Present: Councillor K Muller (Chairman) Mr J Ansell Mr M Pack Mrs L Parkins Minutes of the Meeting of Great Marlow Parish Council held at Bovingdon Green Village Hall on Thursday 22 October 2015 at 7 p.m. Clerk Mr P Druce C. 54/15 APOLOGIES Apologies for absence were received from Councillor G Fletcher. C. 55/15 MINUTES The Minutes of the Parish Council meeting of 24 September 2015 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman. C. 56/15 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. C. 57/15 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION QUESTIONS AND INFORMATION District Councillor for the Greater Marlow ward covering the Parish: Councillor Dominic Barnes was welcomed to the meeting. C. 58/15 MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES The Clerk was encouraged to chase the Certificate of usage regards electricity from the current suppliers as soon as reasonably possible in that a re-broke for next year could be carried prior to renewal. C. 59/15 ACCOUNTS The following accounts were presented for payment: Chiltern Society 2050 25.00 Mazars 2051 150.00 SSE (Supply Sept) 2052 247.19 Peter Druce (wages October 2015) 2053 152.82 Peter Druce (standing expenses 3rd quarter) 2054 125.00 John Ansell 7mths stipend 15-16 2055 29.17 Peter Druce (overtime 6.5hrs x 9.55) 2056 62.07 Peter Druce (expenditure & expenses) 2057 56.63 SSE Contracting (Maintenance Sept) 2058 124.19 TOTAL 972.07 The Meeting also noted the spend to date as follows: 1
2015/16 EXPENDITURE SEVEN MONTHS TO OCTOBER 2015 Budget Budget Spend variance final to date to date Clerk salary 1,950 1,138 1,069 69 office allowance 500 292 375-83 mileage/expenses 500 292 62 230 2,950 1,721 1,506 216 Councillor allowances Chairman 100 100 100 0 Councillors 350 350 229 121 450 450 329 121 Non-discretionary spend Street lighting 4,000 2,333 2,533-200 Insurance 400 400 392 8 Audit 200 0 250-250 Hire of halls 200 117 100 17 4,800 2,850 3,275-425 Discretionary spend Advertising, stationery, postage and telephone 400 233 42 191 Subscriptions 300 175 229-54 Sundry 350 204 41 163 Election expenses 500 500 0 500 Dog bin 150 88 290-202 Website 300 175 24 151 Training 500 292 0 292 2,500 1,667 626 1,041 VAT recovered 1,533 1,533 interest 3 3 Support Grant 0 TOTAL 10,700 6,688 4,200 2,489 Councillor Pack reported on the overspend lines, none of which were worrying, street lighting was proving a fraction overspent which would encourage a re-budget next year alongside the aforementioned re-broke. Dog bin over-spending related to a delay in invoicing from previous years. The overall underspend to date of 2.5K was commended. The recent cost of replacement street lights was noted, Clerk to establish number of lights the Parish were responsible for + age, to estimate possible replacement costs for the future. Maybe by means of reserve. 2
C. 60/15 DRAFT CHANGES TO PARISH COUNCIL STANDING ORDERS AND CODE OF CONDUCT. The Meeting was asked to consider draft changes to Parish Council Standing Orders and Code of Conduct as worked on during the summer by the Clerk to the Council. Members were circulated with these drafts prior to the Meeting and hard copies of these are to be circulated to members at the Meeting. It was suggested that Members take the month before the next meeting to consider the new drafts for adoption, further amendment, deletion or addition at the 26 November 2015 meeting The circulated draft Standing Orders featured deletions in blue track changes and additions in red. Aware that the Standing Orders had not been looked at for some years, the Clerk had rationalised them and updated them for the Council's consideration. The 'Examples of Standing Orders and Procedural Requirements for Parish Councils' as featured in the Governance Toolkit for Parish & Town Councils published jointly by ACSeS (Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors), SLCC (Society of Local Council Clerks), the Standards Board for England, NALC (National Association of Local Councils) and the LGA (Local Government Association) has been used as a reference point. The Draft new Code of Conduct was effectively a proposed new document; track changes had not been utilised. It was a complete re-write utilising the Model Code of Conduct for Parish & Town Councils adopted from the Local Authorities (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2007 No.1159. drawn up after the implementation of the Localism act 2011. A major element of the recommendation of the adoption of this new code being that it featured the Disclosable and Non-Disclosable Pecuniary Interests to which Members were now subject and were currently completing on their Register of Interests. It also took account of the new Standards Regime adopted in the same Localism Act to which the Members were subject, replacing that of the old Standards Board for England featured in the previous / current Code adopted. Any further suggested changes or amendments to those made, in respect of both documents, to be copied into the Chairman and Clerk ahead of the next meeting, when a decision to be made on the final amended Code of Conduct and Standing Orders to be adopted. C. 61/15 NEW ITEMS FOR ACTION OR DECISION a) Parish Communications Cllr Fletcher being absent there was no update on website usage. Cllr Mrs Parkins reported on the on-going installation of the two Parish Council notice-boards planned for Claymoor & Munday Dean. The BCC (Buckinghamshire County Council) technician helping Mrs Parkins with the initiative, indicated that though the County had access to the grass area at Claymoor where the notice-board was planned, it belonged to the Residents Association, he advised that the Parish did need to get that Resident Association s agreement before installation. It was believed that Cllr Dunn had requested such from the said Association. No such problem existed with the Munday Dean site which was in BCC ownership; though it was decided it would be appropriate to write to the nearby properties to advise them of the installation. Councillors to advise the Clerk of these addresses, so that appropriate letters could be issued. b) Speed Monitoring The Friday 16 October session had been successful some 12 motorists caught speeding would have since received their advice letters from Thames Valley Police. A request had been made to BCC Local Area Forum (LAF) officer Madeleine Howe for funding for a Parish MVAS (Moveable Vehicle Activated Sign) from the residue sums held by the LAF. It had been indicated that if not possible this year, submission for the next financial was to be considered effected and noted by Madeleine. The next planned session in Frieth Road was on Thursday 5 November 2015. 3
c) Joint Consultative Committee (Air Park) It was known that Cllr Dunn had attended the JCC meeting but unfortunately was not at this meeting to update members. District Councillor Barnes did advise the Meeting on the present situation regards the Air Park in that the renewal of the lease agreement between the freeholders (the District Council) and AAA the leaseholders was still in negotiation. d) High Heavens Liaison Committee Councillor Pack confirmed that he intended to attend the next High Heavens Liaison Committee meeting is due to held on the 10 th November, 2-4:30pm at Clay Lane, High Heavens Waste Complex meeting room. C. 62/15 CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS FOR INFORMATION i) Correspondence received None further to e-mails received and forwarded where appropriate to Members. ii) Reports from Councillors from Outside Bodies Cllr Mrs Parkins updated the Meeting on the Your Roads seminar she had attended on behalf of the Parish on 15 October 2015 organised by BCC / Transport for Bucks. Though in no way binding, attendees from the Parishes were asked for their suggestions on the allocation of the 20m budget BCC expected to provide for Roads during the next financial year. Surprisingly after the data and presentations given, attendees felt that some of the budget for road maintenance should be shifted for drainage problems and lighting. Members did feel that devolution would increasingly be seen by BCC as the solution to the shortfalls in funding for Roads, as a result the 4 members present agreed to endeavour to attend the forthcoming Tranche 2 Devolution event (7pm - Lane End Village Hall - Tuesday 3 November 2015), clerk to circulate details and book their attendance with the organisers. As a result, an item on devolution therefore was to feature on the next Parish Council Meeting agenda. On a similar vein Chairman Councillor Muller indicated he would attend the town and parish councils event at Amersham on Weds 25 November 2015. Councillor Pack agreed to attend the Rights of Way Meeting(s) held by the Buckinghamshire Local Access Forum if he was suitably qualified, the Clerk to investigate the contribution and knowledge required. Such could well be of great value to the Council given the number of footpaths in the Parish. An up to date map of Rights of way for the Parish to be obtained from BCC by the Clerk. The Clerk reported the feedback received from Thames Valley Police in that no NAG s (Neighbourhood Action Groups) were in existence for any of the areas covered by the Parish. It was felt that the Marlow Town NAG which could be of some use to appoint to; had also ceased to meet. Councillor Pack agreed to try to get a crime update from Thames Valley for the Parish to feature on a future agenda. iii) Comments by Councillors Councillor Muller emphasised that the question of the gate in Seymour Plain and the acceptability of the replacement bollards to the BCC had still not been resolved. He agreed to chase BCC and make a suitable response to the Residents Association responsible for the installation of the gate and bollards. Councillor Pack suggested that we maintain an updated combined schedule of the meetings of outside bodies that individual GMPC councillors will be attending on a monthly and quarterly basis. He circulated an example of a suitably devised spreadsheet and requested that all GMPC councillors email him on a regular basis, updating the pertinent details of their respective meeting commitments. 4
C. 63/15 QUESTION TIME FOR THE PUBLIC ON MEETING CONTENT District Councillor Barnes thanked the Parish Council for welcoming him to the meeting. He outlined the state of play at the District Council since the elections. The new team and leadership of the Cabinet was explained and his role as Deputy Leader. The availability of ward budgets for community initiatives was mentioned along with the priorities of the Executive at Wycombe and the various major projects coming to fruition. Councillor Barnes highlighted the priorities of the new administration and updated the Meeting on the progress of selected key major projects. On the subject of individual ward budgets to contribute support for community initiatives, he confirmed that they would be increased to 750 per annum from April 2016 and should rise incrementally during the next three years to 2000 per annum in April 2019. He promised that either he or his fellow district councillor, Mark Harris would try to attend the Parish's meetings on a regular basis, going forward. C. 64/15 NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the Parish Council was noted as Thursday 26 November 2015. C. 65/15 RESOLUTION The Meeting resolved under Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)) to exclude the Press and Public from the Meeting in respect of the following item: C. 66/15 STAFF SALARIES The meeting agreed the proposals in respect of staff salaries as presented in the accompanying report. The Clerk was requested to provide a copy of his contract of employment with GMPC. Furthermore, he agreed to consult with other local parish council clerks on best practice for paying tax in such part time employment and report back to Council at the November meeting. At the same time, he would confirm his intentions, regarding his active participation in suitably structured training modules, designed for ongoing development of Clerks to Parish Councils. Chairman 5