SOUND & DISTRICT PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the above Council, held on Wednesday 24th June 2015 at Broomhall Chapel at 7.00 p.m.
Present: G. Bebbington (Chairman), R. Brassington (Vice Chairman), A.G. Lawrence (Clerk),
Mrs J.R. Park, F. Wright, M. Wright, P. Griffiths, A. Brown, Mrs E. Hollinshead, and no members of the public.
1. Apologies: Ruth Ruscoe, R. Blackburn, Clr R. Bailey
2. Declaration of Interest – if a member is present at a meeting of the authority, and they have a disclosable
pecuniary in any matter to be considered or being considered at the meeting, they cannot take part in any discussion of the matter at the meeting or vote on it. They should disclose the interest to the meeting and follow the Council’s Code of Conduct.
3. Minutes of last Parish Council Meetings held on 13th May 2015 were unanimously confirmed as a true and correct record on the prop., of P. Griffiths, sec., Mrs E. Hollinshead
4. Matters arising from last minutes
Street Lights: Street Lights in Newtown area. Clerk reported:-
Clr R. Bailey is still working on the adoption of these and will continue to report progress.
Community Speed Watch: further to previous meetings, the latest update was reported to the meeting:-
Site meeting held between Chairman of Newhall Parish Council and PSO N. Jervis and this has determined that
Suitable Sites in the Parish of Newhall;-
Grass verge outside Warwick Gate
Grass verge outside HJ Lea Oakes
Grass triangle at entrance to Sheppenhall Grove
No other sites will meet legislation.
Notes:-
All speed restriction signs must be clearly visible to motorists before checks take place.
Volunteers – parking of vehicles must be off highway, permission may be needed when parking
Next step:-
Clerk to contact M. Hartland to ascertain:-
– have there been any volunteers from Newhall to undertake the CSW
– If Newhall is a yes for coverage then the equipment will be purchased jointly with Sound & District Parish Council, and training will need to be undertaken under the supervision of
PSO N. Jervis. If Newhall is a no, then Sound Parish Council will proceed on their own,
5. Highway matters: none
6. Correspondence: Noted to members for their inspection and interest as follows:-
a. Cheshire East: none
Councillors – none
Parishioners:- none
Other – none
7. Accounts
I. Income since last meeting:– none
II. Accounts paid since last meeting – none
III. Accounts to pay at this meeting
Chq No 500127
Broomhall Chapel – Room Hire £15.00
2. Chq No 500128
A.G. Lawrence – Clerk Salary – April – June 2015 £372.06
3. Chq No 500129
HMRC – April – June 2015 £92.80
4. Chq No 500130
A.G. Lawrence – Clerk Expenses – April – June 2015 £158.13
5. Chq No 500131
Bates Office Service – Minute Book £24.18 VAT £4.03
6. Chq No 500131
Rocket Media – Website design; Hosting; Domain Name £230.00
The above account(s) were unanimously approved for payment on the prop., of A. Brown
sec., F. Wright
Internal Audit: This has been undertaken by D. Lowe and he has concluded:-
“On the basis of the internal audit work carried out, which was limited to the tests indicated in their report, in our view the council’s system of internal controls is in place, adequate for the purpose intended and effective.”
The R.F.O However raised the following new issue:-
An area for potential risk for the Council in 2015/16 is ensuring they meet the requirements of The Pension Regulator with respect to auto enrolment, or they may face fines.
Even if staff are not eligible to be auto enrolled into a pension scheme, the Council may still have to complete a declaration of compliance
Clerk/RFO to investigate further and report back
Annual Audit the Clerk/R.F.O. reported that the Annual Return and supporting documentation has
been returned. The Audit have replied as follows:-
Sound & District Parish Council: – Audit for the year ended 31 March 2015
Outstanding Review Points
I am writing in regards to the annual review of Sound & District Parish Council for the year ended 31 March 2015. Please find below a list of outstanding points which I require your assistance with, to complete the annual review.
The meeting felt that as the lights were specifically being purchased to then be adopted by Cheshire East Council, as per Minutes 9th December 2013 6/V, they would not be a fixed asset of the Parish Council and therefore were listed under general expenditure. The Clerk/RFO was asked to explain this to the Auditors with copy of Minutes from 9/12/13 to explain this situation.
Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities – Local Audit & Accountability Act 2014:
The majority of changes to external audit arrangements and appointments will change with effect from the Financial Year 2017/18.
Local Councils with Income or Expenditure less than 25k p.a. will be exempt from external auditor but will still have an external auditor appointed for the purpose of the exercise of electors’ rights.
In the meantime Smaller Authorities (Sound & District Parish Council) are from 1st April 2015 subject to the mandatory publishing requirements of the Transparency Code.
The Smaller Authorities (Transparency Requirements) (England) Regulations 2015/494, which come into force on 1st April 2015, will make compliance with the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities (“the Code”) issued in December 2014 mandatory for parish councils with a turnover not exceeding £25,000 (Sound & District Parish Council).
The detail of the code was set out in NALC Legal Briefing L05-14, which in summary, form 1st July and thereafter not less than annually, and not later than 1st July in the year immediately following the accounting year to which it relates should publish the following information:-
All items of expenditure above £100 (where possible excluding VAT) which confirm the date the expenditure was occurred, a summary of the purpose of the expenditure, the amount and the VAT that cannot be recovered
End of Year Accounts
Annual Governance Statement
Internal Audit Report
List of Councillors and member responsibilities
Details of public land and building assets
Councils subject to the Code should also publish:
draft minutes of the council no later than one month after the meeting has taken place
the agenda and associated papers for Council no later than three clear days before the meeting to which they relate is taking place
The information specified in the code must be published on a publicly accessible free of charge
The meeting wAS informed that this has now been concluded by the Clerk and the above information, except the Annual Return which is at the Auditors, can now all be viewed at www.sounddistrictparishcouncil.org.uk
Other: Letter of thanks from Audlem Community First Responders and St Michael’s Church
Baddiley, re the donations made to them was read to the meeting.
8. Planning Applications:
Applications received since last meeting :-
a.
No representation
Results of previous applications :
a.
b.
c.
Applications/Planning Matters before this meeting:
The Meeting discussed the plans:-
prop., F. Wright, sec., Mrs J.R. Park to offer no representation
amendment by Mrs E. Hollinshead., sec P. Griffiths to object to the application
Agreed by a majority of 4 votes to 3 to object to the proposal – whilst the Parish Council supported an earlier application for a dwelling with agricultural conditions they would not support an open market dwelling on this site
b.
The Meeting discussed the plans and on the prop., A. Brown, sec., P. Griffiths agreed to support the application.
c.
The Meeting discussed the plans and on the prop., Mrs E. Hollinshead, sec., P. Griffiths agreed to object to the application on the grounds that the Parish Council can’t see the need for a further amenity building on the site.
d.
The Meeting discussed the plans and on the prop., A. Brown, sec., P. Griffiths agreed to support the application
e.
The Meeting discussed the plans and on the prop., A. Brown, sec., P. Griffiths agreed to support the application
9. Sound Common Report:- P. Griffiths reported:-
– Colin Hayes has held a meeting with anyone who commented on the management plan invited, attended
by S.A.D.RA., but as this was an un-minuted meeting he had not attended. No report back from this.
10. Police Report: reported:-
– next meeting end of July
– hedge at junction of Hollin Lane and Coole Lane and also by Coole Acres on Coole Lane, has never been cut and is causing visibility issues. Clerk advised not in this parish but the concerns over hedges has been raised by Newhall Parish Council and he will report this additional problem to them.
11. Next Meeting: – proposed date
i. Parish Council Meeting – Monday 10th August 2015
Meeting close