-43- Minutes of the monthly meeting of Bitton Parish Council held at the Community and Youth building, rear of Redfield Edge Primary School, High Street, Oldland Common on Tuesday 9 October 2018 at 7.30pm. PRESENT: Councillors: J Allinson, R Allinson, M Bridge, R Coales, L Efthymiou, J Ivens, V McNab, A Thomas and E Williams Officer: Mrs S Robbins – Clerk The Chairman outlined the procedures for exit from the building in the event of an emergency 154. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Councillors S Bromiley, S Hawking, P Hughes, S Rickerby and C Thompson. 155. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 11 September 2018 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 156. PLANNING COMMITTEE The minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 17 September 2018 were presented. RESOLVED that the minutes be received as presented. 157. YOUTH COMMITTEE The minutes of the Youth Committee meeting held on 24 September 2018 were presented. RESOLVED that the minutes be received as presented. 158. ENVIRONMENT AND LEISURE COMMITTEE The minutes of the Environment and Leisure Committee meeting held on 25 September 2018 were presented. RESOLVED that the minutes be received as presented. 159. OPPORTUNITY FOR MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC AND COUNCILLORS AS APPROPRIATE TO ADDRESS THE COUNCIL a. Councillor R Coales: referred to the temporary bus stop at High Street, Oldland Common which is now redundant but has not been removed as requested. Also the real time information system at the new bus stop outside the new flats at Barry Road/West Street is not operational. b. Councillor E Williams: reported problems with timekeeping, regularity and provision of bus service 19 to Bath, which she was looking into. c. Councillor J Ivens: reported problems with the Wick/Keynsham bus which had failed to arrive. -44- d. Councillor J Allinson: reported that the 3pm bus service 42 from Broadmead seemed to be cancelled often. Councillor E Williams agreed to raise this problem with First Group. 160. FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE PERIOD 1.4.18 – 30.9.18. The Clerk had circulated a financial report for the Council for the period 1.4.18. – 30.9.18. A copy is at Appendix 1 to these minutes. It was noted that the running costs of the new building were significantly more than had been budgeted for. The Clerk reported that demands for business rates were also higher than had been estimated. 161. BUDGET 2019/20 RESOLVED that the Finance Committee considers a budget for 2019/20 and makes recommendations to the next meeting. 162. EXTERNAL AUDIT OF ACCOUNTS The Clerk had circulated the report of the External Auditor on the Council 2017/18 accounts. This was noted. 163. COMMUNITY AND YOUTH BUILDING The Clerk reported that those who had taken over bookings for the building were having some success in attracting hirers, for which they were thanked for their efforts. 164. REPORTS FROM REPRESENTATIVES AT OTHER MEETINGS a. Councillor J Allinson: reported on the Avon Local Councils Association Annual General Meeting. A presentation about the Bristol Youth Council was included and she regretted that there was no similar initiative ongoing within South Gloucestershire. b. Councillor J Allinson: reported on her attendance at a celebration of South Gloucestershire Council’s 3 year investment programme. 165. SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNCIL: STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES The Council received notice from South Gloucestershire Council of its consultation on its Statement of Principles under the Gambling Act 2005. Councillors had been unable to access details of the draft statement. 166. SCHOOLS AND SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES The Council received from South Gloucestershire Council details of a consultation on savings to be achieved within the schools special educational needs and disabilities budgets. RESOLVED that Councillors respond individually to the consultation. 167. ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT The Clerk submitted a schedule of accounts for payment and authorisation. -45- RESOLVED that the accounts listed be settled and the schedule signed by the Chairman. The meeting ended at 8.10pm. ………………………………………… Chairman STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 1.4.17. – 30.9.18. SERVICE BUDGET EXPENDITURE BUDGET 2018/19 TO 30.9.18. 2019/20 Allotments 2,000.00 641.20 Footpaths 2,200.00 2,055.00 Leisure 1,250.00 366.00 New street furniture 1,700.00 125.00 Maintenance of Street furniture 2,200.00 1,185.00 Planting 2,000.00 1,715.00 Salary, etc 32,000.00 15,757.55 Administration 4,500.00 2,625.98 A.L.C.A. 1,050.00 988.33 Playschemes 7,000.00 6,782.98 Grants 2,000.00 100.00 Local Youth Projects 16,000.00 *8,390.15 Capital repayments 19,000.00 9,498.74 Warmley skate park 2,000.00 **NIL Newsletter 4,200.00 1,078.00 I.T. 800.00 ***NIL Election costs 5,000.00 ****NIL Grass & Env projects 2,700.00 1,274.82 Chairman’s allowance 100.00 28.50 Comm bldg. running 5,000.00 3,880.42 Miscellaneous 1,000.00 1,642.95 113,700.00 58,135.62 New building capital 20,000.00 NIL CIL projects ----- NIL VAT 730.88 SERVICE BUDGET INCOME BUDGET 2018/19 TO 30.9.18. 2019/20 Allotments 2,000.00 ҂156.00 Precept 94,000.00 94,000.00 Interest 500.00 143.58 Grants 1,500.00 7,500.00 Lettings 1,800.00 1,037.00 Miscellaneous 1,000.00 ҂҂2,419.66 TOTAL 100,800.00 105,256.24 CIL 80,000.00 80,609.07 VAT 8,557.04 NB: The precept for 2018/19 is set at £94,000, which represents a 2% increase over 2017/18. Income from CIL and CIL expenditure on projects are excluded for budgeting purposes but will be included in all financial reports. The Council has a Public Works Loans Board loan of £350,000 repayable over 25 years. This was taken up during 2017 to finance the new community/youth building. Repayments are estimated at £19,000pa. * This figure represents the running costs Oldland Common Youth Club including staff costs. ** Warmley skate park is leased jointly by Bitton, Oldland and Siston Parish Councils. The administration is done by the Clerk to Oldland Parish Council and this Council is invoiced for its share annually in March. A new lease has been signed. It is hoped to refurbish the skate park but it is intended this will be achieved through grant funding. *** The IT budget is set mainly to cover the maintenance and updating costs of the website. Management costs for 2018/19 of £600 were paid at the end of 2017/18. **** The Council budgets annually towards the cost of 4 yearly elections. If Bitton Parish Council and South Gloucestershire Council elections are held together in May 2019, with no other election due, the estimated cost is in the region of £10,000. ҂ Allotment rents are due on 1 January each year. Over time income and expenditure should even out but, due to occasional costly projects, is often not in balance. ҂҂ Includes £1,059.00 from South Gloucestershire Council as LCTR income As at 30.9.18. National Westminster Bank current a/c 84,710.88 Co-operative Bank current account 86,845.40 United Trust Bank bonds 41,914.66 Monmouthshire Building Society 71,932.68 285,403.62 Less uncashed cheques D/D 24.00 557 200.00 685 243.00 688 100.00 708 100.00 711 25.00 713 978.00 1,670.00 283,733.62 Including earmarked reserves: Allotments (-1,652.21) IT 555.77 Elections 9,379.52 CIL 99,552.28 Grants: SSCG - Aitch Field play equipment 2,000.00 Friendship & Exercise 1,244.00 111,079.36 Reserves not earmarked Other 172,654.26 283,733.62 Balance as at 1.4.18. 148,177.77 Receipts to 30.9.18. 194,422.35 Payments to 30.9.18. 58,866.50 Balance as at 30.9.18. 283,733.62 N.B. The Council’s reserves are covered by the government’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to a limit of £85,000 with any one banking group. I confirm that the bank balances shown above concur with bank statements held by the Council. Signature: ……………………………………………. Councillor R Coales Date: …………………………………………………. .