BARTON-ON-THE-HEATH PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF AN ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
HELD IN THE VILLAGE HALL on 12th October 2012 at 7pm
Present:
Councillors: Brigadier J F Rickett (Chairman), Lt Col J B Henderson (Vice- Chairman), Mrs G Cathie, Mrs D Pelczynski
Clerk: Mrs H Seymour-Smith
Hon. Treasurer: Capt J Castle RN
Mr J Shipton (Internal Auditor)
Public: Mr C Meynell, Mr D Poulsom, Mr E Hicks, Ms K Ker, Ms M Pettifer, Mr J Matthias,
Mr H Piney
District Councillor S Gray
1. Apologies: Mrs L Hayman-Joyce, County Councillor C Saint
2. The Minutes of the Ordinary General Meeting on the 1st June 2012 were approved, and the Chairman signed them.
3. Financial matters: The Hon Treasurer referred to the briefing notes he had circulated to Council members before the meeting.
i.
Interim statement. The village finances were satisfactory. Both precept payments had been received. As approved at the meeting held on 16 March 2012 he had opened a savings account with HSBC, linked to the current account and he had transferred a total of £619.15 of Parish Council and £550.85 of South Warwickshire Neighbourhood Watch funds to the account. The balance of funds in hand in the savings account was £1170.00. The current account had a credit balance of £958.45 of which £508.45 was available to the council and £450 was held in reserve for a conrested election.
ii. Insurance. At the meeting held on 28October 2011 the Council had approved a review of the insurance arrangements. This had been completed so that Zurich, having removed all the unnecessary cover had offered to reduce the premium from about £350 to £170. This saving of about £180 would apply to this year’s premium, due in November and to the precept calculation for 2013/14. Zurich were offering a 5 year discount which the Treasurer had examined and he recommended that it be accepted. The Council briefly discussed the terms of the discount and approved that it should be accepted.
iii. Precept calculation for 2013/14. The estimated balance of funds in hand on 1 April 2013, available to the Council was £402. The treasurer then referred to a pie chart he had drawn up of “running expenses” which amounted to £680. If the Council were then to approve a further transfer to the savings (village maintenance) account of 3% of the value of the village assets(3% of £16,740), which amounts to £503 this would result in a precept of £979.17 which would be £4 less than the precept for this year. The council considered the option of reducing the precept by cutting back on the amount allocated for the savings account but, on balance, felt it was important to build up the savings account for “a rainy day”.
The Council approved the precept for 2013/14 of £979 with a condition that there was no unexpected expenditure before the date when the precept had to be sent to Stratford District Council forecast.
4. Planning matters:
Planning: Henry Piney and Helen Seymour-Smith presented plans for an extension to Rectory Cottage, seeking the Parish Council’s comments / approval before making an official Planning Application to Stratford District Council. Aside from the suggestion that the hedge be removed from in front of the two storey part of the extension, all were supportive of the proposals.
5. Any other business:
a. ThePoliceandCrimeCommissionerElection(ifitiscontested)willtake
place in the Village Hall on the 15th November.
b. The Vice Chairman reported that Jeff Morris had resurfaced Camden
Close, and that he had been thanked.
c. It was reported that Edward Hicks’ planning application would be
discussed at a committee meeting on the 24th November, and that the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Councillor Gray would all voice their support.
d. Councillor Gray reported that the District Council were mostly pre- occupied at the moment with re-drafting the core planning strategy.
6. Date of next meeting:
Ordinary General Meeting Friday 22nd February 2013, 7pm
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