In attendance: Parish Council: Alan Mayhew (Chair), Melvyn Blower, Robert Parmenter, David Styles, Nick Styles David Perry () Public: None 1. Apologies Julian Bowden In the Chairman s absence the meeting was chaired by the Vice-Chairman, Cllr A Mayhew. 2. Declarations of Interest a. The clerk reminded Councillors that this Council meeting would consider setting the precept for 2016-17 and drew their attention to the following factors affecting declarations of interest for the meeting: Councillors affected by the precept (living in the Parish) do not need to seek dispensation from having a beneficial interest in the precept level. Local Gov t Finance Act 1992 requires Councillors with 2 or more months of Council Tax arrears to disclose this prior to discussion of the precept and such Councillors must not vote on the precept or related decisions. b. None 3. To consider confirming the minutes of the previous Parish Council Meetings a. Annual Parish Council Meeting Held on Monday 18 May 2015 The council reviewed the correction to paragraph 1a, the nomination of Cllr Alan Mayhew for the post of Vice Chair, and unanimously agreed that the minutes were now a correct record of the meeting held at Helmingham School at 21:00 on 18 May 2015 and the minutes were signed by the acting Chairman and. b. Parish Council Meeting Held on Monday 12 October 2015 The council reviewed the minutes and unanimously agreed that they were a true record of the meeting held at Old Hall at 19:30 on 18 October 2015 and the minutes were signed by the acting Chairman and. 4. Matters of Report a. Future of Parish Council i. The Vice-Chairman said that he had spoken briefly to the Chairman, Cllr Bowden, who reported that he had met with Lord Tollemache to discuss possible dissolution of the Parish Council and said that Lord Tollemache: 1) Was not averse to the Council being replaced by a Parish Meeting, but did not want his staff involved in calling the necessary meetings. 2) Also felt that it was desirable that the precept be retained, if only to make a contribution to the maintenance of the St Mary s Church graveyard. 3) Was happy to take over responsibility for the future maintenance of the bus-shelter, two benches and parish notice board, although he wasn t sure that these weren t already owned by the estate. ii. The clerk pointed out that the change only made sense if the accounts could be dropped, which in turn meant that the assets had to be disposed of to avoid insurance costs. A Parish Meeting could still raise a precept, but this would mean the Chairman of the Parish Meeting running accounts, which would still need auditing and would involve insurance to cover fidelity guarantee iii. It was agreed that the clerk should consult with the Chairman and possibly write to Lord Tollemache to clarify the purpose of the proposed changes. It would also be necessary to consult with MSDC to ensure that they would be likely to accede to a request for the Parish Council to be dissolved if requested by a Parish Meeting. Chairman Julian Bowden (Chair). David Perry ().. Page 1 of 5
b. Parish Council Website The clerk reported that he had attended the one day SALC website training course and the Parish Council website required by the Transparency Code was now under construction and should be ready shortly. Setting up the website was expected to involve a one-off expenditure of about 3 man-days in addition to the cost and time spent attending the one day training course. This expenditure should be recoverable as Transparency Code set-up costs. c. Road Reports i. Missing Sharp Bend Sign B1077 North Entrance to Helmingham Hall Reported to SCC Ref 00124070. Work should be carried out within next 4 weeks, subject to weather. ii. Signs Knocked Down at B1077/B1079 Junction Already known to SCC Ref 00124063. Work ordered but not yet actioned. iii. Central Road Markings Between B1077/B1079 Junction & Hall Entrance Reported to SCC Ref 00124090. Work should be carried out in current financial year. iv. Reflector Post on B1077 at Bottom of New Road Reported to SCC Ref 00124091. Action ordered within next 4 weeks. v. Deeply Rutted Verge on B1077 Between New Road and School Reported to SCC Ref 00124092. SCC Highways believe no action required at this time. The Council believe that there have been at least 5 accidents on this stretch of road due to excess mud on the road over the last few months and believe that this is the most serious of the road problems reported recently in Helmingham. to reopen the issue with SCC. Meeting adjourned at 19:45. 5. Public Forum No members of the public, police or County or District Councils present. The clerk read the written reports for October and November provided by Cllr M Hicks of SCC. Meeting recommenced at 19:50 6. Planning applications and notifications: a. To note recent determinations: None. b. To consider any applications or notifications received by the date of the meeting None. c. Any other planning matters: The clerk drew the Councils attention to: i. The Government threat to overrule councils which do not adopt local plans for new homes, however, neighbourhood and parish plans require some significant effort and financial investment while only remaining valid for a maximum of 5 years. The Council considered that, as the Helmingham Estate was the dominant landowner in the parish and currently showed no inclination for housing development, a parish/neighbourhood plan was not required at this time. ii. The NALC sponsored online petition to allow parish councils to challenge planning decisions. Details had been sent by email to those Councillors with online access and the clerk had already signed the petition. 7. Reports from Chairman No report Julian Bowden (Chair). David Perry ().. Page 2 of 5
8. Correspondence The council s attention was drawn to the following items of correspondence received since the last meeting. a. Pensions Regulator letter Oct 2015: Reminder of key auto enrolment dates: i. Nominate primary contact already done. ii. 1 Aug 2016 - Confirm no change. iii. 1 Nov 2016 - Write to employees using template letter. iv. 1 Mar 2017 - Send declaration of compliance. b. MSDC letter 18 Nov 2015: Details of waste collection Xmas/New Year & 2016. c. SALC email 22 Oct 2015: NALC online petition for Parish right of appeal against planning decisions. d. SALC email 24 Nov 2015: External audit options when the Government abolish the audit commission in 2017. e. Orwell Housing Assoc'n: advertising for 3 part ownership houses in Wilby. 9. Financial matters and payments due: a. Report: The current balance, allowing for unpresented cheques (including donations to St Mary s Church, Old School House Nursery and Stevie Sonlight s (in memory of Keith Gardiner) & outstanding invoices is 1,433.35 or 75% of this year s precept. This will drop to 1,308.35 or 69% of precept if the Council approves an additional 125 in donations, as they did last year. Expenditure to the end of the year is estimated as 396.40 for clerk s salary and expenses with a possible 14.84 income from reclaimed VAT. This will reduce the end of year balance to 926.79 or 49% of the current precept by the end of the financial year, although 400 of this is earmarked for a replacement notice board, which reduces the General Reserve to 35% of precept. This year the Council is predicted to have a deficit of 293.59 and next year, if there is no increase in precept the draft budget predicts a deficit of 264.70. b. Payments: The Council unanimously approved the following invoices received since the last Council meeting: i. SALC invoice for OneSuffolk web training 54.00 chq 100446 ii. Heelis & Lodge fee for internal audit 2014-15 42.00 chq 100447 iii. HMRC payment for tax on clerk s Q3 salary 51.80 chq 100448 iv. s salary excl tax Q3 2014-15 206.59 chq 100449 Total payments Nov to Dec 2015 126.42 c. Charitable Donations: The Council had already made donations totalling 250.00 to St Mary s Church for churchyard upkeep, the Old Schoolhouse Nursery and Stevie Sonlight s. In view of the predicted deficit this year the Council unanimously agreed to make only two further donations this year to the following charities help serve the local community: i. East Anglian Air Ambulance 25.00 chq 100450 ii. Debenham First Responders 25.00 chq 100451 Total additional charitable donations 2015 50.00 Julian Bowden (Chair). David Perry ().. Page 3 of 5
d. External Audit: i. The clerk explained that with effect from 2017 the government will have abolished the Audit Commission and small authorities will cease to automatically submit accounts for external audit after internal audit, but will need an external auditor in the event of questions from parish electors. After this date small Parish Councils will have two options: 1) Take no action and automatically participate in the audit appointment scheme for smaller authorities being set up by NALC in conjunction with the SLCC and ADA with an upfront charge for 5 years expected to be about 100. 2) Opt out of the audit appointment scheme by 31 January 2016 and set up an independent audit panel and procure external audit services. ii. The Council decided to defer a decision until January to see what progress has been made with the possible dissolution of the Parish Council to avoid the risk of paying for a service that will not be required if the Council is replaced by a Parish Meeting with no precept or accounts. e. Budget & Precept for 2016/17: A copy of the draft budget tables for 2016-17 had been circulated with the agenda, before the meeting. i. The clerk drew the Council s attention to the following points included in the draft budget: 1) As in previous years MSDC would pass on the grant provided by central government to offset the impact on parish income of localisation of council tax benefit. For 2016-17 the grant is expected to be reduced to 46.42 and will be phased out entirely by 2017-18. 2) Central government continue to threaten to introduce automatic referendums if parish councils introduce excessive Council Tax increases, but have still not defined what would be considered excessive. 3) The reserve at the start of 2016-17 is predicted to be 926.79 or 48.8% - of the current precept in excess of the recommended minimum of 50% if the Council decide to return the 400 earmarked for a replacement notice board to the general reserve, as recommended. However, if the precept remains unchanged the Council is expected to have a deficit of 318.28 at the end of 2016-17 and would continue to run a deficit over future years unless the precept was eventually increased. ii. After some discussion the Council agreed that an increase in precept would be needed if the Council or accounts were to be retained. However, if the Council is dissolved and the accounts closed, then an increase in precept in what should be the Council s final year should not be needed, despite the predicted deficit during 2016-17. iii. The Council therefore decided to postpone setting a precept until January 2016 after there has been a chance to clarify the possible future of the Parish Council with Lord Tollemache and MSDC and just before the precept request is due to be submitted to MSDC. f. The Council authorised the clerk to claim up to 4 days additional pay for the one-off we site set-up costs and instructed him to submit a Transparency Code set-up claim for these extra days pay, mileage to attend web training and the cost of SALC web training. Chairman, 10 Consultations The Council considered the following consultations: a. SCDC - Local Development Plan: Responses due 30 Nov 2015 The clerk reported that no response had been submitted. b. SCC Future of Fire & Rescue Services: Response due via web by 22 Feb 2016 The Council instructed the clerk to check whether local Fire Stations are at risk.. Julian Bowden (Chair). David Perry ().. Page 4 of 5
11. Urgent Matters & Matters for Information a. News on Broadband Cllr Ni Styles requested that the clerk try to obtain an update on progress with the roll-out of the improved broadband service. b. B1077 Sharp Bend Sign at St John s Row Cllr R Parmenter reported that the sharp bend sign on the B1077 by St John s Row had been knocked down and, although the sign was originally in Framsden, the damaged sign now lay over the parish boundary in Helmingham. 12. Next Meetings The Council agreed the following meetings for 2016: Monday 25 Jan 2016 19:30 Council Meeting at Old Hall, Helmingham. Monday 16 May 2016 19:30 Annual Parish Meeting at Helmingham schl 20:30 Annual Council Meeting at Helmingham schl was instructed to check half term dates, which are shown on the Helmingham School website as 30 May to 3 June 2016. Monday 17 Oct 2016 19:30 Council Meeting at Old Hall, Helmingham. Monday 5 Dec 2016 19:30 Council Meeting at Old Hall, Helmingham. The 25 th Jan date Has been selected in place of the usual March meeting to allow time to discuss the possible dissolution of the Parish Council further and set a precept increase by 31 Jan if necessary. Meeting closed at 20:55 hours. Julian Bowden (Chair). David Perry ().. Page 5 of 5