Minutes Annual Parish meeting, 11th May 2022
Minutes of Irnham Annual Parish Meeting
Held in St Andrew’s Church, Irnham, on Wednesday 11th May 2022 at 7pm
Present:- Cllrs Amanda Ayre, Jon Crook, Jenny Crow, Lynda Hall, Trevor Vanson.
Also in attendance: 4 members of the public
Parish Council Clerk: Jenny Crow
1. Apologies for absence
a. None
2. Approval of minutes for 2021
a. In previous years the Minutes of the APM had been approved at the next PC Meeting. The Minutes were agreed on 04 August 2021. The Minutes were accepted as a correct record.
3. Matters arising
a. None.
4. Chairman’s report on the work of the parish council during the last year
a. The Chairman began by thanking all the residents who help the Parish Council look after the parish. Particular thanks were given to Ian & Mandy who look after the Book Swap in the old telephone box in Irnham and to Carol who looks after the box in Bulby. Martin was thanked for his work as our internal auditor. The support of David Hall is seen in many ways; refurbishing notice boards, maintaining one of the pumps and the production of more gateways which have been installed in Hawthorpe this year by Andrew and Trevor. The work maintaining the verges is much appreciated and Alan was thanked for the work he does near the ford. Cllr Crook was also thanked for his work connected with both the soldier silhouettes and the crowns for the Jubilee. Robin was thanked for his work on the parish website. Jamie was also thanked for his support with the flag pole installation and the production and installation of the beacon for the Jubilee.
b. The Plans for the Jubilee celebrations were discussed and one further project, not already mentioned, is the possibility of a new village sign for Irnham to be erected below the flag pole. It was agreed Cllrs should visit a possible sign manufacturer who could etch a design onto stainless steel. Cllrs are also planning for the old telephone boxes to be repainted externally in 2022/23.
5. Finance report for 2021/22
a. The main source of income, the precept, collected via the council tax remained at £1600. The only other income was the community cleaner grant of £463. A total income of approximately £2000.
b. The total expenditure on major projects amounted to approximately £2250. Major expenses: Flagpole and Union Jack flag £567 (some funding carried forward from previous year), Hawthorpe Gateways £515 (approx. £170 per gate against a commercially produced gate of £450), contribution to Irnham Churchyard Maintenance £300.00, Insurance £264, £185 Soldier Silhouettes and poppies, (funds carried forward from previous year) Litter Picking Equipment £189, Jubilee Mugs for the children £133 and Daffodil Bulbs £100. From the Defibrillator Fund the Child pads were replaced at a cost of £282. The Income and Expenditure details were presented as a pie chart.
c. Main Account has a balance of £1833 with £750 earmarked as reserves. The Defibrillator Fund has a balance of £4969. With pads needing replacing every 2 years and the possibility of equipment failures it is appropriate to continue to hold the defibrillator fund as reserved money.
d. The accounts are being audited by Martin Fuggle. As our income and expenditure are less than £25,000 an Exemption Certificate has been sent to the Auditors PKF Littlejohn.
e. Councillors formally approved the accounts as a true record of income and expenditure at their meeting on 20th April 2022. They were signed by the Chairman.
f. Documents are formally available for inspection for a set period of time and this will be Monday 13th June to Friday 22nd July 2022. By law they have to be posted on our web site. Residents were encouraged to look at them and reminded the Clerk is always happy to answer any questions at any time.
g. The total precept for 2022/23 was not increased in value but this will however show as an increase on individual bills as the tax base has reduced slightly. We are very fortunate that many people volunteer time and give materials without charge for the projects. This means we have been able to improve our Parish through the work undertaken whilst keeping costs to a minimum.
6. Public forum on the work of the parish council and future priorities
a. Cllr Vanson advised residents that this was their opportunity to raise any issues whilst not being restricted to a few minutes at the beginning of the normal Parish Council meetings.
A summary of the issues raised:
i) More details were given of the celebrations planned for the Jubilee weekend.
Residents were encouraged to decorate the villages. The Parish Council have
planned decorations to be installed on the lamp posts in all three villages.
ii) The Parish Council have been given a Ukrainian flag to fly. It was agreed this would
be flown after the Jubilee celebrations.
iii) Charlie offered to hand over the domain name for the parish website if the Parish
Council would like to take it over. The current platform is not easily upgraded to run
on smart phones. Cllrs thanked Charlie and Robin for their work on the website and
will look into options but requested the status quo be maintained at present. Charlie
was happy to do this.
7. Date of next meeting:- Wednesday 3rd August, 7pm. The venue to be confirmed. The Annual Parish Meeting in 2023 will be on Wednesday12th April.
Meeting ended at 7.45pm.