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Minutes Approved by Chair / Acting Chair : …………………………… Date: ……………………………
BRERETON AND RAVENHILL PARISH COUNCIL
DISTRICT OF CANNOCK CHASE COUNTY OF STAFFORDSHIRE
Minutes of the
FULL COUNCIL
Held at: the Parish Hall, Ravenhill Park, Brereton, Rugeley. WS15 1DU
Thursday 16th May 7.25 pm – 8.10pm
WELCOME
Members Present:
M Blackham (MB)(Chair),
S Merriman (SM),
K Theobald (KT),
C Davies (CD),
C. Harris (CH),
K Paul (KP),
J Gascoigne (JG)(V-Chair),
A Cowdell (AC),
D Blocksidge (DB),
APOLOGIES
Members Absent: apologies were received from R Hall (RH), R Hall-Davies (RHD), C Boulton (CB), which were accepted. No apologises were received from J Johnson (JJ) which were not accepted.
In Attendance: PR Whibley (Clerk)
43. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST IN ANY ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
None.
44. FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE CHAIR / CLERK
Chair:
37.2.1 Table Top Sale The Chair opened the meeting by thanking RH and KT for organising the event on behalf of the council.
Parish Assembly
The plan for tomorrow’s Parish Assembly was well in hand and although the members knew that any surplus from the event couldn’t be given as a grant, they could donate the surplus to the groups who were performing during the event. The members were informed that a donation is seen as a small amount of money given for general purposes and should range from £20 – £50 max.
44.1. Resolved: That the surplus should be split between the three groups equally (Brownies, Drama and Bowls) as a donation for their help but not exceeding the maximum.
44.2. Resolved: That the amount and details of the donations for each group be given to the RFO for filing.
Post Meeting: The clerk sought clarification and gave the following advice to both the Council and Finance chairs and vice-chairs.
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Minutes Approved by Chair / Acting Chair : …………………………… Date: ……………………………
All Grants or Donations have to be given using either a Bank Transfer or cheque….. The evidence and finance trail will be in our bank account statements as proof. The surplus money from tonight being deposited and the donations being paid out.
Clerk:
Invoices and the RFO.
The clerk reminded the meeting as to the process of paying invoices as stated in their Standing Orders. The council wanted to insert a further level of security into their financial management. The RFO will pay all invoices but all payments will be checked by KP to ensure against double billing or error.
44.3. Resolved: That the RFO be instructed to pay the remaining/outstanding invoices on his return to work.
1. Annual subscription to SPCA and NALC £717.00
2. RFO training course £ 36.00
45. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
None.
46. AGREEING THE MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING
To approve and sign off the minutes of Full Council meeting held on Thursday 18th April 2024.
The previous minutes were agreed and signed as a true record.
47. MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MEETING
12.3.1. The three councillors not present will be asked to sign the Code of Conduct at the next opportunity or at the next meeting. One member still outstanding.
11.1a.That the clerk inform any members who have not completed the envelope exercise to do so, as soon as possible. 3 members and 1 staff need to complete.
11.1b.That all members and staff should have a dedicated ‘work only’ email and council related messaging must be conducted using these. JG will ensure that LF and JS are given a designated council email address. Completed.
41.1. That each committee/council have the Strategic Plan on their next agenda. Completed.
41.2. That each committee/council produce a proposal for FC showing how to deliver their designated elements of the Plan. In Progress
48. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES / WORKING GROUPS
48.1. Finance Asset & Risk Committee:
May Minutes presented for approval (attached)
The council expressed their thanks for the report and minutes.
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Bank Reconciliation/ Outstanding Invoices: That this past month’s outstanding invoices / payments have been scrutinised, signed and are recommended for payment by the FAR committee.
48.1.1. Resolved: That the Full Council agreed the payment of invoices approved by the FAR committee.
10. ASSET REGISTER
10.1c. That LF will add insurance values to the final agreed list. This must be completed ASAP but before a deadline of 31.05.24.
10.1c. That LF will present the final Asset Register list at the next Full Council meeting, ready for gathering the three insurance policy quotes prior to the expiry date of this year’s policy.
The meeting felt that both parts of 10.1c were not achievable in the timeframe allowed. It was imperative that the council had an insurance plan in place before the end of our present policy. It was decided to ask a sub-committee to gather the information using a guess estimate. To meet on Tuesday 21st at 3.30 in the hall.
10.1ci. Resolved: That the meeting give approval for the C, MB, KT and KP to complete the documentation and send it off to our insurers before the end of the month.
10.1cii. Resolved: That due to time restraints that the meeting give approval for the sub-committee, after the clerk had taken consultation and advice from the County Parish Association, to organise an acceptable quote from our present insurers without the need of obtaining three quotations.
4. BUS SHELTERS
4.14b. That a request for £200 be submitted to the Full Council for initial repair work on the bus shelters.
4.14b. Resolved: Agreed.
19. CAFE
19.3a. That the FAR committee recommend to the Full Council that the Pyramid Profiles quote of £512 for a sliding kitchen window in the hall is their preferred option.
The preferred supplier reduced their quote to £499.99, which was below the need for the three quotation threshold. The meeting agreed and accepted the quote.
19.3a. Resolved: That the recommended quote (now reduced to less than £500) from Pyramid Windows by the FAR committee was the preferred option of the Council and passed the resolution for the RFO to initiate order.
19.3a.1. That the FAR committee recommend to the Full Council that £250 is taken from allocated reserves to support a trial of the café.
19.3a.1. Resolved: Agreed.
30. INVOICES
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Minutes Approved by Chair / Acting Chair : …………………………… Date: ……………………………
30.1. That the FC would decide when/how to action this payment of £2948.24 to Festive Lighting. (An agreement entered into previously on a three year rolling contract) The council bank account will only permit individual withdrawals of up to a maximum £1500.
30.1. Resolved: That the payment would be made using two withdrawals on the same day.
32. STRATEGIC PLAN 2024-2026
32.1. That the FAR committee support a proposal that committees are given an advised budget.
Finance Committee
£500
Staffing Committee
£2000
Community Engagement Committee
£3000
Planning Committee
£500
Parish Hall Management Committee
£3000
32.2. That the FAR committee propose that each committee do not have delegated spending budgets but cost any proposed spending plans and bring them to the FC for approval.
It was decided to omit these two proposals from any debate at this meeting. These items will be placed on the next FAR meeting for further discussion.
33. GRANTS
33.1. That the FAR Committee recommend to the FC that the £500 in Grant Reserves be made available within this year’s Grant Allocation.
33.1. Resolved: Agreed.
33.2. That SM will work with the clerk to produce the necessary documentation.
This was unnecessary as the Clerk has already completed a draft Grant Policy and Application Form and sent them to the PPP committee for approval.
48.2. Parish Hall Management Committee:
May Minutes presented for approval (attached)
The council expressed their thanks for the report and minutes.
48.3. Community Engagement (Neighbourhood) Committee:
April Report delivered for approval.
The council expressed their thanks for the report.
48.4. Planning Committee:
Report delivered: on feedback from Parishioners Meeting. (07.05.24)
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BRPC Planning Committee held a ‘Drop-in’ meeting at the parish hall, for parishioners on Tuesday 7th May from 6pm about the Talbot development site. We felt it was needed for the site has been a real concern for residents for so many years. We had a well-attended and successful open discussion where residents spoke to each other and to ourselves the issues and concerns with the new amended plans. Hopefully residents had enough information to make up their own opinions. And explained, if they wanted to submit a comment on how they can assess the CCDC site or email planning department within the deadline date.
The council expressed their thanks for the report.
48.5. Staffing Committee:
37.5.1. Ideas for role and Job Description of Handyman role. (to be actioned)
37.5.1. Resolved: That a working group of SM,DB and JG agreed to work on a draft job description and present it to a future Full Council meeting.
48.5.1. Strategic Development Grids 2 and 10 (to be actioned)
Staff Training Request Form:
The Staffing Committee recommended the draft request form.
48.5.2. Resolved: That the draft Staff Training Request form be presented to the next Full Council meeting for approval.
48.6. Policy, Practices & Procedures WG: (Reviews)
Risk Management & Assessment Policy MAY 2024
It was agreed that to review the whole policy completely would be an enormous undertaking, as the policy has 7 sections and 53 elements. It was decided to review the policy in stages.
48.6.1. Resolved: That at the next Full Council meeting a Working Group will be formed to begin the review process of the Risk Policy.
*Financial Regulations MAY 2024 *
A new revised document was distributed by NALC last week.
48.6.2. Resolved: That the clerk would produce aide memoir to help FAR and RFO to adapt the guidelines to this parish council needs.
*Standing Orders MAY 2024*
Due to the previous decision not to have Terms of Reference for either committees or working groups the clerk will revise the council’s Standing Orders accordingly.
48.6.3. Resolved: That the clerk would produce an aide memoir to help the council to adapt their Standing Orders to this parish council needs.
Community Grant Awarding Policy
Community Grant Awarding Application Form
Both these draft documents produced by the clerk were recommended to the meeting.
48.6.4. Resolved: That the drafts of the Community Grant documents be presented to the next Full Council meeting for approval.
49. STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT 1 (attached)
It was decided that this development would not be actioned till 2025.
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Minutes Approved by Chair / Acting Chair : …………………………… Date: ……………………………
50. DATE OF NEXT COUNCIL MEETING:
Thursday 20th June 2024 in the Parish Hall Meeting Room at 8.00pm
Meeting closed: 8.10pm
PRWhibley
Clerk