Annual Parish Meeting Report for Brent Knoll Parish Council

April 21^st 2008 8pm

Introduction and Membership

Of the Council in 2007/8

This report presents a summary of the activities conducted by Brent Knoll Parish Council in year 2007-2008.

The Council under this review started in May 2007. There are 11 seats on the Parish Council and Council membership during this year was as follows:

Cllr Mrs J E Baker             Wick Farm Wick Lane Lympsham BS24 OHG.

Cllr Mr M A Borland            Flat 3 the Manor house Manor Ride TA9 4DY.

Cllr R D Filmer             Wascelyn, 48, Brent Street Brent Knoll TA9 4DT.

Cllr B D Freestone                   Bramcote, 135, Brent Street, Brent Knoll TA9 4BB.

Cllr Mrs E M House             Laurel Farm, Burton Row, Brent Knoll TA9 4BY.

Cllr P T Osborn                        Underknoll, 142, Brent Street Brent Knoll TA9 4BG.

Cllr Miss J J M Owen            Anvil Cottage, 86, Brent Street, Brent Knoll TA9 4EQ.

Cllr C Evans                           Pines Cottage, 79, Brent Street, Brent Knoll TA9.

Cllr R Ibrahim                       East View Cottage, Middle Street Brent Knoll TA9.

Cllr R Mills- Roberts            2b The Manor House Manor Ride Brent Knoll TA9.

Cllr R Vohra                           Kalanour 67, Brent Street, Brent Knoll TA9

At the first meeting of the new council ( the Annual Meeting ) The council elected Cllr Mr Malcolm Borland as the chairman for the coming year .Over the course of this last year the Council met on 11 occasions with a further 4 meetings to discuss planning issues and other urgent items. The record of attendance of Councillors is listed separately on table 1 of this report. The attendance figures exclude the attendance at the final short meeting prior to last years Parish meeting. The council has adopted resolutions acknowledging its duties with regard to Race Relations and Equal Opportunities policies. The Council operates under the model code of conduct and members have completed Registration of interests forms which are available for inspection if required. The Council has also adopted a code of practice for handling complaints.

New Clerk for 2008/9

During the final stages of the year in question Michael Endacott retired as our Clerk. Michael has been our Clerk since 2000 and we thank him for the work he has done for our local Council. We would like to wish Michael well and a strong recovery from recent ill health. Owen Cullwick started as the new Clerk in March but due to Michaels ill health had very little handover but is looking forward to the challenge of working with Brent Knoll Council. Owen has a background working for a large corporate business for over 30 years as a business manager, and lives in Burnham on Sea with his Wife.

Wind Farm Appeal

The village participated in an appeal to oppose the siting of a wind farm on land adjacent to our Village last year. The efforts of all of those who worked for a successful out come were rewarded with a positive result and the Wind Farm proposals rejected.

The Village green and Village Maintenance

The Parish council maintains the Village green and the childrens play equipment thereon, and also arranges for the cutting of the various areas of grass verge in the village. Councillors take it in turns, a month at a time to be responsible for keeping the green tidy and for checking the condition of the play equipment. The equipment is checked annually by Rospa and any problems found are dealt with ( this is in line with the general health and safety Policy of the council).

The Council employs a contractor to trim the areas around the green and the various verges around the village.The contractor who was appointed last year has continued and is appointed for the current year to undertake the work. The gang mowing of the green itself is currently carried out by Taunton Deane Direct labour team, this will now continue in the light of the decision not to make Somerset County Council a unitary authority. The New Village notice board has been well received and is certainly more robust than its predecessor.

Public Toilets

This year the Parish Council took over the responsibility of this facility from Sedgemoor District Council. This Acquisition came about as a result of a closure programme that could have included our village facility. We are now responsible for the maintenance of the conveniences and have a suitable contract in place for regular servicing and maintenance. We will of course be keeping this under review to ensure that we get best value for cleaning services available to the Council.

Highways

The Council continues to keep a watching brief on over the condition of all footpaths in the Parish and deals with issues such as obstructions etc. This is done by direct action or by contacting Somerset Highways authority. The low priority afforded to to the minor roads in the Parish are of concern but at the present time of financial constraints on is unlikely to change in the immediate future.There has been further and continuing concerns over the speed levels through the village and the Council are aware of the continuing need for vigilance in this regard.

Footpaths

The Council continues to monitor the condition of footpaths in the Parish and deals with issues either by direct action or through Somerset County Council.

Finance

The precept for 2007/8 was £ 22500.00 which meant an approximate cost of the band D Property household was £41.56. The final outturn for the year in question on expenditure was a shade over £24,000 as compared with a budget of £24,600. What must be taken account of in this year was the exceptional additional cost of the Wind farm appeal which was taken from reserves in the current year. This cost added up to a total of £3736.00. However £1236.00 was taken from general expenditure and £2500.00 was used from reserves. In consideration of the additional cost implication it was deemed a satisfactory outcome to have maintained expenditure close to budget.

The largest single expenditure in the year remains the Clerks Salary which is based on 12 hours per week at an hourly rate set annually following negotiations between the National Association of Local Councils and the Society of local council Clerks. Other main expenditure in the year included play equipment £1554.00 and Public toilet costs at £2788.00. In addition a grant of £2000.00 was made to St Michaels churchyard. The council have decided to allocate some funding in 2008/9 for a possible playing field project and as a result of this the precept for 2008/9 has been set at £29000 the additional precept has also to cover reserve allocation as a result of reserves being reduced to fund Wind Farm appeal costs in 2007/8. This new precept sets a band D property at £58.85 for the forthcoming year. If the allocated extra funding is not used during this year it will naturally have the effect of reducing the precept in 2009/10. The Parish Council will continue to be stringent in their efforts to control unnecessary expenditure in the coming year.

Planning

The council has consulted Sedgemoor District Council on all planning applications, and applications for listed building consent, falling within the Parish. Special meetings are held if necessary in order to enable the council to respond before the Sedgemoor District Council deadline.

32 applications were received during this past year which compares 36 in the previous year Table 2 enclosed with this report lists the application summary.

Village Website

Matthew Warnes has continued to maintain the village Website on behalf of the Council, who thank him most warmly for all he has done.

TABLE NO 1:      Parish Council Meetings – record of attendance

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