3 January 2022
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I hope you have had a good Christmas. Here’s also hoping that Hughenden Parish Council enjoys a more open and transparent New Year. One can only hope.
Just a recap. HPC meets once a month as a Full Council and it has four Committees – staffing, services, finance and policy, and planning.
Services Committee met on 1 December. The entire meeting was closed to all but Committee members.
Finance and Policy Committee (F&P Committee) was due to meet on 7 December but was deferred to 13 December. Planning Committee was due to meet on 20 December and Staffing Committee on 21 December. None of them met as all were inquorate (not due to me).
Full Council met on 14 December but I walked out and made it inquorate (see blog of 15 December below)
So Council didn’t conduct much business during December – one very short, closed meeting.
Which is a pity because HPC has some important decisions to make in January – not least deciding how much tax it should receive from Hughenden taxpayers. This tax is known as the precept.
By the end of November, F&P Committee should have put its three-year forecasts of revenue and capital receipts and payments to Full Council. That hasn’t been done. F&P Committee is due to meet on 5 January but even then it is not asked to make its three- year forecasts. (At least the Committee is due to meet but I still don’t know if other councillors can attend and make the meeting quorate).
Even if asked for its forecast, F&P Committee is in no position to do so. The Committee has received no information on Council’s financial position (i.e. HPC’s spend against budget) and no information on what other Committees have proposed for next year.
All it has been asked to do is make a recommendation on the administrative part of HPC’s budget, albeit this, as you can see below, is nearly half of HPC’s current budget.
But how can F&P Committee set HPC’s administrative budget if it doesn’t know HPC’s current financial position nor what work HPC proposes to do next year? Beats me.
But here is my best, very simple, estimate of where we are. It is based on information which went to the last F &P Committee in October. Not satisfactory but it is all I have.
Here is HPC’s 2021/22 budget:-
Spend Income
Allotments £19,000 £8,000
Burial ground £23,000 £16,000
Open Spaces £44,000
Playgrounds £7,000
Streetlighting £4,000
Projects £23,000
Services on behalf of Bucks Council £23,000 £11,000
Overheads £120,000
Precept £219,000
Total £263,000 £254,000
HPC also proposed to spend £118,000 of the reserves, mainly on two playgrounds and back rent to Hughenden Community Support Trust.
Now my best guess is that, like previous years, HPC will underspend. I guess it will underspend on maintenance of the allotments and the burial grounds. It will massively underspend on work on open spaces where £22,000 is allocated to planting trees which will not get spent. I guess it will underspend on playground maintenance and massively underspend on projects as no projects have started. I also guess that HPC will not spend what it proposed from its reserves.
HPC has no 2021/22 workplan. The closest it has to a workplan is a 2020/21 action plan which was last updated for the October 2021 meeting. The plan has not been discussed or monitored by Council.
The objectives in the action plan are reproduced below with my comments in red.
It is obvious that many of the objectives for 2020/21 have still not been met, let alone those for this year, and delivery is poor.
The only area where I can see HPC overspending is on administration which already accounts for nearly half of the budget.
My best guess is that HPC will have a surplus of about £30,000 - £40,000 at the end of this year, mainly because it hasn’t delivered on work for the community and particularly major projects.
This pattern of underspending has become normal for HPC to the point where it had £354,000 of reserves at the beginning of 2021/2022.
So my best guesstimate is that HPC, will start 2022/3 with reserves of nearly £400,000.
Looking to the future, I can’t see how HPC can deliver on any of its major projects if past performance is anything to go by. The Council now has only 7 councillors, struggles to get a quorum much less do any substantive work, and the staff are struggling to cope. How can it deliver in future what it failed to deliver in the past?
What I propose is for the Council to set some very basic objectives to ensure the essential work of the Council is carried out cost effectively. It should also cut its overheads.
If it did this, it could set a very low, if not zero, precept.
Objectives for 2020/21 as updated for the October 2021 Council meeting
1. Devolved services
- Review requirements and update tender documents. No timescale. Not done.
- Check that last year’s contracts were adequate and whether any improvements should be made. No timescale. Not done.
- Undertake Tender process and award contracts for 2021 / 2022. No timescale. Not done.
- Ensure HPC is compliant with all Financial Regulations and run the process properly leading to the selection of the future contractor. No timescale. Not done and internal auditor assessed HPC as non-compliant with the Public Procurement Regulations.
2. Open Spaces
- Draft a proposed HPC Policy on the management of our Open Spaces. Environmental Policy to be reviewed and developed as part of this. By 1/11/20 - 1/3/21. Not done.
- Old allotment planting scheme and plan. Request to full council to release funding to enable Autumn works to start. By 1/1/21 - 01/03/2021. Not done.
3. Playgrounds
- Select and commission Templewood Playground Installation. Replacement of play area. Budget £40 000. By Spring 2021. Not done. - Select and commission replacement piece of equipment for Hughenden Valley playground. Offer of financial settlement made to HVVH. Budget £7 000. By Spring 2021. A final offer of a settlement of £8400 agreed by Council at its July 2021 meeting. I do not know whether that offer has been accepted, and if so, whether payment has been made. I do not know whether HPC has selected and replaced the equipment in the playground or whether that is for Hughenden Valley Village Hall Committee to do.
- Review requirements and obtain quotations for Great Kingshill Playground. Budget to be decided. By Spring 2021. Not done.
4. Allotments
- Review Allotment Security. Closure of open access in Primrose Hill Allotments complete. Not done. (Fencing would keep neither people nor animals out).
- Common Signage across all allotments. No timescale. Not done
- Future policy on allotments. By 2022/2023. Not done.
5. Hedges
- Review, understand and agree the hedge cutting policy and ensure aligned to devolved services contractural arrangements. By 01/11/2020. Not done.
- Identify clear exceptions to this policy. No timescale. Not done.
6. Trees
- Review and Agree Tree Policy. Complete. 31/03/2021. I do not know when this work was completed. If completed by the timescale, the item should not be in the workplan for this year. If it was not completed until this financial year, then the work was completed late.
- Review and Agree Tree Works Schedule. No budget. By 01/11/2022. Not done.
7. Traffic and Road Safety.
- Speeding: Reduce speeding, Changes to Community Speedwatch scheme. Budget £1,000 No timescale. No clear objective.
- Parking & Pedestrians: Improve. Verge parking policy? No clear objective.
8. Burial ground
- Review Burial Regulations and Fees Policy. Review of bench policy. Review of planting on graves. By 01/11/2020. Not done.
- Investigate how to include grave mapping on our GIS system. By 01/02/2021 Not done. - Update map within Memorial Building. By 01/02/2021 Not done.
- Review and signpost parking facilities 01/01/2021 Not done.
- Establish routine for inspection schedule 01/02/2021 Not done.
9. Village Community No objectives.
10. Council
- Undertake a Parish Survey By 01/05/2021 Launch new Website. By 1/12/2020. Survey completed although not available to Council or public. Website launched although if by timescale this item should be removed from this year’s workplan or the launch was late.
- Local Government Award Scheme: Ensure Council working to highest standards. Seek NALC Foundation level status. By 01/05/2021 Cannot be done because HPC has insufficient elected councillors to qualify.
- Local Elections: Administer 2021 Local Parish elections. Promote participation in the democratic process · Encourage residents to stand as Parish Councillors · Provide Councillor training. Budget £4,800 By 01/05/2021. Elections administrated but other objectives not clear.
- Otis scoping of requirements, prioritization. Budgeting. Timescale 01/05/2020. Objectives not clear.
- Lamp Posts Survey. By Autumn 2021. Schedule of Works work to be approved by Council. Lighting Policy work to be approved by Council. By Autumn 2021. Survey completed 01/09/2021. Other work not done.