Minutes of a MEETING of the PARISH COUNCIL held in the Council Office,
1A Bushwood Close, Welham Green on
PRESENT: Councillors V
W Weeks Chairman
Mrs T Travell
Mrs J Boulton
Mrs M Race
C Everard
R Horrocks
W A Storey
P
K Pieri
Assistant Clerk Mrs
H Rook
124. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies
for absence were received from the Clerk, Mrs J Schettino.
125. DECLARATION OF MEMBERS INTERESTS
Councillors
K Pieri and
Councillors C Everard, R
Horrocks and V Weeks declared an interest as committee members of the North
Mymms Green Belt Society.
126. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
It was agreed that the Minutes of a Meeting held on
Item 118 delete ‘Welham Green Wanderers Football
Team’
replace with ‘Welham Green As One’
127. MATTERS ARISING
Councillor Mrs Race reported that the Monitoring Officer at WHALC is
seeking guidance from the Standards Board on the length of term a Councillor
can serve on the Standards Committee and whether Councillor Mrs Race is able to
stand for re-election. Further
information will be provided by Councillor Mrs Race when it is available.
Councillor Weeks has not yet managed to get the information regarding
key safes, but will be dealing with it.
The bank mandate forms from Nat West for additional signatories were
signed. On the proposal of Councillor
Storey that a debit card be obtained for the Treasurer, Councillor Horrocks,
for items previously paid for by personal credit cards e.g. Norton Anti Virus,
was seconded by Councillor Everard and carried unanimously.
Highways
A future meeting with Highways will be arranged after the Parish Plan
questionnaires have been analysed and a schedule of outstanding issues
compiled.
Minutes of the last Management Committee meeting have now been received.
Councillor Hastings has had a meeting with PCSO Sam Griffin and PC Adele
Bosowitz to discuss organising an event for the local community. Permission had been obtained from WHBC to use
the village green as a venue. The views
of local residents would be sought as to what type of event should be held and
it was suggested a weekend in September either side of the balloon landing
anniversary might be a suitable time. A
further meeting would be arranged to which Borough and Parish Councillors would
be invited.
Councillor Pieri expressed his reservations of using the village green
as a suitable venue due to traffic/safety issues and suggested the football
pitch might be a more suitable venue.
This would be discussed at a future meeting.
The
A notice is now on display in the office window giving times the office
will be open.
Councillor Boulton advised that the valuation of council buildings
remained the same as last year’s figures.
A letter will be sent to Zurich Insurance advising them that the Council
wished to leave their building valuations the same as last year.
(ii) Fidelity Guarantee
The current level of insurance is £150,000. Councillor Horrocks advised that in April
2010 the bank balance was almost £160,000. Councillor Horrocks’ proposal that
the Fidelity Guarantee be increased to £180,000 was seconded by Councillor
Storey and carried unanimously.
A booklet ‘Policing
Hertfordshire, Your priorities, your plan’ was circulated at the meeting and
Councillors were asked to email the Assistant Clerk with any ideas/suggestions
prior to the next Full Council meeting.
Reverend Sally Davenport’s
last service at St Mary’s will be held at
128. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
a)
FINANCE
Councillor
Storey reported that the Finance Committee had met earlier that evening.
A Schedule of Accounts for Payment totalling
£18,760.16 was presented (and being recommended for approval) including
£11,551.15 which had already been paid.
A new dishwasher had been installed in the Burns Pavilion and the
invoice amount, less VAT, had been refunded by the Bowls Club and payment had
been sent to Mail Shot International Ltd for the Parish Plan questionnaires.
The Essential User
Car Allowance monthly amount paid to the Clerk had increased from £97.50 per
month to £103.25 per month.
Statement of Balances dated
Approval was given to the transfer of £25,000
from the Council’s Business Reserve Account to the Current Account made on
Nat West Bank had advised that it was not
possible to pay staff wages by direct transfer as all transactions required two
signatories and the BACS transfer system was operated on one signature.
Alternative ways of paying staff either via a
payroll bureau or by the Clerk paying wages directly into employees accounts at
the Hatfield Branch of Nat West were not
considered suitable and so the Council were advised that staff would continue
to be paid by cheque.
The documents for additional signatures on the
Imprest account were signed by the Chairman of the Council and the Chairman of
the Finance Committee. On the proposal
of Councillor Horrocks that a debit card be obtained on the Imprest Account to
pay for items previously paid for by personal credit card e.g. Norton Anti
Virus renewal was seconded by Councillor Everard and carried unanimously.
A quarterly statement for Gas had been received
and showed the meter had not been read for over 2 years. A reading has now been taken and a revised
statement will be received shortly. In
future the meter will be read on a more regular basis.
The Council Office boiler was now over 20 years
old and beyond repair. A quotation would
be sought for its replacement.
An estimate had been obtained from EDF Energy of
between £1,000 - £1,500 + VAT to move the electricity meter and fuse box for
the council office electricity supply from Bungalow 1 where it is currently
situated into the council office in order that the office had control over its
power supply.
A vote was taken on making provision for this
amount in the budget for 2010/11 so that the work can be done early on in the
next financial year.
In favour 7
Against 1
Abstention 2
A quotation for 4 pairs of chains, 4 swing
seats and fittings for the sings in Welham Green had been received for £330 +
VAT and it was agreed to go ahead with this order.
The Scribe Accounting software was now installed
on the office laptop and Councillor Horrocks and the Assistant Clerk were
investigating how to use the package.
The preliminary year
end accounts have been received from the Internal Auditor, Ian Fraser and the
notes to the accounts have been updated.
A 2009/10 year end spreadsheet was distributed
which showed a brought forward contingency figure of £9,223 which Councillor Storey
considered to be better than he had expected.
BDO, the External
Auditor, have advised that as the annual turnover exceeded £200,000 the council
needed to have an intermediate level of audit.
Councillor Storey’s proposal that the Report of
the Finance Committee be adopted was seconded by Councillor Everard and carried
unanimously.
b)
AMENITIES AND BUILDING DEVELOPMENT
Councillor Everard said the last Meeting of
this Committee had been held on
St Albans Diocese had been emailed for an
update on the progress of the licence for Way Leave, St Mary’s Nursery but no
reply had been received.
A letter would be sent to the Herts and
Middlesex Wildlife Trust asking them for a progress report on the Access Road
to Gobians Open Space and the possibilities of improving the road surface. Councillor Mrs Boulton had received a
complaint from a local resident, Mr Johnson, regarding the deterioration of the
road surface and it was agreed to send a copy of the letter to HMWT to Mr
Johnson.
Action: H. Rook
Letters have been sent to the headteachers of
the two nearby primary schools to arrange official openings of the new play
equipment and the Little Heath headteacher has responded favourably and a date
will be arranged.
Action: H. Rook
Following receipt of an inspection report from
Zurich Insurance, the three play areas have been checked by Councillor Everard
and the groundsmen and all matters have been addressed.
Councillor Everard reported that the parallel
bars in the Gobions Play Space were dangerous and should be removed. It was unanimously agreed and Councillor
Everard will speak to the groundsmen to see if they can remove them, however,
if not it will be necessary to instruct a contractor for this work.
Action: Councillor Everard
Wicksteed have provided a quotation for new
chains and seats to be fitted to the empty swing frame at the Welham Green play
area and this has been approved by the Finance Committee.
A new dishwasher has been fitted in the Burns
Pavilion and the cost net of VAT has been donated by the Bowls Club. The maintenance will be the responsibility of
the Parish Council and the dishwasher will be available for use by all hirers
of the Burns Pavilion.
The
Action: Councillor Mrs Boulton/H. Rook
Councillor Horrocks advised he had not yet been
able to check on progress of the flooding of the highway at the junction of
The footpath over Parsonage Farm had now been
re-opened.
The office filing system was in the process of
being reorganised and 30 storage boxes had been received from the
Councillor Everard’s proposal that the report of
the Amenities and Building Development Committee be adopted was seconded by
Councillor Horrocks and carried unanimously.
c)
PLANNING
Councillor Horrocks said that the Planning
Committee had met on
Councillor Horrocks’ proposal that the Minutes of
the Planning Committees be adopted was seconded by Councillor Everard and
carried unanimously.
129.
Nothing to report.
130. LITTLE HEATH
Nothing
to report.
131. WELHAM GREEN
Councillor Pieri reported that a retrospective
planning application has been made to WHBC for the Traveller’s Site on
132. REPRESENTATIVES ON OTHER BODIES/ORGANISATIONS
Nothing
to report.
133. PARISH ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PLAN
Nothing
to report.
134. PARISH PLAN
Sheila King had requested that the amount paid to Mail Shot
International for the questionnaires be charged against last year’s budget as
the Steering Committee were expecting some further expenditure in the current
financial year. Councillor Storey
advised that this would not be possible, however, if further funds were
required he hoped the Council would be supportive.
A cheque for £76.55 had been raised for the Royal Mail Response Service
and two further cheques: one of approximately £135 ($200) would be required for
the purchase of software to analyse the results of the survey and one of £30
for a pitch at Village Day. These
amounts were approved for payment.
135. CORRESPONDENCE
CORRESPONDENCE CIRCULATED TO ALL COUNCILLORS
Action: H. Rook to advise WHC of new Chairman
following next full Council meeting..
THE FOLLOWING
CORRESPONDENCE WAS READ OUT BY THE CLERK
3.
Performing
Right Society Limited – enquired as to whether the Welham Green Recreation
Ground required a music licence. A reply
had already been sent advising this was not required.
136. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Nothing to report.
137. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting has already
been arranged for
Meeting
closed at