Parish Council Meeting Minutes
MEETING OF CHOLMONDELEY & CHORLEY PARISH COUNCIL HELD AT SCHOOL FARM, CHOLMONDELEY ON 23 JULY 2019
| PRESENT: | Councillor A D Fennell (In the Chair) Councillor C Crossley Councillor R Keyes Councillor P Probin | Councillor C Hopley Councillor S Langton |
| IN ATTENDANCE: | Two members of the public Chris Nickson (Candidate for co-option) | Claire Farquharson (Candidate for co-option) |
| ABSENT: | Councillor P Winward |
19 ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN
At the Annual Council meeting, Councillor Fennell accepted chairmanship for that meeting only.
The Council was now invited to elect a Chairman to serve until the Annual Meeting of the Council in May 2020.
RESOLVED: That Councillor Antony Fennell be elected Chairman to serve until the next Annual Meeting of the Council, in May 2020.
20 ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN
The Council was invited to elect a Vice-Chairman to serve until the Annual Meeting of the Council in May 2020.
RESOLVED: That Councillor Christopher (Kit) Hopley be elected Vice-Chairman to serve until the next Annual Meeting of the Council, in May 2020.
21 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
Members were asked 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 disclosable interests, to leave the meeting prior to the discussion of that item.
No declarations were made.
22 MINUTES
22.1 RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Annual Council Meeting held on 7 May 2019 be approved as a correct record.
22.2 Matters Arising
Minute No. 14 – Operation Shield
Councillor Crossley would issue an e-mail to PC Nicky Berry about this matter.
23 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Members of the public were 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.
Mr Robin Latham (on behalf of Cholmondeley Bowling Club) was in attendance and queried the Parish Council’s decision to refuse his grant application at its meeting held on 19 March 2019.
The grant had been declined (a) partly on the basis that the sum requested (£1,080.00) was more than double the Parish Council’s grants budget allowance each year; and (b) grant requests were normally allocated for projects rather than revenue costs.
Mr Latham challenged the budget process, but Members assured him that the decision had been made on the merits of the application.
In declining the application, Mr Latham had been advised that the Club might wish to consider ways in which membership of the Club could be increased and this in turn would assist in funding its operating costs. Moreover, Members had expressed a willingness to attend any Bowling Club fund-raising events to give support.
24 CO-OPTION
24.1 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 Philip Probin |
At the Annual Meeting, Roger Keyes and Philip Winward had been co-opted to represent Cholmondeley. There were now no vacancies in Cholmondeley Parish. The remaining seats were four for Chorley Parish.
24.2 Co-option to Parish Council Vacancies
Two candidates for co-option were in attendance, namely, Claire Farquaharson and Chris Nickson.
Each candidate, in turn, gave brief reasons for wishing to become a parish councillor. The nominations were moved, following which it was –
RESOLVED: That Claire Farquharson and Chris Nickson be co-opted onto the Parish Council to represent the Chorley Parish.
Each candidate signed a Declaration of Acceptance of Office and were able to participate fully in the meeting.
24.3 Co-option to Remaining Vacancies
It was noted that former parish councillor Richard Probin, who was in attendance, would be considered for co-option at the September 2019 meeting.
25 NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN STEERING GROUP
The Minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group meeting held on 25 June 2019 were submitted for information.
Members noted the arrangements for the public drop-in session on Tuesday, 10 September 2019 from 3.00 pm – 8.00 pm in the Tea Rooms at Cholmondeley Castle.
26 BOROUGH COUNCILLOR W S DAVIES
Councillor W S Davies was not in attendance.
27 ANNUAL ACCOUNTS – 2018-2018
The Parish Council was asked to approve the accounts for 2018-2019. The following documents were submitted.
i. Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR).
ii. Copy of ledger for 2018-2019 showing bank reconciliation.
iii. Internal Auditor’s report.
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.
27.1 Annual Governance and Accountability Return – Section 1
RESOLVED: That Section 1 of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return be approved and that the Council record its satisfaction that there was a sound system of internal control in place, including arrangements for the preparation of the accounting statements.
27.2 Annual Governance and Accountability Return – Section 2
RESOLVED: That Section 2 of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (Accounting Statements 2018-2019) be approved.
27.3 Internal Auditor’s Report
Members noted the following from the Internal Auditor’s report and the Clerk confirmed that she would take action as appropriate.
- The cabinet for the defibrillator needed 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 could be provided for approval at the September meeting.
27.4 Review of the Effectiveness of Internal Audit
The Council was asked to review the effectiveness of the internal audit process for 2018-2019 using the checklist provided.
RESOLVED: That the Council record its satisfaction that the internal audit process for 2018- 2019 had been effective.
28 AUTHORISATION OF PAYMENTS
RESOLVED: That the following payments be authorised.
| £114.24 | JDH Business Services Ltd. – Internal Audit of accounts 2018-19 (£95.20 net and £19.04 VAT) |
| £80.00 | HMRC – Tax on Clerk’s salary |
29 PLANNING MATTERS
29.1 The Parish Council was asked to submit observations on the following planning application:
| 19/2669N | 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 |
RESOLVED: That no observations be made on planning application No. 19/2669N.
29.2 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 |
30 NEW CODE OF CONDUCT
The Parish Council was invited to adopt the Code of Conduct 2019 which had been approved by Cheshire East Council and was now being rolled out to town and parish councils. The document still had the CEC branding, but could be revised in due course.
The adoption of this Code required Members to complete a new Register of Interests form which would be sent under separate cover.
RESOLVED: That the new Code of Conduct (2019), approved by Cheshire East Council, be adopted with immediate effect.
31 SHARED ITEMS
Members were able to share information. This was also an opportunity for Members to report on attendance at any recent meetings of outside bodies.
Issues raised included the following:
- Police Cluster meeting.
- Creation of Facebook page for the parish.
- Parish boundary signs.
- A community bus which had been purchased by Lord Cholmondeley, intended forthe whole community, but one of the councillors had been prevented from using it.
- BeWILDerwood – it was understood that one was to be built in the parish.
- At the next meeting, consider projects for inclusion in the budget for 2020-2021.
32 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
24 September 2019