Parish Council Meeting Agenda
Parish Councillors are summoned to
A MEETING OF THE PARISH COUNCIL
| DATE: | TUESDAY 7 MAY 2019 |
| TIME: | 7:30PM |
| NOTE VENUE: | School Farm, Cholmondeley (Adjacent to the Cholmondeley Bowling Pavilion) |
Signed:  | Date of Issue: 1 May 2019 |
| Note: Parish Councillors will have signed their respective Declarations of Acceptance of Office prior to the start of the Annual PARISH Meeting held earlier in the evening. |
ANNUAL COUNCIL BUSINESS
1 ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN
1.1 To elect a Chairman to serve until the annual meeting in 2020
1.2 The Chairman will sign a Declaration of Acceptance of Office, following which the newly-elected Chairman will chair the meeting.
2 ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN
2.1 To elect a Vice-Chairman to serve until the Annual Meeting in 2020.
2.2 The Vice-Chairman will sign a Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
3 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence should be notified to the Clerk by noon on the day of the meeting, if possible.
4 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
Members to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest or non-pecuniary interest which they have in any item of business on the agenda, the nature of that interest, and in respect of interests, to leave the meeting prior to the discussion of that item.
Whilst the Clerk can advise on the Code of Conduct and its interpretation, the decision to declare, or not, is the responsibility of the Parish Councillor, based on the particular circumstances.
5 MINUTES – 19 MARCH 2019
To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 March 2019.
6 ELECTION RESULTS – 2 MAY 2019
6.1 Current Position
Following the elections on 2 May 2019, the following candidates were returned unopposed.
| Chorley Parish (5 seats) | Christopher Hopley |
| Cholmondeley Parish (6 seats) | Christine Crossley Antony Fennell Sarah Langton Richard Probin |
The quorum for the Parish Council is four and if fewer than four had been validly nominated, the Borough Council would have appointed sufficient Ward Councillors to ensure that the Parish Council could conduct its business until co-options could be made.
The situation now is that as only five seats are occupied, the quorum for meetings is three as the quorum is based on one-third of the membership or at least three, whichever is the greater.
6.2 Co-option
The Parish Council is invited to consider co-option arrangements for the remaining six seats made up as follows:
Cholmondeley: Two
Chorley: Four
7 ANNUAL ACCOUNTS – 2018-2019
7.1 Exemption from External Audit
Members are reminded that new legislation was introduced last year for councils whose turnover is less than £25,000; those councils are able to opt out of an external audit.
The Parish Council agreed to opt-out last year and is invited to declare itself exempt again for the purpose of the accounts in 2018-2019. The rationale behind this is that the Government takes the view that for councils of this size, the audit undertaken by the Internal Auditor is thorough and there is no need for any further auditing.
7.2 Accounts
The Annual Governance and Accountability Return will be completed and published as usual, but the only document to be submitted to the External Auditor will be the Certificate of Exemption.
The accounts are not currently available but will be submitted to the meeting to be held in July. There have been some delays and the Clerk was unable to submit the accounts to the Internal Auditor by the due deadline date. He has agreed to audit the accounts during June.
At the July meeting, the Council will be asked to:
- Consider the Internal Auditor’s review of the accounts; and
- Review the effectiveness of the internal audit service during 2018-2019.
8 APPOINTMENT OF INTERNAL AUDITOR – 2018-2019
The appointment of an Internal Auditor is a statutory requirement to be undertaken annually. The Parish Council is invited to re-appoint JDH Business Services to carry out the internal audit in 2019-2020.
9 REVIEW OF RISK MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS
The Council is required to review its risk management arrangements once a year. A schedule is enclosed for consideration and approval subject to any amendments which Members might wish to make.
10 NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN STEERING GROUP
The Parish Council is asked to appoint Members to the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group. Current members are as follows:
| Parish Council Members (based on election results 2 May 2019) | Non-Parish Council Members |
| Tony Fennell Christopher Hopley Sarah Langton Philip Probin | Andy Champion Claire Farquhason James Hall Andy Latham Matthew Robinson Stacey Rutter |
The Steering Group will be asked to appoint non-Parish Council members at its first meeting in the new Municipal Year, which is 14 May 2019.
11 APPOINTMENT TO OUTSIDE BODIES
The Parish Council is invited to appoint representatives to the following outside bodies.
- Cheshire Association of Local Councils
- Police Cluster meetings
12 CALENDAR OF MEETINGS – 2019-2020
To approve the enclosed calendar of meetings for 2019-2020.
ORDINARY PARISH COUNCIL BUSINESS
13 BOROUGH COUNCILLOR’S REPORT
The Ward Councillor to report on Cheshire East Council matters.
14 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Members of the public are able to address the Parish Council or ask a question.
Each member of the public is entitled to ask one question or make a statement. Questions or statements must be addressed to the Parish Council as a whole and not to individual parish councillors. This is not an opportunity for engaging in debate with Members.
15 OPERATION SHIELD
To update the Parish Council in respect of progress on Operation Shield.
16 AUTHORISATION OF PAYMENTS
The Parish Council is asked to approve the following payments.
| £82.44 | Cheshire Association of Local Councils affiliation fee |
| £160.00 | Mrs C M Jones – net salary – 1 April 2019 – 30 June 2019 |
| £180.00 | Coderra Ltd. – Website hosting (one year @ £15 per month) |
| £25.00 | Coderra Ltd. – Domain renewal for two years |
| £72.00 | T P Jones & Co. LLP – payroll service (£60.00 net and £12.00 VAT) |
| £tba | HMRC – Tax on Clerk’s salary |
| £294.54 | Zurich Municipal – insurance cover commencing 1 June 2019 |
17 PLANNING APPLICATIONS
The following planning application was received but overlooked by the Clerk. The deadline date for observations was 11 April 2019.
| 19/1414N | Old Hall, CHOLMONDELEY PARK, CHOLMONDELEY, SY14 8HB Variation of conditions 4 and 5 on existing permission 17/2362N; Listed building consent for refurbishment of, and alterations to, existing dwelling and construction of new boundary wall |
18 SHARED ITEMS
Members are able to share information which is not included on the agenda. Decisions cannot be taken under this item.
19 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
23 July 2019