17 December 2022
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The last Council meeting of the year was held on 13 December and this blog describes some of its decisions.
But first, this is probably the last blog I will do this year so Happy Christmas and a healthy and warm New Year to you all.
I have been blogging about Hughenden Parish Council since I became a councillor in May 2021. Nearly 2000 people have read at least one of my blogs and I have had a lot of thanks, and no criticism, from residents.
On the other hand, I have had a lot of criticism and complaints from Hughenden Parish Council, including suggestions I should resign.
I will be blogging about some of these complaints in the New Year but, in the meantime, I would simply ask how residents would find out what the Council is doing without my blog.
Incidentally, I will not be resigning but I hope that residents in Widmer End will apply to be councillors and relieve me of some of the pressure. There are two vacancies on the Council for Widmer End.
Perhaps I should explain that agendas for Full Council meetings are sent to councillors, with the bundle of papers, on a Thursday for a following Tuesday meeting. Often this is the first occasion councillors have notice of the items or have copies of the papers. The agenda is required to be posted for the public at the same time.
I generally glance through the agenda on the Thursday to see if I need to do anything quickly such as alert residents with an interest. I then read the papers thoroughly during the weekend, making notes of comments I wish to raise at the meeting.
I mention this because it seems an unusual way of working at HPC and appears not to welcomed by some of the councillors.
In my last blog, I reproduced an e-mail I sent to Cllr Kearey who chaired the Council meeting on 13 December. There were 26 substantive items on the agenda and I suggested that only 4 of these were important and time critical and needed to be carefully considered by Council. This meant that other items might need to be deferred.
Cllr Kearey thanked me for the e-mail and I am grateful to him for his good chairmanship in getting the Council through so many of the items on 13 December.
There were no members of the public there – which is not surprising as none of the papers were available to the public and the weather was freezing.
So, let’s go through the agenda, with what I think were the four most important items first. This is of course my take; the draft minutes are not out yet.
1. 2023/24 Budget and precept
I suggested Council needed to review the draft budget in the light of the resignation of the Clerk, including proposals for bringing work, currently out-sourced, back in-house. The Chair suggested that this review could be done and Council could approve the budget at its Council meeting in January.
One of the councillors said Council should just get on and make a decision. Other councillors agreed and the draft budget, as is, was approved (with me voting against). The budget is not available on HPC’s website but I am happy to provide a copy.
I asked if Council could have an estimate of the amount of reserves HPC would have going into next year. An estimate was not available.
I proposed that, in view of HPC’s history of failing to spend its budget and deliver major projects, the precept could be reduced this year. This would only reduce residents’ taxes by a small amount but it would be something to help those who are struggling.
Council decided to maintain the precept, pointing out that as inflation was running at over 10%, this was in effect a decrease. I voted against.
2. Approval of the List of Payments
Council had a list of about 35 payments to authorise. Council is also sent the invoices for this list confidentially so councillors can check the invoice against the list of payments. It is a tedious exercise but I do it – someone has to.
I raised two concerns. First there was an invoice from the electricity company saying HPC was £1277 in arrears. This payment was not in the list for authorization. No-one was able to throw any light on the issue.
Second, a payment of over £1000 was included on the list, presumably for minor repairs to the streetlights. I was unaware that Council had authorised this expenditure and it exceeded the Clerk’s delegated authority. So, I asked for this payment to be checked. One of the councillors asked why it mattered – the money had already been spent. Council agreed that it should be looked at.
Council now finds that, once again, it has no-one to input payments to the bank as only the ex-Clerk was mandated to do this. Council still has only three councillors authorised to release payments, myself, Cllr Kearey and Cllr Main.
All I can say is that I have alerted the Council to its vulnerability in this area repeatedly over the past year. I have even blogged about it (see my extraordinarily boring blog of 17 June 2022 below)
It is now for Cllr Main, the Chair of the Finance Committee, and the new Responsible Financial Officer, Cllr Jones, to sort out.
3. Approval of Invitation to Tender for the services to maintain HPC land and property
This item was taken in confidential session so all I can say is that I thought the document was excellent. My only suggestion was to make the introduction clearer but I don’t know if my suggestions were accepted.
4. Staffing
This item was also discussed in confidential session. All I am going to say is that HPC is required by law to have a Responsible Financial Officer. Council agreed to appoint Cllr Jones to this role.
Other items
Streetlights in Widmer End
The agenda asked Council to note the report of the Streetlights Working Group. However, the report was not included in the papers for the meeting. Nor was the resolution recommended by the Working Group included on the agenda. The Working Group recommended that the Council formally adopt the footway streetlights in the parish.
I asked why the report and the resolution were missing; the resolution had been on the draft agenda circulated by the ex-Clerk, so the item must have been removed.
No-one knew why the resolution and report were missing but the Chair agreed to write to Widmer End Residents’ Association and the Windmill Estate Maintenance Company to reassure them that the item would be on the January Council meeting.
Planning Application for Foxfield in Bryants Bottom
Council decided this should be considered by ward councillors under the agreed procedures put in place in lieu of a Planning Committee. No-one was clear who had put this item on the agenda nor why.
Parish Warden
Council approved the job description for a Parish Warden but deferred a decision on when to recruit.
Revised Financial Regulations
I thanked Cllr Main for formatting the revision so that councillors could see the differences between the model Regulations recommended by the National Association of Local Councils and the proposed HPC revised Regulations.
It was then clear that the HPC proposed Regulations included financial delegations substantially larger than in the model Regulations.
For example, the model Regulations recommends that Council approve expenditure for all items over £2001; the proposed HPC Regulations increase that to £25,000, with substantially increased delegations for Council Committees, and increased delegations for the Clerk, in consultation with the Chair and Committee Chairs.
I suggested that these increased delegations were too high a risk, particularly as it might be some time before HPC had an experienced, permanent Clerk, and the Committee structure was not clear.
Council approved the revised Regulations, with me voting against.
Great Kingshill Cricket Club
It wasn’t clear who had put this item on the agenda. All Council received in its papers was a copy of the lease to approve. I had a number of comments including a suggestion that Council undertake due diligence on the lease.
Council agreed to defer this item to the January meeting, asking me to put my comments in writing to Cllr Main who is taking this item forward. I have done this and would be happy to let anyone interested have a copy of my comments.
Benches on the amenity field on Primrose Hill
I put down a motion for Council to approve buying and installing two benches in this amenity field and Council approved it. Residents have been asking for these benches for years – so thank you Widmer End Residents’ Association for your support.
All we have to do now is get them installed - the temporary Parish Officer is on the case.
If anyone would like to know future plans for the field, let me know.
Grant requests
A grant was approved for £900 to Hughenden Valley Residents Association towards the costs of their newsletter.
A request for a grant for £420 for the annual maintenance of Bryants Bottom Village Green was deferred for clarification as it appeared the grant would be more than the actual cost of the maintenance.
And that’s all until next year.