HORTON PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE  
ANNUAL MEETING OF HORTON PARISH COUNCIL
Which was held on Wednesday 25th May 2022
At Horton Social Club (Meeting Room) 
Following on from the Annual Village Meeting  
at 7.30pm 
AGENDA

PRESENT:  Cllrs Craig, Fannon, Harrison, Hatherell & Morgan, Ward Cllr Rush, Natalie Carr SGC Electoral Services, Katharine Ley-Wilson and Nigel Rawlins – Little Sodbury Parish Meeting representatives.  

APOLOGIES:  Ward Cllr Trull

ELECTION OF OFFICERS:  Cllr Fannon was proposed as Chair and accepted.
			    Cllr Craig was proposed as Vice Chair and accepted.
Both signed declarations of acceptance of office.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS – there were none.

MINUTES:  Minutes of the meeting held on 23rd March were confirmed and signed as correct.

MATTERS ARISING:
Councillors – Anything to report.  There were no matters arising.

AGENDA ITEM:
Public Participation – any member of the public wishing to speak will be given 3 minutes to speak on items on the agenda.  If they wish to raise any other matters, they should write to the clerk for inclusion in the next meeting or may do so at the Chair’s discretion

Possible inclusion of Little Sodbury into the Parish – Natalie Carr, SGC

SGC are already looking at Town & Parish arrangements to see if fit for purpose. It was suggested that Little Sodbury Parish Meeting becomes part of Horton Parish Council.  Both will retain their separate identities – Little Sodbury residents could stand for council.  The administrative process is straightforward as the Parish Meeting no longer has any officers.   There will be minimal increase in work for clerk.  No increase in cost for parish elections.  SGC will redraw the boundary to include LS.  IF the number of councillors was thought to be needed to increase places would be open to any residents of the new bigger parish and not specifically for a councillor for LS.  Precept is £500 a year.

SGC are currently consulting.  Horton will be kept in the process.  Any changes will legally take place 1st April 2023 if it agreed it should go ahead.  Decision will be made by October so budgeting can be made for the following precept.  

HPC doesn’t need to make any decisions on this at present and will be asked for a formal response at a later date.  Currently, HPC councillors think this is a good way forward for LS and Horton jointly and are supportive.

Next steps letter will be with HPC by July meeting.

Proposed Planning Development St Johns Way, Local Plan – Cllr Rush

This is not an application yet and won’t be for several years.  Persimmon would like this site to be part of the local plan under the call for sites.  There is no way individuals can have an input into the local plan until phase 3 which will be in roughly spring 2023.  WECA (Bath and NE Somerset, Bristol and S Glos) have a duty to help each other out with the housing supply and S Glos are required to provide 37k houses.  9k will be in Bristol.  Effectively 28k will have to be provided over the next 20 years in the rest of S Glos however S Glos are building 1600 houses a year which is above that which is required.  
Cllr Craig had a brochure from Persimmon homes which suggests that this is a done deal and is very worrying, when in fact this is years away and not a done deal.  Cllr Harrison concerned that HPC had not been consulted.  Clerk to contact Persimmon to request to be included in the consultation and information.  

Task Register – Removal Of Old Schemes.    Cllrs agreed that the reduction to the Totteroak speed limit should stay on the register. Due to the exceedingly high cost, it was agreed that the  footpath from the Social Clun to the Village hall be removed.  Clerk to email Cllr Rush.

Village Safety – Any safety issues to report?  There were none.
Bus shelter – Clerk advised that costs were in the region of £4k with SGC council to demolish the shelter and a separate company to remove asbestos, that alternative quotations had been extremely difficult to obtain due to non response from various companies contacted.  Cllr Fannon offered to contact a company he knew of for an alternative quote for the asbestos removal.  It was agreed that if a cheaper alternative had not been found my the next meeting then HPC would instruct SGC to remove.  This would use most of the CIL money held and councillors felt that this was not a satisfactory use of this money, although no other funds were available.  

PLANNING:
See agenda item re Local Plan and Persimmon Homes.
No applications have been received for consideration.
Details of all planning applications may be found at www.southglos.gov.uk/planning
	
FINANCE:
All financial documents for your end were sent to councillors prior to the meeting for checking.

Accounts for year ending March 2022 and audit paperwork – approved and signed as correct.
Council to approve the Internal Audit Report.  Approved and signed as correct.
Review and approval of Governance Statement 2021/22 – Approved and signed as correct.    

Review and approval of Accounting Statement 2021/22 – Approved and signed as correct. 

Certificate of Exemption – This certifies that Horton Parish Council has an annual gross income and annual gross expenditure of less than £25,000.00 and does not exceed this amount.  Approved and signed as correct – clerk to forward to PKF Littlejohn.
Dates for the Notice of Public Rights to be approved.  Approved and signed as correct.

Chq no 452 to Scribe Accounting in the sum of £154.80 was signed for annual subscription to accounting system and support.

Chq no 453 to J Baker was signed in the sum of £53.50 for expenses – printer ink, paper and Avast computer virus protection.

Chq no 454 to Paul King was signed in the sum of £75.00 for internal audit carried out in May          2022.

Insurance Renewal – An alternative quote to BHIB was sought with Zurich Insurance Company which specialises in small parish councils.  Cheque no 455 was signed in the sum of £373.03 to Zurich Insurance Co – a saving of £284.69.

Matters for inclusion in the next meeting: bank mandate update
Date of Next Meeting:  27 July 2022