Draft minutes of a meeting of the F&GP COMMITTEE held at 7.30pm on Wednesday 8th January 2025 in The Mountfitchet Exchange, Crafton Green, 72 Chapel Hill, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex
PRESENT Cllr J O’Brien (Chair), Cllrs M Caton, S Ghosh, J Hardy, P Jones and A Khan
ATTENDING
Mrs Ruth Clifford – Parish Clerk
Mrs Emma Philbrick – Deputy Clerk
Cllr Alan Barnes – via Zoom
1 member of the press – via Zoom
1 member of the public – via Zoom
269 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Sell – Meeting at UDC
RESOLVED To accept the apologies for absence from Cllr Sell
270 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – None
271 TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 4TH DECEMBER 2024
RESOLVED To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 4th December 2024 as a true and accurate account.
272 TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON ACTION POINTS FROM THE LAST MEETING
242 Office to contact Network Rail once contact details have been received from Cllr O’Brien – The contact Cllr O’Brien had no longer works for Network Rail. He has submitted an Online Enquiry, and we are awaiting a response.
273 TO RECEIVE A REPORT FROM THE CHAIR, CLLR O’BRIEN
As we approach the final stage of preparations for this Council’s 2025/26 Budget, we are yet again faced with a failure by Uttlesford District Council to provide adequate time for consultation on its own 2025/26 Draft Budget.
The key word that is prominent in their draft is ‘uncertainty’.
UDC’s draft document contains a short comment on protecting services, but without backing up such a comment with figures, how can we be assured of such an expectation?
The deadline set for receipt of comments, Sunday 12th January, is perilously close to that set for us to present our own financial requirements, leaving us too with a high degree of uncertainty.
For example, will we still have funding for a PCSO to cover our community or will our flourishing Youth Club be left without much needed financial support?
The former is still uncertain, but the budget for the Youth Club is assured and, providing we make a successful application for a grant, we will receive some funding for the next 3 years.
We need concrete assurances of funding protection before Full Council next week, or an extension of the deadline for Parish and Town Councils to submit their financial needs.
The national financial situation is still in a state of uncertainty, and we need to be very careful how we view the prospects for 2025/26. Inflation is the greatest concern with impending doom and gloom signalled by the incoming Trump administration.
274 LIGHTING
- a) TO RECEIVE AN OUTAGE REPORT
No outages to report
- b) TO RECEIVE A GENERAL REPORT ON LIGHTING
Three lights have been stolen on Chapel Hill. This will have to be an insurance claim but has been reported to the police.
A delivery driver did not put his handbrake on when delivering to a property in Rainsford Road in December and knocked a light down. The neighbours reported it to us and advised they have pictures of the number plate but have so far not sent these to us despite requests. The cost to replace and have UKPN connect a new column is just under £4,000. This is in hand, and we are trying to get hold of the company and to obtain the pictures as evidence.
275 FINANCE – TO APPROVE THE LIST OF PAYMENTS FOR AUTHORISATION
The list of payments was checked against the invoices before the start of the meeting by Cllr Jones. The Chair advised that there is an error and the amount for Treecology should be £1980 and not £1900 as per the schedule.
The list of payments was approved with the amendment.
276 BUDGET PROCESS 2025/26 – TO CONSIDER THE LATEST DRAFT AND MAKE A RECOMMENDATION TO FULL COUNCIL
The Clerk advised that there had been no changes to the draft budget which was circulated and discussed at the last meeting. By next week we should have the tenders in for the grass cutting and gardening contracts. No decision will be made by then, but we should have an idea if our budget figures will cover it or need to be increased.
As things stand, to avoid a huge percentage increase to the precept, the Committee at the last meeting discussed deferral of the £25,000 payment to the Forest Hall S.106 fund (of which we have already paid £150,000 of the £200,000) for 1 year. If that is agreed, the draft budget would mean a 4.09 % increase with a precept of £498,000. This is equivalent to a Band D increase of £5.70 per annum.
Cllr O’Brien proposed the following:
RECOMMENDATION
- a) That the Council approve the draft budget for the financial year 2025/26 with a 1-year deferral of the £25,000 to the Forest Hall fund and provided the tenders received back are within the figures in the budget.
- b) That the Council should set its precept at £498,000 which is an increase of 4.09%, and increasing the Band D by £5.70.
Having been seconded by Cllr Caton, it was unanimously agreed.
277 WINDMILL – TO RECEIVE ANY AVAILABLE UPDATES
Very little work has taken place due to the cold weather. The sails are in a fairly good condition and should not need replacing for a few years.
278 YOUTH MATTERS – TO RECEIVE ANY AVAILABLE UPDATES
Cllr Caton reported the following:
Youth Club
Herself and the Clerk will be looking through the bid being put together by the provider for the UDC Youth Club grant.
Nothing else to report other than it is going really well.
Youth Council
She will be meeting with the Head of Forest Hall School next week and reminding him about members for the Youth Council.
279 STAFF MATTERS – TO RECEIVE ANY AVAILABLE UPDATES
Nothing to update
Meeting closed at 7.45pm
NO ACTION POINTS
Agenda
Members of the Committee you are hereby summoned, and members of the public and press are hereby invited, to attend a meeting of the FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE which will be held at 7.30pm on Wednesday 8th January 2025 in The Mountfitchet Exchange, Crafton Green, 72 Chapel Hill, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex where the following business will be transacted:
1 To receive apologies for absence
2 To receive declarations of interest
3 To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 4th December 2024
4 To receive an update on action points from the last meeting
5 To receive a report from the Chair, Cllr O’Brien
6 Lighting:
- a) To receive an outage report
- b) To receive a general report on lighting
7 Finance: To approve the list of payments for authorisation – to be tabled
8 Budget Process 2025/26 – To consider the latest draft and make a recommendation to Full Council
9 Windmill – to receive any available updates
10 Youth Matters – to receive any available updates
11 Staff Matters – To receive any available updates
Parish Clerk 18th December 2024
Any intention to record, film or take photographs during a meeting must be notified to the Clerk prior to the start of the meeting.