Parish Council Meeting Agenda
Parish Councillors are summoned to
A MEETING OF THE PARISH COUNCIL
| DATE: | TUESDAY 23 JULY 2019 |
| TIME: | 7:30PM |
| NOTE VENUE: | School Farm, Cholmondeley (Adjacent to the Cholmondeley Bowling Pavilion) |
Signed:  | Date of Issue: 17 July 2019 |
1 ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN AND VICE-CHAIRMAN
At the Annual Council meeting, Councillor Fennell accept chairmanship for that meeting. The Council is now invited to elect a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman to serve until the Annual Meeting in May 2020.
2 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence should be notified to the Clerk by noon on the day of the meeting, if possible.
3 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 disclosable 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.
4 MINUTES
4.1 To approve the Minutes of the Annual Council Meeting held on 7 May 2019.
4.2 Matters Arising
To consider any issues not the subject of a separate item on the agenda.
5 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Members of the public are able to ask a question or make a statement. Questions or statement must relate to the business of the Parish Council, either generally, or in respect of any item on the agenda.
The Chairman or Clerk will respond to questions, but if the Chairman considers that another councillor might have the information, she will defer to him/her. This slot is for members of the public; councillors should not participate unless invited to do so by the Chairman.
6 CO-OPTION
6.1 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 |
At the Annual Meeting, Roger Keyes and Philip Winward were co-opted to represent Cholmondeley. The remaining seats are four for Chorley parish.
At the time of publication of the agenda, there are two candidates for for co-option, namely, Claire Farquahason and Chris Nickson. The procedure will be as follows:
- The co-option will be held in open session with both candidates present throughout.
- The candidates will each make a brief presentation to explain their reasons forwishing to become a parish councillor.
- Following this, Members may wish to ask questions which should not be of apersonal nature.
- As there are more vacancies than candidates, there is no requirement for a secret ballot, unless requested by Members.
- If either or both of the candidates are successful, they will be asked to sign a Declaration of Acceptance of Office which also requires them to be bound by the Code of Conduct.
6.2 Co-option to Remaining Vacancies
The Council is invited to consider arrangements for advertising the remaining vacancies.
7 NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN STEERING GROUP
To receive the Minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group meeting held on 25 June 2019.
8 BOROUGH COUNCILLOR W S DAVIES
Councillor W S Davies to report on Cheshire East Council matters.
9 FINANCIAL MATTERS
9.1 Annual Accounts – 2018-2019
The Parish Council is asked to approve the accounts for 2018-2019 The following documents are enclosed:
i. Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR).
ii. Copy of ledger for 2018-2019 showing bank reconciliation.
iii. Internal Auditor’s report (Note: this is a separate report from that shown at page 4 of the AGAR.
Members are asked to note the following:
- The cabinet for the defibrillator needs to be added to the list of assets.
- VAT of £101.70 was not reclaimed during 2018-2019.
- Issue from 2017-2018. No formal contract for the Clerk. This can be provided for approval at the September meeting.
The AGAR must be approved in a specific order. Section 1 first (the Annual Governance Statement) and secondly, Section 2 (Accounting Statement) and the minute Nos. must demonstrate that they were considered in the correct order.
9.2 Review of the Effectiveness of Internal Audit
The Council is asked to review the effectiveness of the internal audit process for 2018-2019. A checklist is enclosed.
9.3 Authorisation of Payments
| £160.00 | Mrs C M Jones – salary for the period 1 April – 30 June 2019 |
| £114.24 | JDH Business Services Ltd. – Internal Audit of accounts 2018-19 (£95.20 net and £19.04 VAT) |
| £tba | HMRC – Tax on Clerk’s salary |
10 PLANNING MATTERS
10.1 The Parish Council is asked to submit observations on the following planning application:
| 19/26669N | 2 Parkside Barns, Wrenbury Road, Chorley CW5 8JT Addition of three Fakro roof lights as follows: one in the stairwell of the staircase one within en-suite bathroom of bedroom 2 one within en-suite bathroom of bedroom 3 |
Deadline date for observations: 24 July 2019
10.2 The following planning application was received on 14 June 2019 and forwarded to Members the same date. There was no request for an additional meeting and there were, therefore, no observations able to be submitted to Cheshire East Council.
| 19/2710N | Land at Moss Wood, Whitchurch Road, SY14 8HN Highways works relating to the proposed new junction at land at Moss Wood. |
11 NEW CODE OF CONDUCT
The Parish Council is invited to adopt the Code of Conduct 2019 which has been approved by Cheshire East Council and is now being rolled out to town and parish councils. The document still has the CEC branding, but can be revised in due course.
The adoption of this Code will require all Members to complete a new Register of Interests form which will be sent under separate cover.
12 SHARED ITEMS
Members are invited to share information, or request items to be included on the next agenda. This is also an opportunity for Members to report on attendance at any recent meetings of outside bodies, including Police Cluster meetings.
13 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
24 September 2019