Annual Parish Meeting Report for Brent Knoll Parish Council

April 20^th 2009

Introduction and Membership

Of the Council in 2008/9

This report presents a summary of the activities conducted by Brent Knoll Parish Council in year 2008-2009.

The Council under this review started in May 2008 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 TA9.4DX

Cllr R Ibrahim                       East View Cottage, Middle Street Brent Knoll TA9.4BT

Cllr R Mills- Roberts            2b The Manor House Manor Ride Brent Knoll TA9.4DY

Cllr R Vohra                         . Resigned Dec 2008

Cllrs C Trivett –Bill                Brent Street Brent Knoll TA9 4DX Co- Opted Feb 2009

At the first meeting of the new council ( the Annual Meeting ) The council elected Cllr Mr P Osborn  as the chairman for the coming year. The Council also elected Cllr Richard Ibrahim as the vice Chairman Over the course of this last year the Council met on 11 occasions with a further 9 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. The Council are delighted to report that our chairman Councillor Peter Osborn has been appointed to the standards committee in Sedgemoor. This structure over sees and investigates complaints made regarding standards of conduct in our local Councils.

The Village green and Village Maintenance

The Parish council maintains the Village green and the children’s 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. New Play equipment was installed during the spring of 2009. This has been a well used addition to our village amenity. At the time of writing this report a long standing problem regarding the rear fence of the green has been attended to with a new fence and the associated spoil heap removed.

Public Toilets

This has been the second year of the Parish Council management of this local facility. There were some minor issues during the year involving some minor vandalism. The plan for 2009/10 is to do some minor refurbishment to the premises and this will be undertaken by a small working party of volunteers and the Parish Council.

Highways

The Council continues to keep a watching brief on 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  the minor roads in the Parish are of concern but at the present time of financial constraints 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. Some re engagement of the local speedwatch group has started during the latter part of this Council year. In addition and as part of local initiatives grant project the village has intermittent speed visor monitoring along stretches of our village roads these will be used in conjunction with other villages.

Knoll Footpath Project

The Parish Council is delighted to have successfully completed a project to develop a proper footpath to the Knoll. This has been undertaken with money from the local initiatives grant allocated from the Brent Division. Our project was given the go ahead after consideration of a number of village proposals and we were delighted to have the Knoll project chosen. We also have received a grant from Somerset County Council. The end result of this activity is no cost to our village budget for this financial year. The lower part of the path close to the church is also being completed as we write this report. The Parish Council has received grant commitments from Nuttall Trust in Brent Knoll and the National Trust. We appreciate the generosity of both of these organisations in assisting our efforts to complete the project. On a fine Saturday morning on the 28^th March over 40 people gathered for the official opening of the new footpath. Children from our local primary school cut the ribbon and Chairman Cllr Osborn thanked all those involved in this worthwhile project.

Finance

The precept for 2008/9 was £ 29000.00 which meant an approximate cost of the band D Property household was £41.56.

The Forecast Budget 2008/9                         £31,534.60

The Final Outturn     2008/9             £24, 235.98

Break down

General Admin                         £ 9553.69

Village Expenditure                               £ 5952.29

Grants                                                  £ 2730.00

Reserve allocation                                  £ 6000.00

The Parish Council achieved a 23% reduction in spending as against the budget set at the start of the financial year. A major factor in creating this reduction was the special reserve allocation allowed for in the precept for 2008/9. The Parish Council had intended to find suitable land for additional sports facility and cricket resource. This proved difficult and the allocated funds therefore were not appropriated as planned. The main costs associated with our expenditure are Clerks Salary based on

Scale rates and 12 hours per week and office expenditure. The Parish Council allocated grants to St Michael’s Church for provision of the grass cutting in the church yard this grant amounted to £1970.00. As a result of the unused special reserve fund the Parish Council have been delighted to reduce the Parish Council precept level by 32% In the forth coming year 2009/10. The Parish Council are committed to keeping control of costs to our village taxpayers and will continue to do so. The running budget and Parish Council reserves documents are at the back of this report.

Precept 2009/2010

The Parish Council set a precept level of £20,000 for the forthcoming year which as previously stated represents a 32% reduction. This will be welcomed by hard pressed tax payers in the current economic climate. The effects on Council tax in Brent Knoll are detailed below.

                    2009/10                2008/9          Reduction

Band A           24.53                     35.90           -11.37

Band B          28.62                     41.88           -13.26

Band C          32.70                     47.87           -15.17

Band D          36.79                     53.85           -17.06

Band E          44.97                     65.81           -20.84

Band F          53.14                     77.78           -24.64

Band G          61.32                     89.75           -28.43

Band H          73.58                     107.70        -34.12

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.

27 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

Started March 09

Rob Vohra  was a member of the Parish Council until his resignation in December. The Parish Council thank Rob for his important contribution to the work of our Parish Council since May 2007 and wish him well for the future.

TABLE NO 2 :   Planning Summary for 2008

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