Parish Council Meeting Minutes
ANNUAL MEETING OF CHOLMONDELEY & CHORLEY PARISH COUNCIL HELD AT SCHOOL FARM, CHOLMONDELEY ON 7 MAY 2019
| PRESENT: | Councillor A D Fennell (In the Chair) Councillor C Hopley | Councillor P Probin |
| IN ATTENDANCE: | Borough Councillor W S Davies Roger Keyes (Candidate for co-option) | Philip Winward (Candidate for co-option) |
| APOLOGIES: | Councillor C Crossley | Councillor S Langton |
ANNUAL COUNCIL BUSINESS
1 ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN
The Council was invited to elect a Chairman to serve until the Annual Meeting in 2020.
In the absence of the out-going Chairman, the Council agreed that Councillor A D Fennell be appointed Chairman for the meeting, and the matter be decided at the next meeting.
RESOLVED: That Councillor A D Fennell be elected Chairman for the meeting; and
(b) That a Chairman for the year be added as an item for the next agenda.
2 ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN
DEFERRED to the next meeting.
3 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
Members were invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest or non-pecuniary interest which they had 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.
No declarations were made.
4 MINUTES – 19 MARCH 2019
RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 March 2019 be approved as a correct record.
5 ELECTION RESULTS – 2 MAY 2019
5.1 Current Position
Following the elections on 2 May 2019, the following candidates had been 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 was four and if fewer than four had been validly nominated, the Borough Council would have appointed enough Ward Councillors to ensure that the Parish Council could conduct its business until co-options could be made.
The situation now was that as only five seats were occupied, the quorum for meetings was three as the quorum was based on one-third of the membership or at least three, whichever was the greater.
5.2 Co-option
The Parish Council was invited to co-opt Richard Keys and Philip Winward onto the Parish Council.
RESOLVED: That Roger Keyes and Philip Winward be co-opted onto the Parish Council with immediate effect.
(Note: Each candidate signed a Declaration of Acceptance of Office.)
6 ANNUAL ACCOUNTS – 2018-2019
6.1 Exemption from External Audit
Members were reminded that new legislation was introduced last year for councils whose turnover was less than £25,000; those councils were able to opt out of an external audit.
The Parish Council had agreed to opt-out last year and was invited to declare itself exempt again for the purpose of the accounts in 2018-2019. The rationale behind this was that the Government took the view that for councils of this size, the audit undertaken by the Internal Auditor was thorough and there was no need for any further auditing.
RESOLVED: That the Parish Council declare itself exempt from a limited assurance review under Section 9 of the Local Audit (Smaller Authorities) Regulations 2015.
6.2 Accounts
Members were informed that the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) would be completed and published as usual, but the only document to be submitted to the External Auditor would be the Certificate of Exemption.
The accounts were not currently available but would be submitted to the meeting to be held in July. There had been some delays and the Clerk had been unable to submit the accounts to the Internal Auditor by the due deadline date. He had agreed to audit the accounts during June.
At the July meeting, the Council would be asked to:
- Approve the Annual Governance Statement, and then the Annual Accounts.
- Consider the Internal Auditor’s review of the accounts; and
- Review the effectiveness of the internal audit service during 2018-2019.
7 APPOINTMENT OF INTERNAL AUDITOR – 2018-2019
The appointment of an Internal Auditor was a statutory requirement to be undertaken annually. The Parish Council was invited to re-appoint JDH Business Services Ltd to carry out the internal audit in 2019-2020.
RESOLVED: That JDH Business Services Ltd. be appointed to carry out the audit in 2019-2020.
8 REVIEW OF RISK MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS
The Council was required to review its risk management arrangements once a year. A schedule was submitted for consideration and approval subject to any amendments which Members might wish to make.
RESOLVED: That the Risk Assessment/Management report be approved.
9 NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN STEERING GROUP
The Parish Council was invited to appoint Members to the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group. Current members were noted:
| 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 would be asked to appoint any other non-Parish Council members at its first meeting in the new Municipal Year. The next meeting was 14 May 2019.
RESOLVED: That the current membership be confirmed, as noted above.
10 APPOINTMENT TO OUTSIDE BODIES
The Parish Council was invited to appoint representatives to the following outside bodies.
- Police Cluster meetings
- Cheshire Association of Local Councils
RESOLVED: That Councillors C Hopley and P Probin represent the Parish Council at the Police Cluster meetings and that any councillor available would attend meetings of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils.
11 CALENDAR OF MEETINGS – 2019-2020
RESOLVED: That the Calendar of Meetings for 2019-2020 be approved.
ORDINARY PARISH COUNCIL BUSINESS
12 BOROUGH COUNCILLOR’S REPORT
Borough Councillor W S Davies had withdrawn from the meeting prior to this item.
13 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
There were no members of the public in attendance.
14 OPERATION SHIELD
In the absence of Councillor Crossley, there was no update in respect of progress on Operation Shield.
15 AUTHORISATION OF PAYMENTS
RESOLVED: That the following payments be approved.
| £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) |
| £294.54 | Zurich Municipal – insurance cover commencing 1 June 2019 |
16 PLANNING APPLICATIONS
The following planning application had been 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 |
17 SHARED ITEMS
Members were able to share information which had not been included on the agenda.
A Member raised an issue about the defibrillator which was located on the outside wall of the Cholmondeley Arms.
18 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
23 July 2019