TO: ALL MEMBERSOF WESTBERE PARISH COUNCIL: Councillors are hereby summoned to attend a “virtual” meeting of the Westbere Parish Council on Tuesday 26 May 2020at 6.00pm for the transaction of the business described in the following Agenda.
This meeting will be held using Microsoft Teams as a virtual hosting platform.
Members of the public may still “attend” the meeting either online or by telephone
but to do so will need to contact the Clerk for details of the
meeting link or phone number and the PIN code for access to enter.
If there are members of the public “present” at the meeting there will be an adjournment of the meeting. This is the only opportunity during the meeting for residents to speak.
A G E N D A
1. This is the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council – the first item of business is to Elect a Chairman for the year 2020-2021
2. TO ELECT a Vice-Chairman for the year 2020-2021
3. The Chairman’s opening remarks and apologies for absence
4. Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Significant Interests and Voluntary Announcements of Other Interests, and a reminder to think of any changes to the DPI registerheld at CCC, such as change of job or home.
5. To agree as a correct record the Minutes of the last meeting held 28 April 2020(and TO NOTE that these will be signed by the Chairman at a later meeting when meetings are able to resume in person.)
6. Annual subscriptions: TO RESOLVE to renew:
(a) Kent Association of Local Councils;
(b) Campaign for the Protection of Rural England;
(c) Action for Communities in Rural Kent.
(d) The Information Commissioners Office
and TO RESOLVE that payment be by variable direct debit for the annual CPRE subscription, and the annual subscription to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Financial Regulation 15.5 states: All appropriate members and employees of the council shall be included in a suitable form of security or fidelity guarantee insurance which shall cover the maximum risk exposure as determined [annually] by the council, or duly delegated committee.
TO NOTE that has been reviewed – the Insurance renewal from 01 June 2020 has the Fidelity Guarantee set at £250,000.
7. TO DISCUSS and RESOLVE Cllr responsibilities for 2020 – 2021. These are currently as follows:
- Cllr Tom Hopkins – Chairman, Street lights and Transport
- Cllr Stephen Laws – Vice Chairman, Planning, Fire Hydrants
- Cllr Sylvia Harlow – Planning, parish plan, KMBR reports
- Cllr Kathy Wilson – Neighbourhood Watch, Chair village hall committee
- Cllr Karen Williams – Monitoring of the village salt bins, and village events, and parish council representative on the Village Hall committee
- Cllr Maria Morcom – Parish Council representative for Westbere Village Preservation Society (WVPS) and attend WVPS meetings; and attend the Twinning Association meetings if able.
- Vacancy – new Councillor responsibilities to be confirmed when someone is co-opted.
TO NOTE that the Clerk will amend this information if necessary on the parish council website in order to satisfy the Transparency Regulations requirements
8. Model Standing Orders and Model Financial Regulations – TO NOTE that there have been no changes since the last review and adoption of the parish council’s Standing Orders and Financial Regulations and TO RESOLVE to continue with them as last adopted until changes are made to the NALC Models.
9. Chairman’s Report and Councillors’ Reports
10. Reports from County and City Councillors
11. The meeting will be adjourned for parishioners’ questions and comments. This is the only opportunity during the meeting for residents to speak. The period for public participation will last no longer than 10 minutes and a single member of the public is afforded no more than 3 minutes to make their representation, with the discretion of the Chairman.
12. TO REVIEW the Village Green annual party – originally scheduled for Sunday 5 July 2020
13. Planning
- Any new applications and planning decisions
- Any update re the Sturry, Broad Oak developments & the Sturry Relief Roadapplication KCC/CA/0091/2019
- The Two Fields site at Staines Hill owned by Bellway Homes – Any updates on (i) new PROWS application made to KCC by the parish council and (ii) The Sturry and Westbere Two Fields Action Group application to try and get Village Green status on the Two Fields site.
14. Financial matters, including bank statements and authorisation ofaccounts (Appendix 3)
- Appendix 3 Finance Schedule to be initialled by the Chairman of the meeting and returned to the Clerk by post.
- Any update on the future of Concurrent Function Funding
For Annual Return 2019-2020
TO RESOLVE that Westbere Parish Council meets the criteria for 2019-2020 to be an exempt authority, and wishes to be an exempt authority, not subject to a PKF Littlejohn LLP review for that year.
TO RECEIVE, CONSIDER AND APPROVE :
i) The Year End Bank reconciliation to 31 March 2020; year end balance is £24,178.84.
ii) Finance Risk Assessment
iii) The Parish Council’s Statement of Internal Control
iv) The Internal Auditor’s report and TO NOTE any recommendations thereon and TO NOTE the Internal Auditor having completed Section 4 of Annual Return
v) Breakdown of Staff Costs and All Other Payments in 2019-2020
vi) The Annual Governance & Accountability Return (AGAR Form Part 2) for the financial year ended 31 March for submission to PKF Littlejohn:
– Section 1 : the Annual Governance Statement – TO RESOLVE to accept Section 1 in advance of approving Section 2 – and section 1 to be signed by the Chairman and the Minute No. subsequently noted
– Section 2 : the Accounting Statements – TO RESOLVE to approve Section 2 – and when resolved Section 2 should be signed by the Chairman (and the subsequent Minute No entered later)
AND TO RECEIVE
- Statement of Variances proforma with explanations of variances required this year.
- Ear Marked Reserves schedule up to 31 March
- The Parish Council’s Register of Fixed Assets at 31 March
AND TO NOTE that the council will make arrangements for the exercise of public rights irrespective of claiming exemption from a review, publishing the Notice of Public Rights and Publication of the Annual Governance & Accountability Return on both its parish noticeboard(s) and website
15. Clerk Report and Correspondence (Appendix 4) – for any items not already covered elsewhere
16. TO RECEIVE any update re the Network Rail response to the Freedom of Information request regarding the lengthening works to platforms at Sandwich train station
17. Date and time for the next meeting/virtual meeting
18. Close of meeting
Annual Electors Meeting – the previous date of 27 April 2020 was cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions on gatherings – the parish council intends to reschedule this later in the year when meetings in person and gatherings may take place again.
TO NOTE that the Village Green Party scheduled for Sunday 5 July is also therefore under review.
CORONAVIRUS SOURCES OF ADVICE – The coronavirus situation is fast-moving and there is an increasing amount of misinformation online.
The government’s main source of advice on coronavirus includes information on the social distancing alongside a wide range of other information. This is at https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
To keep up-to-date with the government information as it comes out sign up to their Covid-19 response bulletinat https://www.gov.uk/email-signup?link=/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
Public Health England (PHE) FAQs at https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/23/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/
Contacts – If you are self-isolating, you could contact one of these organisations for help and support:
Age UK 0800 678 1602 Asthma UK 0300 222 5800
BHF 0300 330 3311 Diabetes UK 0345 123 2399
Mind 0300 123 3393 Scope 0808 800 3333
The Silver Line 0800 470 8090