Parish Council Meeting held via Zoom - 19th May 2020 and Chairman's Report
Meeting held via Zoom 19th May 2020
PRESENT: Councillors Mrs E Penketh, A Deptford, Mrs J Patrick, Mrs G Parsons. Parish Clerk, Mrs S. McIntyre.
Chairman Cllr Wilson was unable to join the meeting, Cllr Mrs Penketh took the Chair.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE. Cllr Richardson and Cllr Campion.
ANNUL REPORTS. Chairman and RFO’s Annual Reports. These had been circulated prior to the meeting. It was Resolved to accept them and publish them on the website.
FINANCE.
Monthly report from RFO, including BCS payments of £426.52 – Insurance and £23.00 – Clerk’s expenses. It was resolved to accept the report and agree the payments.
End of Year Reconciliation. Resolved to accept this.
AUDIT 2019/20
AGAR Part 2 Certificate of Exemption. It was resolved to approve this and to forward to the Eternal Auditor.
Section 1, Annual Governance Statement. This was completed with answering all questions ‘Yes’. The Chairman and Clerk to sign the document.
Section 2, Accounting Statements. This had been circulated. It was resolved this should be accepted and signed by the Chairman and RFO.
Internal Auditor Report. It was Resolved to accept this, no problems were brought to the PC’s attention.
Public Period of Inspection. This was noted.
All documents from (a) to (e) above to be published on the website.
PLANNING:
Conversion of existing detached garage and workshop into annexe. Eau Farm Cottage. Planning permission granted. This was noted.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING . Tuesday July 21st. This will be subject to guidelines applicable at the time.
There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 6.18pm
Chairman’s report for 2019/20
Welcome to my first (and under the circumstances, short!) report as Chairman. I was duly elected at the AGM meeting last year with Cllr. Elaine Penketh voted in as Vice-Chair. I’d like to thank Cllr. Deptford for his many years of service as Chairman to the PC and for his advice over the past year which has helped me to take up the reins. I am also grateful that Cllr. Deptford has continued in his role as Finance Officer.
Cllr. Mrs Murphy-Mann resigned at the beginning of July 19 and, after the necessary procedure and time scale we were able to welcome Cllr. Mrs Gina Parsons as a Co-opted councillor onto the PC. She was able to attended her first meeting as a councillor in November and was welcomed by all.
Mr Lukjaniec was re-appointed as ‘Village Litter Picker’ in May and he and his wife June continued to provide a valuable service to the village until they stepped down from this roll earlier this year. I would like to thank them both for the years of service in keeping our village free from litter.
The ageing portable SID speed signs were in desperate need of replacement and Cllr. Penketh took on the task of short-listing potential replacements. A French made battery powered product was chosen that provided excellent quality and performance for a reasonable price. The village Hut committee very kindly paid for one new speed sign and the PC covered the cost of a second sign, allowing both ends of the village to have a speeding deterrent. Mr Patrick has been kind enough to manage the charging of the sign batteries for the North end sign and I continue to cover the other sign.
The play area prior to the Covid 19 outbreak continued to be well used. It has benefitted from a new, higher 3m fence around the football area to keep the balls enclosed and, just prior to the park needing to be closed due to the pandemic, the installation of the final ‘statement piece’ of a climbing tower and slides. The latter was financed via a £10k grant from the Lottery fund and a £250 donation from Swaton Vintage Day. The remaining £350 of the balance was provided by the PC with a view to recouping this through future fund raising. My thanks and appreciation go to Cllr Penketh for her continued pursuit in securing funding and to those in the community who have volunteered their time to the installation of the new ball fence and goal post. In my opinion the village play area offers far more than you would expect for a parish of this size and this is testament to the support and effort that members of the PC and community have provided in delivering this project.
Whilst on the topic of the play area I also want to thank Cllr. Campion for his continued mowing of the play area and those others in the community whom have offered to share the task going forward as part of a mowing rota.
I continue to undertake both the weekly and monthly inspection of the play equipment which is a requirement for insurance purposes, plus an annual ROSPA inspection will be required from this year.
As you will be aware, due to the global pandemic of Covid 19, no PC meetings have taken place since the meeting on January 21st and we look to the government for guidance on the return to normality.