MINUTES OF MEETING OF STERT PARISH COUNCIL
held in Stert House on 11th May 2020
Present:
- Clive Boyes (CB), Chairman
- Alick Edwards (AE), Dty. Chairman
- Lucy Barker (LB), Councillor/Treasurer
- William Howkins (WH), Councillor/Clerk
The meeting was held outdoors in the garden of Stert House with councillors observing social distancing.
- Apologies for absence
Chris Lawrence and Ann Harris and Wiltshire Councillor Philip Whitehead (PW) sent their apologies.
- Declaration of Interest
There were no declarations of interest.
- Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting held on 24th February 2020 were approved (proposed by LB and seconded by AE) and signed by the Chairman.
- Treasurer’s Report
LB reported that since the last meeting in February there have been no payments and that the balance at the end of the 2019/20 financial year was £2041.97. This was confirmed by WH in the passbook. LB had since received email confirmation from Wiltshire Council that our account has been credited with £1800, being our precept for the current year. WH submitted an invoice for £36, the annual cost of the PC’s website. This was approved for payment.
4.1 LB presented a spreadsheet summarising the PC accounts. The total receipts for 2019/20 were £1747.70 and the total expenditure was £1573.44.
4,2 LB presented the Certificate of Exemption which exempts the PC from an external audit, the internal audit being carried out by Neville Burrell. Both our income and expenditure are well below the qualifying threshold of £25,000. This certificate was signed by CB and herby minuted.
4.3 The Governance Statement was read out and all the ‘yes’ boxes were ticked. It was signed by CB and WH and hereby minuted.
4.4 The parish asset register was the same as for last year and signed by CB.
4.5 Finally, the Accounting Statement, derived from the PC accounts (from 4.1 above) was signed by CB and hereby minuted.
- A342 Speed limit review
WH reported that CATG meeting which was scheduled to be held on 28th April had been cancelled due to the corona virus and no new date had been set for the next meeting. Until then, there was no action taken on the implementation of the speed limit.
- Closure of the Church
CB brought to the PC’s notice on the state of the church’s finances which had been severely affected by the lock down due to the corona virus. With the closure of the church, no collections at services have been received and its main fund raising event from the sale of cakes and plants in connection with the car boot sale had to be cancelled. The PC has a vested interest in the state of the church’s finances as it provides a social meeting place for the village quite apart from its spiritual importance. The details of the church’s finances have been posted on the notice board in the porch of the church.
- Lockdown restrictions
The PC welcomed the community spirit exemplified by the Thursday evening clapping for the NHS. The PM’s roadmap to the easing of restrictions did not result in significant changes to the lockdown requirements for Stert residents. The annual Cancer Research Car Boot Sale and the Classic Car Event had to be cancelled and no new events have been planned for the village in the foreseeable future.
- AOB
8.1 WH had notified the PC of an application to WC by Nick Herrod Taylor of Crookwood Mill Farm to convert a tractor shed into an apartment dwelling. WH said he thought the plans looked sympathetically drawn up, in keeping with the original building and he could see no reason not to approve the application. The PC agreed with his assessment and asked him to notify WC accordingly.
8.2 WH had passed on to LB a proposal from an alternative insurer for the parish. Although marginally cheaper than our present insurer, LB recommended staying with Zurich in view of its wide experience with parish insurance nationwide.
- Next Meeting
The next PC meeting is scheduled to be held in Stert House on Monday 13th July 2020, at 6.30 pm.
Stert Parish 