Present:-
Mr
N.Bostock
(Chairman), Dr A.Andrews,
and Mr M.Sindrey representing
Tixall
Mrs G.Broadbent
and Mr A.Young representing Ingestre Apologies:-
Mrs S.Haenelt and Cllr L.Bloomer
13/11 Election
of Chairman for the forthcoming year.
MrSindrey proposed Mr Bostock, Mr Young seconded the
proposal. There were no other nominations. Mr Bostock
signed his declaration of acceptance of office. Page Index
14/11 Election
of Vice-Chairman . Dr Andrews
proposed Mrs Haenelt who had agreed to stand. Mr Young
seconded the proposal. There were no other
nominations. Page Index
15/11 Appointment
of
Parish
Clerk
and Responsible Financial Officer. Mr Bostock
proposed Dr Andrews. Mrs Broadbent seconded the
proposal. There were no other nominations. Page Index
16/11 Minutes
of
the
Annual
meeting of the Parish Council held on May 12th 2010
These had been circulated after the meeting and
approved as a true record at the July 2010 meeting of
the Parish Council. Page Index
17/11 Comments
on current Parish Council Procedures and Policies.
This item covers what would be included in Standing
Orders, but enables all Councillors to be aware of
current procedures and policies, and to have the
opportunity to annually review them and suggest
improvements. Legal requirements are shown blue bold.
1.
INGESTRE
WITH TIXALL PARISH COUNCIL CODE OF CONDUCT
(See App.
9.5.2007/1 copies available on request)
This revised code was formally
adopted at the May 2007 Annual Meeting and is
available for inspection by the public in the Summer
House at 2, The Hanyards, and on the Parish Council
webpage at www.tixall-ingestre-andrews.me.uk
A.R.Welch,
The Borough Council Monitoring Officer, maintains a
register of Parish Councillor's financial and other
interests which is open for public inspection, they
must also inform him of any changes in their
interests within 28 days of the change. The Parish
Clerk maintains a duplicate register.
Parish
Councillors must also register with the Monitoring
Officer any gifts or hospitality they may receive,
in their capacity as a councillor, within 28 days,
on the form provided for that purpose which the
Clerk has. Mr Sindrey has completed his registration
and teh Register of Members interests has been
updated, Appendix
12.01.2011/1
DECLARATION OF INTERESTS - This
item reinforces the above Code of Conduct
*If
any member of the Council or their spouse has a
pecuniary interest in any subject under
discussion by the Council the member must
declare it and refrain from speaking or voting
on the subject. A Pecuniary interest exists
where the outcome of the discussion may affect
for good or ill the financial situation of the
person having the interest. The Borough Council
can lift the prohibition where the number of
Councillors affected impedes business.*
eg. when Ingestre Road was being made up
Any
Councillor with a non-pecuniary interest in a
subject is recommended to abstain from discussion
of, and voting on the subject, if his interest is
such as to make others reasonably doubt whether he
is free of bias in speaking or voting. This
particularly includes interests arising from
relationships other than marriage and from
membership of other bodies.
In practice
all interests must be declared initially and
recorded in the minutes. The Chairman may then
adjourn the meeting so that the member can
participate in discussions, or in the case of a
non-pecuniary interest, the Chairman may allow the
meeting to proceed with the member participating in
discussion and voting.
Allegations of
Councillor misconduct to be referred to a local
monitoring officer and the Standards Board, but the
Standards Board is being abolished.
Further information is available
in Appendix 9.1.08/16
regarding voting on PCC matters by PCC members. Page
Index
2.
MEETINGS
An Annual Parish Council meeting
must be held in May, and the Council must meet on
at least three other occasions in the year.
The
Parish Council meets at 7.30pm usually on the second
Wednesday in May, July, September, November, January
and March. This avoids Christmas, and the majority of
Bank Holiday weekends and school holidays. It had been agreed that where a
Councillor has a longstanding engagement they can ask
for a council meeting to be moved, provided at least 6
months notice is given. It was noted that it is
difficult to move the January meeting as the 1st
Wednesday often clashes with New Year holidays and the
3rd Wednesday would be too late for submitting the
Parish precept to the Borough Council.
Extra
meetings can be called if an urgent problem arises.
Three
members
constitute a quorum of the Parish Council.
An Annual Parish Meetings must
be held for Ingestre and Tixall each year
between March 1st and June 1st inclusive.
In
practice a joint meeting is held for both parishes,
this has the advantage of allowing residents of both
parishes to discuss matters of common interest such
as road safety. The Annual
Meeting of the Village Hall follows the Annual Parish Meeting, with coffee
and biscuits served between the two meetings..
An
Annual Report of Parish Council Activities is
circulated with the Agendas for the Annual Parish
Meetings.
It had been
agreed to circulate a copy of the financial summary
on a single A4 sheet to all households in line with
guidance for Quality Parish status. It would not be
made available on the website, but there would be a
message that it was available to local electors on
request and a small payment might be required to
cover any costs.
Page Index
3. NOTICES
AND AGENDAS
Three
clear days before a meeting notice of its time
and place must be posted in a conspicuous
place in the Parish or Community.
Three clear days excludes both the day the notice
is given and the day of the meeting, but may
include Saturdays and Sundays. In practice,
posters are posted at Ingestre Village, the
Village Hall at Tixall and Halfway House.
In
addition, three days before the meeting an
agenda specifying the business to be transacted
must be sent to the usual residence of each
member. In practice an agenda
is drawn up by the Parish Clerk in consultation with
the Chairman about 14 days before the date of the
meeting. This is then sent to Councillors
about 7 days before the date of the next
meeting.
Councillors wishing to introduce
items onto the agenda should therefore contact the
Clerk at least 14 days before the date of the
meeting.
The Parish Clerk’s report appears
on the agenda to introduce items at the last minute
for discussion, as there is no "Any Other Business"
on the agenda. Items should preferably be notified
to the Clerk by midday on the day of the meeting, to
enable Councillors ringing to give their apologies
after midday to be updated, and to enable the Clerk
to obtain any necessary additional information or
material before the meeting. Such matters are for
discussion only and no resolutions should be taken
on them.
The Parish Council will only
consider requests or complaints from local residents
if they are received in writing, or are taken up by
a Councillor.
Wherever possible members should
give brief written reports when attending a course,
conference or discussion, on behalf of the Parish
Council. Page Index
4.
FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION - PUBLICATION SCHEME
The
Council adopted the new model publication scheme,
April 2008, Mins 2009.01.14 Item 6/09.3g shown in
Appendix 14.1.09/11 and has published a Guide to
Ingestre with Tixall Parish on this website at:
http://www.tixall-ingestre-andrews.me.uk/pc/freeinfo.html and
as Appendix 14.1.09/15. Page
Index
5.
COPIES OF MINUTES AND AGENDAS
The Clerk prepares a draft of the
minutes, which are then checked by the Chairman.
Each Councillor is sent a copy of
these minutes as soon as possible after the meeting.
The minutes are then generally taken as read at the
next meeting.
Copies of the minutes are also
circulated to members of the public who attend a
Parish Council meeting, wherever possible.
Copies of the agenda and minutes
are posted on the Parish Council notice-board at
Ingestre, and in Tixall Church Porch, for inspection
by local residents.
It was agreed that tehre was no need for a further
Parish Council Notice Board near the New & Old
Stables and Home Farm.
In addition, copies of the
agenda and the unapproved minutes will be sent to:-
a) Our County
Councillor
b) Our Borough
Councillors
It had been agreed that the
Newsletter and Express and Star would only be
specifically notified of Parish Council meetings if a
matter of controversy which would benefit from
additional press publicity was to be discussed.
It is the responsibility of the Parish
Council to see that any interested parties are
informed of items on the agenda, and if necessary
allowed to make copies of the agenda although a charge
will be made for copies.
The minutes
of a meeting of the council must be drawn up and
signed as a correct record at the meeting or the
next following meeting by the person presiding
at the time of the signature. Duly signed
minutes can be used in court as evidence of the
matters they record.
Any proposed alterations to the
minutes should be sent to the Clerk as soon as
possible, so that they can be circulated with the
agenda.
Correspondence and reports are
included separately in appendices to the minutes,
and items are also carried forward from appendices
to the agenda. Only Parish Councillors receive
copies of these appendices. With the Council's
approval, some items on the agenda shown in italics
such as advertisements, do not appear in the
minutes.
The minutes of the Annual Parish
Council Meeting are put forward for approval at the
July Council Meeting, and published here, excluding any information which it
would not be in the public interest to disclose,
e.g. insurance details:
This also
includes an email address, i.e.
Tixandrews@hotmail.com
Minutes of the preceding Council
Meeting are not read or signed at an Extraordinary
Council Meeting, but carried forward to the next
regular meeting of the Council.
It
has
been
agreed to wait until their was evidence of
sufficient demand to post a copy of all meeting
minutes on this website as this wouod incur
significant additional work for the Clerk.
All minutes and appendices from
2000/2001 are now transferred to duplicate CD-ROMS.
A PC File backup DVD is kept at the Village Hall and
backed up after the May meetings. The signed copies
of the minutes will be kept for the year and then
transferred to the County Record Office by the
Clerk. It is hoped eventually to transfer all
previous minutes and appendices to CD-ROM and
deposit the signed originals at the County Record
Office. However, the
Clerk’s current scanner makes this a very lengthy
process. Page Index
6. PARISH COUNCIL NEWSHEET
The report of Parish Council News is checked by the
Chairman. Parish Notes are produced monthly, e.g.
after Parish Council Meetings.
Local advertisements for sale of
goods or services in aid of Ingestre or Tixall
Churches or other local charities are free of charge.
Other advertisements for local businesses in Ingestre
& Tixall will be charged at 10% of the sale value
or £5 /issue for commercial services. Local
residents non commercial advertisements are also
accepted at a rate of £15/6 adverts to be fitted
in when room is available.
A large print version of the
newssheet is available on request.
The newssheet is distributed by a cascade system from
Dr Andrews and Mrs Broadbent, Appendix 12.5.10/02. Mrs
Broadbent agreed to check and update Appendix
12.5.10/02.
If a Councillor is unable
to attend a Parish Council Meeting because of
illness, etc., he must send the reason for his
absence with his apologies so that the reason
for absence can be approved or not, and
minuted.
Councillors should try to send their apologies
after midday, and before the meeting so that they
can be updated and give their views on any other
important items.(e.g. Any Planning Applications
and Correspondence received after the agendas have
been sent out will be considered at the
meeting) If a
Councillor is absent from meetings for 6
consecutive months, ie. 3 meetings, he
automatically loses his seat unless the reason
for his absence has been previously minuted
and approved.
Attendance
as a representative of the council at another
meeting counts as attendance at the council. No
proxy votes are allowed at Parish Council
meetings. When local residents attend Parish
Council meetings they are asked if they have they
have anything they wish to discuss with the
Council. If so the meeting is adjourned for
discussion to take place.
While it may be necessary for decisions to be
reversed within 6 months on some occasions, eg.
when new information is available; at least 5
Councillors must be present at the meeting.
Page Index
9.
INGESTRE & TIXALL MATTERS
It is accepted practice to refer queries from
local residents to a Councillor from the
appropriate district, i.e. Ingestre or Tixall, as
the Council is a joint Parish Council for the two
separate parishes. Page Index
10.
ANNUAL PARISH COUNCIL DATES & LIST OF
COUNCIL MEMBERS
A calendar showing
the dates of regular meetings, and other
information for the coming year, is circulated to
all Councillors after the May meeting, and is
available on this website. A list of Parish Council Members
and Officers, alongwith our Borough and County
Councillors is also circulated with their contact
details. The version on the webpage does not
include email addresses. It was noted
that BC Cllr.Stephen's telephone number was not
int he Telephone Directory and was needed for
circulation. Page Index
11.
DEFAMATION
QUALIFIED PRIVILEGE will normally
attach to statements (both written and oral) made by
Local Councillors or Clerks in the course of their
official duties, and for the purposes of council
business, provided that the statements are made in
good faith and without any improper motive.
Lord Diplock in a leading case
(1974 1All ER622) said:
" My Lords, what is said by
members of a local council at meetings of the council
or any of its committees is spoken on a privileged
occasion. The reason for the privilege is that those
who represent local government electors should be able
to speak freely and frankly, boldly and bluntly, on
any matter which they believe affects the interests or
welfare of the inhabitants. They may be swayed by
strong political prejudice, they may be obstinate and
pigheaded, stupid and obtuse; but they are chosen by
the electors to speak their minds on matters of local
concern and so long as they do so honestly they run no
risk of liability for defamation of those who are the
subjects of their criticism."
It is important that Parish
Councillors should not repeat other peoples
defamation, either verbal or written, in Parish
Council documents or meetings.
We have been advised to:-
i) Check that what is written or
being said is true;
ii) Make sure that what is being
written or said is relevant to the business of the
Council;
iii) Make sure no more is
written or said than is necessary for the conduct of
business; and
iv) Not read out or subsequently
record allegations made by someone about someone
else. Further
information is available.
Dr Andrews
proposed that this should be amended as follows:
Ingestre with Tixall Parish Council have
acknowledged the general duty placed upon it by the
Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and the
subsequent Equality Bill. This includes changes
regarding the following protected characteristics
(PCs): Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Sex and
Religious Belief. Direct discrimination against
someone because they associate with another person
who posses a PC; Direct discrimination against
someone because the others think they possess a
particular PC; Indirect Discrimination which can
occur when you have a rule or policy that applies to
everyone but disadvantages a particular PC. The
Council will continue to have due regard to the need
to eliminate discrimination, provide equality of
opportunity and promote equality between people of
different, age, disability, gender, gender identity,
race, religion or belief and sexual orientation.
The aims of
Ingestre and Tixall Parish Council are to ensure that
members of the community from all these different
equality strands are encouraged, supported and
provided with opportunities to participate fully in
community life.
A short
contribution is invited from all prospective
candidates for publication in the monthly Parish
Newsheet limited to a maximum of 70 words. This should
include factual information about candidates
restricted to occupation, address, and any other
information directly relevant to their ability to act
as a good Parish Councillor. They should not be
considered as election manifestos. Publishing
information about prospective candidates enables local
electors to be better informed, and hopefully
encouraged more people to vote for local candidates.
Candidates are free to circulate their own manifestos,
but these have to be in accordance with current
electoral regulations, e.g. they needed to include who
they were printed and promoted by; and the cost of
their production and circulation had to be recorded
and returned as an electoral expense.
Qualifications to
be a Parish Councillor. They must satisfy the
following: They:
• are at least 18 years old on both
the day of nomination and election day and,
• are a British citizen, or a
citizen of the Irish republic, the Commonwealth or
another member state of the European Union.
And they
meet at least one of the following five
qualifications:
1. They are a registered local government elector both
on the day they are nominated and election day or,
2. They have occupied as owner or tenant, any land or
premises in the local authority area during the whole
of the 12 months before the day they are nominated and
election day or,
3. They have had their principal or only place of work
in the local authority area during the whole of the 12
months before the day they are nominated and election
day or,
4. They have lived in the local authority area during
the whole of the 12 months before the day they are
nominated and election day.
5. In the case of a member of a parish or community
council they have lived in either the parish or
community or within three miles of it during the whole
of the 12 months before the day they are nominated and
election day.
If a Councillor
wishes to resign a written resignation must be sent
to the Chairman.
This is then forwarded to the Borough Council
returning officer who officially declares a
Casual Vacancy. If there is no request for an
election by 10 electors, the vacancy can be
filled by co-option at the next Council meeting. It
has been agreed to invite prospective
candidates wishing to be considered for co-option to
send a short written statement to the
Parish Clerk, similar that used before elections.
These will then be circulated to all members of
the Parish Council before the meeting at which the
co-option takes place. Further guidance
is given in Appendix2010.03.10/01 “Best Practice Note on Casual Vacancies and
Co-option”. Page Index
14. NEW
COUNCILLORS
New Councillors are encouraged to
read the Parish Council Powers & Constitution
Handbook produced by the NALC and to attend one of the
training sessions run by the Staffordshire Parish
Councils Association. Page Index
15.
CHAIRMAN
The
Chairman is elected annually at the Annual Parish
Meeting in May.
Since the chairman of the council
must preside at all council meetings which he
attends, he must, if present preside at the election
of his successor (who may, following re-election, be
himself).
We do not have to have a
Vice-Chairman but we try to have one from the other
community to the Chairman wherever possible.
According to the Good Councillors
Guide, p41, it is unlawful for the Council to delegate
decision making to any individual Councillor,
including the Chairman. The Chairman has a second or
casting vote, when a vote is tied to ensure a decision
can be made, except for co-options. Page Index
16.
PARISH CLERK & RESPONSIBLE FINANCIAL OFFICER
The current hourly rate for a part time Clerk ranges
from £8.344/hr. This would give a minimum annual
salary of £1168 for 140 hrs work i.e. 20hrs for
7 meetings or just under 3hrs/week, in addition to
full expenses including travel within the parish, an
allowance for use of his house as an office, and
additional insurance costs for the Parish Council. It
had been agreed that a contingency reserve of
£1250 should be retained to cover a possible
future need to employ a paid Clerk and purchase a
computer, etc. This reserve will be reviewed annually.
Although new
regulations for Parish Councillors Allowances have
been agreed, which would allow a mileage payment to
the Clerk, provided this was sanctioned by the
Independent Remuneration Panel set up by the District
Council, the Clerk was happy for the present system to
continue where she does not claim for travel within
the parish, but claims postage rates when delivering
letters within the parishes. A person is disqualified from
holding a paid office under the council so long as
he is a member of it and for 12 months afterwards.
If the
Parish Clerk is a Councillor he can only receive
expenses, and these cannot include travel within
the parish.
If the Parish
Clerk is a Councillor, as this a voluntary post, he is
also appointed annually at the Annual Meeting of the
Parish Council.
The Parish Clerk
also acts as the Responsible Financial Officer with
the following duties:-
1. to maintain detailed and up to date records of all
income and expenditure
2. to prepare an annual budget for the November
meeting
3. to prepare the annual accounts for the May meeting
4. to prepare a bank reconciliation for each ordinary
meeting of the Parish Council Page Index
17.
ALLOWANCES AND EXPENSES
Councillors may only receive
travelling expenses for travel on Council business
outside the Council's area, unless allowances for
this and/or attendance have been sanctioned by the
Independent Remuneration Panel set up by the District Council .
It has been agreed that in our small Parish Council,
Parish Councillors should not draw expense allowances
except in exceptional circumstances such as
participation in a major public enquiry.
The Chairman can receive an
allowance to defray the expenses of his office.
This includes postage and telephone expenses at a
similar rate to the Councillor Clerk. These should be
submitted before each meeting.
At present the
Parish Clerk claims expenses from the Petty Cash as
follows:-
a) 40p
with 1.881p VAT /mile for travel outside the councils
area on Parish business (up to 60p/mile is allowed,
but would be taxable).
b) Telephone Expenses: Local calls are
charged at 15p, longer Regional and National calls are
charged at double or triple this rate, with calls
costing over 45p charged according to the itemised
phone bill.
c) Second Class postage rates for
all mail, except agendas and urgent mail, which are
sent first class. In some cases letters are then
delivered by hand.
d) Internal colour printing and
colour photocopying at 10p/page.
e) Normal printing and photocopying are done on
the Parish Council Laser printer, alongwith Village
Hall printing and a small amount of personal printing
for the Clerk. The Village Hall is currently not
charged for this service. A record of all laser
printing is kept and each time the toner is changed
the cost/sheet is calculated and the Clerk is charged
for any personal printing including VAT. The Clerk
then pays when paper or toner is purchased to this
amount including VAT.
Church printing is also done for Tixall PCC and is
reimbursed by Dr Andrews personally.
f) There is normally no charge
for use of the Parish Clerk’s PC or scanner.
g) Miscellaneous items, eg. Parking
fees.
The Petty Cash
is restored to £75 after each ordinary meeting
of the Council. This also covers the cost of Toner and paper
which is charged separately. Page Index
a)
THE MAIN INCOME IS DERIVED FROM :-
I. The Concurrent Monies:- £462 (
Ingestre £185 and Tixall £277) for
2011/2012
This money is automatically
collected by the Borough Council and then granted to
the Parish Council to use on specific items which will
benefit the local community, e.g. Burial Grounds; A
Parish or Community Hall; Tree Planting; Car Parks;
Donations to charities; Public Seats or Bus Shelters;
Erection of Street Signs.
The money must
be fully spent each year, excluding VAT, and a list of
the expenditure sent to the Borough Treasurer for his
approval. To maintain flexibility over several
years this list does not distinguish between
expenditure in Ingestre and Tixall, although their
separate accounts are credited and debited with the
specified amounts.
II. The Precept:-
This comes from
the annual Parish Charge levied by the Borough Council
on our behalf, and taking into account our requests
for the coming financial year and the block grant from
central government. It is used to cover the election
expenses, running expenses and any other expenditure
we require. The cost of the 4 yearly elections is
spread over the four years.
The budget for
the forthcoming financial year is drawn up and
approved in November, so that the precept requirement
can be submitted in late December/early January. November is also used as an
opportunity to check actual expenditure for the half
year against the previous budget. In order to finance capital projects
in Ingestre, separate precepts are made for Ingestre
and Tixall. Page Index
Parish Finances Index
b)
SEPARATE ACCOUNTS FOR INGESTRE & TIXALL
In addition to the overall receipt and payment
accounts for audit, items are allocated separately to
Ingestre and Tixall, with separate balances being
carried over for each parish at the end of the
financial year. Although
an income and expenditure system would give a better
indication of our overall finances, this would involve
significantly more work for the Clerk in converting
the previous year’s audited accounts to Income &
Expenditure as well as the current year as the
auditors require direct comparison of successive
years. A change is also not considered material in the
light of the amounts involved.
All income and expenditure
which is not specifically allocated to either parish
is split according to the relative Council Tax Bases
(band D equivalent). The Council Tax Bases is a
measure of the number of properties in the various
price bands in each parish, i.e. their ability
to raise the precept. For 2011/12 this is
Ingestre 80.01and Tixall 112.97 giving a ratio of
1:1.40 compared to 1:1.41 last year. Page Index
Parish Finances Index
c)
PARISH COUNCIL FINANCIAL POWERS:-
The Parish Council has powers
to spend money on the following items:-
Purchase of land [Open Spaces Act 1906
Section 9]
Planting Trees, bulbs, etc. along the highway
& cutting the verges [HA 1980 Section
96]
Contributions to Community Buildings, eg. Village
Halls [LGA 1972 Section 133] Public Lighting [p244
Arnold Baker]
Litter Bins [Litter Act 1983 Sections 5 & 6]
Maintaining, repairing & protecting any war
memorial [LGA Section 214 (6) etc.]
Cemetery Maintenance [LGA 1972 Section 214]
Any other
expenditure which can be shown to be of benefit to
the whole or part of the local community
[LGA 1972 Section 137 updated 1989 see below:-]
I. Expenditure under Section 137 must:-
i. Bring some direct
benefit to the area or part of
it, or the inhabitants or some of them; this means
that it must be possible to point to some way in
which, in the broadest sense, the area or its
inhabitants will be better off as a result of the
expenditure;
ii. Direct benefit must be
commensurate with the expenditure
involved; it is for the
council acting reasonably, to judge
whether this test is met,
but they need henceforth
to consider whether the expenditure is
reasonable in relation to the degree of direct benefit
that it will produce.
iii. Where the authority
has another power to
incur expenditure that
is in some way limited
or Conditional (whether by being restricted to a
particular group of people or in any other way), the
power under the "free two pence" cannot be used to
overcome this restriction.
II. These conditions do not apply to grants
to charitable and public
service funds; such grants however,
remain subject to the
financial limit and must be shown in a
special account in the
"free two pence expenditure".
III. Grants can be made to the
funds of voluntary bodies
providing a public service, even if
the public service is available only to a
section of the public.
IV. Contributions can be made
to a disaster appeal
funds launched by civic
heads, i.e. mayors and chairman of county
or district councils.
V. *The financial limit is now £6.44
per head of adult
population, ie. the number of
local government electors on March
1st: Ingestre 151 + Tixall 193 = £972.44 +
£1242.92 = £2215.36*
*Expenditure under Section 137 must be specifically
noted in the minutes and accounts. Page Index
Parish Finances Index
d)
ANNUAL
AUDIT
&
REVIEW OF EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNAL AUDIT:-
The official audit by
the District Auditor is carried out annually. The
accounts must show written requests and bills for any
money paid out, so that they know we are paying for
specific items and not just giving free handouts of
public money. Any orders made out to individual
Councillors or their businesses, will not be
reimbursed.
The Clerk has been authorised to make
personal VISA payments for items purchased via the
Internet, and then be recompensed with a single
specific cheque and evidence for VAT payment.
It had [previously been agreed that expenditure
over £500 would be subject to competitive
tender, or at least two quotations. However, the cost
of the excavations for the Stone Seat by teh County
Council had been quoted at £3,200, but this
included meeting the necessary Highway Regulations.
Andy Webb had been unable to quote for the work. The
County Council quote was tehrefore considered to be
Best Value. It was therefore agreed to add "except
with specific approval of the Council" to the
requirement for at least two quotations.
Petty
Cash and cheques paid are detailed and approved in the
minutes for each meeting. All Petty Cash
payments are detailed in the Petty Cash Book, and
receipts are attached for all miscellaneous
expenditure as VAT can be reclaimed.
Two signatures from the Chairman,
Vice-Chairman and Clerk, are required for all bank
withdrawals. A bimonthly statement for the
current account is received before each meeting, and
at the end of the financial year and bank
reconciliations are carried out and approved by the
Council at each meeting.
The above measures and the double
signatures required for all bank withdrawals form part
of the internal audit and control. In addition the
Yorkshire Bank Statement, and NSB Account Book when
this has changed, are brought to each meeting and
confirmed against the balances reported by the Clerk.
These procedures are reviewed
annually at the Annual Parish Council meeting,
alongwith the Financial Risk Analysis below.
Mrs Julie Hill, a chartered
accountant who was currently clerk to two parish
councils has been appointed as internal auditor. She
lives at Whitelock, White’s Meadow, Ranton, Stafford
ST18 9JB, Tel: 01785 282607. Page
Index Parish Finances Index
e) FINANCIAL RISK
ANALYSIS
The Clerk has a petty cash float
of £75, from which petty cash payments are made.
The float is then reimbursed after each ordinary
meeting of the Council when a detailed analysis of all
spending has been approved by the Council.
The only cash normally received are occasional
small payments for laminating @ 15p/A4 sheet.
The Clerk records all personal
photocopying and this record and the breakdown of
laser printing costs is available for inspection. Page Index Parish Finances Index
f) PARISH ACCOUNTS
The Petty Cash
is kept by the Clerk, the Current Account is at the
Yorkshire bank, Greengate St, and the savings account
is in a National Savings Investment Account. Any
cash is paid into the bank as soon as possible and is
not used for cash payments, although payments for
laminating are deducted from the petty cash
expenditure.
In order to
spread the cost of the four yearly elections,
transfers are made to a separate election reserve each
year.
It was agreed
that all payments must be formally proposed and
seconded in advance at a Parish Council Meeting.
Payments are then made when they fall due. Page Index
Parish Finances Index
g) VAT
The Parish
Council can reclaim the VAT paid for goods received
and belonging to the Parish Council, and for services
to the Parish Council, provided invoices are addressed
to the Parish Council. Parish Councils may purchase goods
or services and donate them to a voluntary body, but
without receiving any reimbursement. The donation is
a non-business activity and is therefore eligible
for a refund of VAT. [Legal
Topic Note 36 revised Jan 1990] Page
Index Parish Finances Index
h) INGESTRE
VILLAGE ROAD ACCOUNT
A separate
account was set up for Ingestre Village residents at
the Nationwide Building Society with the residual
money from previous repairs. This is reported at the
Annual Parish Meeting and was last £2256. This
is outside the control of the Parish Council and
transactions require the signatures of Mrs E.Cleary
and Mr Ken Shelley. It had been suggested that Trish
Wright should be another signatory – two out of three
being required. Page
Index Parish Finances Index
The Laser printer and Noticeboards
have been depreciated at 25%/yr.
Organisations or individuals are
charged 15p/A4 sheet for lamination. Page Index
Parish Finances Index
k). DONATIONS
TO LOCAL CHARITIES:
We receive many requests
from local and National organisations, but we have
accepted a policy of only giving donations to local
organisations which we feel could benefit our
chargepayers, eg. Royal British Legion, CPRE,
Staffordshire Community Council and Staffordshire Air
Ambulance. These are
paid as part of the Section 137 payments.
l) PARISH COUNCIL
RESERVES:
We maintain the following specific separate
reserves in addition to a variable general reserve:
Total
Ingestre
Tixall
Elections initially
£1213
£531
£683
New Parish
Clerk’s Payment
£1250
£519
£731
AONB
Special Projects
£500
£500
The Parish Clerk’s Payment Reserve
is divided between Ingestre & Tixall according to
the original ratio when it was set up. Page Index Parish Finances Index
19. HEALTH
& SAFETY ISSUES:
Health & Safety at work with
regard to use of Parish Council Strimmers. Users have
been advised in writing:- "We have been advised by
Stafford Borough Council Parks Department that when
you are using the petrol strimmer, in addition to
wearing the hard hat & visor for ear and eye
protection, you should also wear boots or strong
shoes, and long trousers, not shorts to protect your
feet and legs.
In addition when you are strimming at
the roadside you should wear your high visibility
over-jerkin."
A red safety flag and traffic cones are
available for use when carrying out work at the
roadside.
The other major risk is during the annual
roadside litter pick when participants are advised to
wear bright coloured or high visibility clothing, and
carry coloured plastic sacks. High visibility
waistcoats have now been provided for use on the most
dangerous verges. Mr Bostock proposed that we approach
the Borough Council for a further 3 or 4 high
visibility waistcoats and if these were not available,
purchase them. This was seconded by Mrs Broadbent and
agreed unanimously.
Any accidents or near accidents
should be recorded in a special accident book kept in
the village hall, and in the Parish Council Minutes.
When an accident has been recorded in the current
book, a loose leaf will be introduced to maintain
confidentiality.
All local
residents have been given their OS Map Reference for
use when summoning the emergency services, and also
encouraged to join the Data Link service whereby
emergency contact information is kept in a small
canister in their frig door. Page Index
20.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS
References to planning applications
in agendas or minutes should give the applicants or
landowners name.
Any applications
received after the agendas are sent out but before the
Council meeting, will be discussed at the meeting.
Councillors sending their apologies will be informed
of these.
Our general
policy is to oppose any entirely new development, and
to support reasonable alterations and extensions, and
the re-use of old buildings. The Council supports the
Dark Skies project and opposes excessive external
lighting, especially lighting which is on permanently
at night.
We are concerned that all local
residents should be treated equally and therefore try
to ensure that planning permission is always obtained
where it is legally required.
Every
application for an animal shelter will be considered
on its merits using the following guidelines, although
there will be a general policy to oppose these
shelters:-
1. To ask for temporary rather than
permanent planning permission, so that the
shelters have to be removed if the use of the
field changes, and so that their condition can be
regularly monitored.
2. To urge that they are sited against an
existing field boundary to minimise their impact on
the environment.
3. Wherever possible they should be
screened with appropriate plantings of native
deciduous species.
4. The overall design and materials used
should be carefully chosen so that each application is
in keeping with its specific location.
5. Wherever possible purpose built stables
should be used, rather than animal shelters or sheds.
A notice giving
the Location, Application Number, where the plans can
be consulted, and the last date for representations to
be sent to the Chairman or Clerk, will be displayed on
the nearest parish notice board, where appropriate.
Ingestre Plans
will be deposited in the 2nd garage of Mrs G.Broadbent
at Maple Cottage, 8, Home Farm Court, Ingestre, and
returned to the Clerk with any comments by the
required date.
Wherever possible, individual
Councillors will try and contact any interested
parties, including immediate neighbours, so that they
are aware of what is going on and can make their views
known to us or the Borough Planning Dept.
If a Parish
Council meeting does not fall within the 21 days
allowed for our comments, all Councillors from
Ingestre and Tixall will be notified, and invited to
send their views to the Chairman by a specific date.
Minor comments can be made to the Clerk. The Chairman
will then consult with the Clerk, and representations
will be made to the Borough Council taking into
account these views. Councillors can request to see
the planning letter for a particular application
before it is sent out.
Difficulties have arisen as the Borough Council
registers "any Parish Council response which expresses
any degree of dissatisfaction with a proposal as an
objection." We feel very strongly that as we are not
the planning authority, we should not necessarily have
to decide whether we support or oppose a particular
development. However, we do feel that we can make
useful representations on specific details using our
local knowledge.
We have now reached agreement with
the Borough Council to publish our summarised
representations as written by us in their officer's
report, where we have included summaries, i.e. in more
controversial applications.
Copies of all
Parish Council replies to the Borough Council, etc. on
Planning Matters are available for consultation on
application to the Parish Clerk. The planning consents
or permissions including any specific conditions, are
included as appendices to the minutes. Unfortunately,
when a condition is subject to a Section 106
Agreement, the application is not granted until that
agreement has been completed; the Parish Council does
not receive the permission document until the Section
106 Agreement has been signed.
Notice of all planning applications
appear in the Parish Notes, together with subsequent
decisions by the Borough Council. This does not
include specific conditions. All planning
applications are kept for future reference.
All decision notices and other
planning information are now available from the
Borough Council Planning website at: http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/static/page3611.htm
We are now consulted as an adjacent
parish for significant developments just outside our
boundaries, and eventually receive copies of the
decision notices on these applications.
The Parish
Council opposes all roadside Estate Agents signs,
which are not within the curtilage of the property
being sold.
The Parish Council
encourages the provision of adequate garages in any
new developments. Page
Index
21. TREE
PRESERVATION
The Parish Council
supports the preservation of all mature trees visible
to the public, especially those along the roadside.
The Parish Council will actively
encourage the planting and maintenance of new roadside
trees to replace those which have died and to fill in
existing gaps, including the Millennium Avenue at Hoo
Mill, the Millennium Oak at Ingestre and the two
Millennium Oaks by Tixall Gatehouse.
The Parish Council has agreed to accept
responsibility for the maintenance of trees planted
along the roadside in Tixall by the County Council. Page
Index
22.
LITERATURE
One copy of
Local Council Review will be circulated amongst
Ingestre Councillors by Mrs Haenelt, a second copy is
circulated amongst Tixall Councillors. The Clerk notes
any items of interest for future reference. All Councillors receive the
regular information sheet produced by the Staffs.
Parish Councils Assn.
In addition the Parish Clerk has copies of:-
a) 6 inch Ordnance Survey Sheets of Ingestre &
Tixall, i.e. equivalent to 1:50,000
b) The Definitive Map of Public Rights of Way in
Ingestre & Tixall
c) Rights of Way. A guide to law & practice by
P.Clayton & J.Trevelyan
d) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or
Historic Interest in Ingestre & Tixall - It was
noted that this need to be updated.
e) Tree Preservation Orders for Ingestre & the
eastern part of Tixall
f) Current Registers of Electors in Ingestre &
Tixall
g) Borough & County Council Committee Members
h) Ingestre Conservation Area. Designation Document
i) Tixall Conservation Area. Designation Document
j) Borough Council Year-book
k) West-Midlands, County Structure & Local Plan
Documents
l) Latest Borough Council Meeting Minutes &
Schedules
m) Governance and Accountability in Local Councils in
England & Wales. A Practitioners Guide - NALC
& Society of Local Council Clerks 2003 n) Good Councillor
Guide 3rd edition - available from the Clerk. Page Index
23.
MEMBERSHIP OF, AND REPRESENTATION WITH, OTHER
ORGANISATIONS
The Parish Council is a member
of:-
Staffordshire Parish Councils Association – AGM in
October
Website: www.spca.parish@staffordshire.gov.uk
Stafford Area Parish Councils
Council for the Preservation of Rural England
Staffordshire Community Council
The Parish Clerk
currently acts as Rural Transport and Local Agenda 21
Representative.
The Chairman
lays a wreath at the Annual Service of Remembrance.
Any interested
member of the Council can attend the Parish Forum with
the Borough and County Councils and other consultation
meetings.
Mr Tony Young
has kindly agreed to act as local police liaison
or neighbourhood watch contact for Ingestre and Mrs
Carol Burnett for Tixall. Website: www.mynhw.co.uk
Mrs Gill
Broadbent continues to monitor any information which
could benefit young people in the two parishes. Page Index
24.TIXALL
& INGESTRE VILLAGE HALL
This is now a separate registered charity with 7
trustees: Two appointed by the Parish Council
one of which must be a member of the Parish Council -
currently Dr Andrews till November 2012 and Mr Young
till November 2014; two from Tixall PCC and 2 from
Ingestre PCC, in addition Mrs E.Dunn and Mrs
G.Broadbent have been co-opted.
The Parish Council is
custodian trustee, whose main function is to hold the
legal title to investments and property on behalf of
the charity. The Land Registration document is with Mr
James, the solicitor at Hand Morgan & Owen.
Custodian trustees can act only on the lawful
instruction of the charity or managing trustees. A
custodian trustee is a form of holding trustee but it
has specific responsibilities as set out in section 4
of the Public Trustee Act 1906: it does not have any
powers of management.
The Parish
Council has agreed to continue to play a supportive
role in maintaining this vital community asset for the
residents of both Tixall and Ingestre. The Parish
Council last paid £1696 for the Hall Railings in
2005. Page Index
25. LITTER
& RECYCLING
Litter pickers
are distributed to any local resident willing to use
them on a regular basis, alongwith visibility jerkins
where necessary.
The ANnual Litterpick has now been
discontinued as the following volunteers are now
responsible for keeping their section of the roadside
verges clear of litter:
Sam Davies Rowley clears from Ingestre Hall to
Ingestre Village; Elaine Cleary clears from Ingestre
Village to Hoo Mill crossroads, Mrs Hawley clears Hoo
Mill Lane; Mrs Tidmarsh clears from Hoo Mill
crossroads to the Gt Haywood boundary; Mr Thompson
clears from Hoo Mill crossroads to Tixall farm; Louise
Ducie and Pete Burnett clear from Tixall Farm to
Tixall Village; Elaine Dunn clears Holdiford Rd;
Nicholas Bostock clears from Tixall Village to
Brancote corner; Naomi Smith clears around Tixall
Village; Mrs Downes clears from Brancote corner to the
Stone seat; Anne Andrews clears Hanyards Lane,
Blackheath Lane and Tixall Rd to the Stone seat from
the traffic lights (More help needed here); Pat Martin
clears Baswich Lane from the traffic lights to St
Thomas’s.
The Parish Council has agreed that
when any litter found in the parish can be identified
as deposited by someone, that person should be
prosecuted. Fly tipping and other litter can be
reported to the Borough Council Litterline at 01785
619401.
Refuse skips or
lorries, are provided at regular intervals for local
residents to dispose of large items of rubbish.
Bottle banks and
a Paper bank are provided at the Village Hall at
Tixall.
The
Parish Council continues to ask all residents to
co-operate in eliminating dog fouling on public
highways and rights of way. See www.staffordbc.gov.uk/dogs
for further information. The Borough Council's dog
fouling regulations can only be enforced by their
authorised people. The Parish Council provided a bin
by the New Stables for dog waste. Page Index
26. VERGE
MAINTENANCE
Dr Andrews
declared her interest and took no part in the
discussions.
The minimum wage is currently £5.93/hr. Last
year Mr Andrews cut the grass around the seat nearest
Stafford at a rate of £6 per cut for up to 4
cuts this year. It was noted that cutting the grass
immediately around the recently moved seat as well as
the seat nearest Stafford took 1¼hrs. It was
agreed to use Roundup (kindly provided by Mr Bostock)
to keep the ramp paths to the moved seat clear, and to
kill the remains of the old hedge in front of it. Mr
Andrews had replanted grass seed on the bare patch at
the top right. The bank in front of the seat would be
cut by Staffordshire Highways as part of their verge
maintenance.
Mr Bostock proposed that Mr Andrews should be
paid £10/cut to cut the grass immediately around
both seats up to 4 times a year, this was seconded by
Mr Young, and agreed by 4 votes with Dr Andrews
abstaining.
County Highways have taken over
responsibility for mowing the verges by Tixall Church.
The Parish
Council opposes the erection of all illegal signs on
Highway Verges, including Estate Agents signs which
are not on the property for sale, with the exception
of short term notices advertising specific events. Page Index
27. ROAD SCHEMES
The general policy of the Parish
Council is to support schemes which improve road
safety by:-
a) Widening the road sufficiently to enable two
buses to pass;
b) Improving visibility;
c) Improving signage and road markings.
As far as possible the present
alignments should be retained, as removing bends
usually increases traffic speed resulting in more
serious accidents. Trees or hedges should be retained
or replanted to preserve amenity value.
The Parish Council has supported
the purchase of Traffic Speed Cameras by the local
police and welcomes the introduction of a speed limit
and traffic calming through Tixall Village.
The Parish Council has asked to be
informed of all proposed highway schemes other than
routine maintenance and repairs by the Area Surveyor.
This includes tree planting schemes, etc.
The County Council has
introduced Neighbourhood Highway Teams, two men and a
lorry spending 3 days/year in Ingestre and Tixall
attending to low priority highway items such as
cleaning roadsigns and digging out drainage grips. All Councillors are
invited to raise items for attention. The Clerk then
goes on an annual road inspection with Mr Steele of
County Highways around the parishes to draw up a list
of works to be done and then prioritises them. Page Index
28. MILLENNIUM
BOOKS
These books which contain a
photographic record of all houses in Ingestre and
Tixall have been deposited in the County Record
Office. In addition the Clerk has a copy of all the
photographs on CD-ROMs. Page
Index
29.
WELCOME PACK FOR NEW RESIDENTS
This plastic
bag contains: OS Map reference for the property,
Dataline Emergency details, Church & Parish
Council contacts, Village Hall info, Recycling
info, Post Times, Bus times, Mobile Library, Local
Shop, and our Website. New owners of Listed
Buildings are sent the English Heritage Advice
Notes. The Local Information is shown in Appendix
12.5.2010/03. Parish Councillors were asked to
check if there were any errors and if so, inform
the Clerk.
It is sometimes
difficult to identify when rented property changed
tenants, and the pack is therefore regularly
advertised in the Parish News. Page Index
Both
Ingestre and Tixall have entered this competition
in the past and a Children’s Poster Competition
held with prizes of £10 for the best posters
from Ingestre and Tixall judged at the Annual
Parish Meeting.
In
accordance with the competition advice, a supply
of Dog Poo Bags is kept at the back of Tixall
Church and at Ingestre Stables. Page Index
32.
QUALITY PARISH COUNCIL STATUS
At
present our Parish Council satisfies 6/7 of the
essential criteria, i.e. apart from the Clerk have
the necessary qualifications. Unfulfilled conditions
and suggestions were considered. These include the
need for Councillors to send apologies when they
are unable to attend meetings; and for Councillors
to attend training sessions
However many of the suggestions
do not seem relevant to a small rural Council such
as ours: e.g. Having a Parish plan; Regular
surgeries by Councillors; Reports in the local
press and district council publications; holding
consultations or circulating questionnaires; and
producing leaflets on the work of the Council –
which is partly covered by our annual report and
website . Page Index
33.
POLICY ON POTENTIAL BRIDLEWAYS IN INGESTRE
& TIXALL
The Parish
Council has agreed a policy regarding potential
bridleways arising from the 1802 Diversion Order
which was used to enable Ingestre Road to be
adopted by Staffordshire County Council so that
its maintenance was no longer the responsibility
of local residents. Appendix
10.9.08/18.
The Parish Council has
supported repeated unsuccessful attempts by
Staffordshire CC Legal Dept. to resolve the
problem of the potential blight on some properties
at Home Farm Court, Ingestre.
34. DATA
PROTECTION
The
Parish
Council is registered with the Information
Commissioners Office under the Data Protection Act
1998 Registration No.Z1763308 Security No. XXXXX.
The subscription is paid by Direct Debit.
35. JAPANESE KNOTWEED
All residents are
reminded in the Annual Report each year that it is
an offence to throw Japanese Knotweed in their
brown bin, or allow it to spread from their
property. It is known to occur in Ingestre Wood
and the grounds of Ingestre Hall and Ingestre Home
Farm.
There being no further business
the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council was
concluded.