regards to the work the Parish Clerk had done in researching professional suppliers of notice boards, it is RECOMMENDED that the council considers and selects one of these two suppliers to provide a noticeboard to the quoted specification to replace the current dilapidated and damaged noticeboard on Wareham Rd adjacent to the school.

11. Neighbourhood plan-update

Cllr Colvey reported that the first of the library consultation sessions took place on 8th of June between 3-5pm. Unfortunately there were no attendees. A final version of the Neighbourhood Plan report has now been decided, with thanks to Liz Dunlop. The costs of producing printed copies of the document have been found to be very high. In the light of this, options to view the report in hard copy in the library, as well as publication electronically on the website, are being emphasized. It was noted that the grant application has not yet been completed and this is becoming urgent. In response to this, Cllr Webb indicated that he would speak to Diane Bemand at PDC regarding support and advice for starting the grant application process again from scratch. Action: Cllr Webb to speak to Diane Bemand accordingly.

12. FINANCE AND POLICY RELATED CORRESPONDENCE

The Parish Clerk reported that an e-mail had been received from David Fairbairn, PDC Monitoring Officer, suggesting adopting a standardised version of the Conduct Code for all Purbeck Councils. The Parish Clerk is to investigate the points of difference between the Parish Council’s currently adopted code and the standardised version Mr. Fairbairn suggests. Action: Parish Clerk to investigate and report back accordingly.

Cllr Norris reported that clarification of the process governing right to bid for community assets have been taken up with Diane Bemand. It has been requested that she reminds the Council of the procedures involved. In addition, the Parish Clerk was asked to diarise for two month’s time to ask again what is happening with the former RBL club premises. Action: Parish Clerk to diarise this matter accordingly.

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

It was suggested that Council members should update to their “meet the Councillor” pen pictures – to be published on the website. In addition, Cllr Norris indicated that he would ask Mr. Gracey to create a webpage for these to be posted on.

Cllr Wood wondered whether the Methodist Church might be a suitable option to consider as a venue for Council meetings, in the light of the continued difficulties due to loud music during meeting in the Village Hall. Cllr Norris indicated that he would enquire.

Cllr Colvey advised that Cllr Bush is in communication with the Primary School headmaster regarding the planned naming ceremony for Willow Walk (formerly known as the Foxhills-Deans Drove path) on Friday 19th June.

There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 20:45

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

Finance Minutes 150608 Appendix 1.docx

Minutes of Finance & Policy Committee meeting 8th June 2015