Hassocks Parish Council

Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on 11^th January 2022 at 7.30pm in Parish Centre, Adastra Park, Hassocks

Attendees: Parish Councillors Ian Weir, Kristian Berggreen, Claire Tester, David Bunting, Nick Owens and Carolyn Barton

Parish Clerk: Ian Cumberworth

Visiting Member(s): –  None

MINUTES

PC21/86       APOLOGIES   Cllrs Alex Simmons, Kate Bailey, Jane Baker, Robert Brewer, Bill Hatton, Sue Hatton ,Frances Gaudencio and Cllr Leslie Campbell.

County Councillor Kirsty Lord

PC21/87       DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS

Disclosure by Councillors of personal interests in matters on the agenda, and whether the Councillor regards their interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct. – None.

PC21/88       MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on the 9^th November 2021 were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

PC21/89       PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

No members of the public were present.

PC21/90       MINUTES

Members noted the Minutes of the informal Planning Committee meetings on the 1^st November 2021, 22^nd November 2021 and 13^th December 2021.

Cllr Owens sought clarification as to why the Council were only being asked to note these minutes as opposed to agreeing them. The Clerk explained that due to planning meetings being held as ‘virtual meetings ‘they are treated as informal meetings. This is permitted as the parish council are not the planning decision making body, this responsibility lies with MSDC. It will therefore be necessary for the Planning Committee when it resumes in person meetings to formally sign off and agree the minutes of the virtual meetings.

Members also noted the minutes for the Policy Resources & Communications Committee 30^th November 2021 & the Neighbourhood Plan Committee 9^th December 2021.

PC21/91       FINANCE

91.1            Members considered the finance reports and the supporting bank statements and reviewed the following payment list.

The Finance report and payments totalling £24,208.61 (Appendix 1) for the period ending 31^st October 2021 were considered and APPROVED.

The Finance report and payments totalling £21,342.39 (Appendix 2) for the period ending 30th November 2021 were considered and APPROVED

PC21/92     Reports

92.1        County Councillors reports: – Cllr Kirsty Lord (KL)

Cllr Lord was not in attendance but provided a report to the Clerk to read out.

Highways Drainage: The additional overflow drain serving Parklands Road/Keymer Road is now complete and working. It was initially started at the end of November but was not able to be completed due to a later than expected start and the need to finish not to impact on ‘Light up Hassocks’ event.

The work was completed during the Christmas period although this did cause some concern for High street traders due to timing however WSCC considered the work to be urgent and therefore was required to be carried out as soon as possible.

After the initial work heavy rain caused a breach of the Florist and near breach of the hairdressers however after the works had been completed it had been reported that the overflow drain worked well during the very heavy rainfall on Boxing Day which given the conditions would likely to have resulted in further breaches without the drain. The drain will be monitored to ensure that it is working as planned. It should be acknowledged that WSCC have responded well since Cllr Lord first raised the issue with them in October 2020 after the flooding, particularly so since the heavy rains in June 2021 and it has only taken six months from that point for a solution to be delivered which is faster than anticipated.

Speeding & Road safety:

Following a recent fatal accident Cllr Lord has recently met with residents at Beaconhurst/Silverdale area and Brighton Road and have taken some concerns forward to WSCC.

Cllr Lord indicated that she was trying to secure access to a Speed Indicator Device (SID) for a few weeks to obtain speed data for some key locations, however as this device is shared between many parishes this is not available that often.

Within the written report Cllr Lord posed the question whether the Parish Council would consider purchasing their own (SID) for use within the parish. The Clerk indicated that the parish had previously considered this option but the cost of the machine at that time was circa £2,000 – £2,500 and currently there would be no capacity to resource the installation, or changing of batteries on any device. It was also noted that there were potential limitations on the locations the SID could be located. It was noted that if members were minded to consider this option it would be considered by Grounds & Environment Committee initially.

A motion to allow a more flexible speed policies was recently considered and debated and accepted by WSCC in December. This means local areas should be able to apply for 20mph speed zones more easily, quiet lanes etc. than in the past.

Cllr Lord indicated that she felt work on road safety and speeding is likely to be a key concern within the village this year therefore requested that the Parish Council appoint a representative who can work with her on issues relating to speeding and road safety.

Members requested that the Clerk email members to ascertain if any members would be interested in this role.

Highways repairs: The permanent repairs to Keymer Road were carried out overnight before Christmas, however the promised repair at Stonepound Crossroads (Right turn from London Road to Hurst Road) was not undertaken. The lines under the railway bridge and at Stonepound were not re-instated properly, these matters are being chased up.

Schools: Cllr Lord indicated that she had been in contact with WSCC officers regarding school places as we approach offers day and also relating to the Ockley Lane development.

Budget: The WSCC budget is to be debated and voted on 18^th February 2022, a further update will be brought forward at a future Parish Council meeting in due course.

92.2       District Councillor Report – none

92.3        Police Report – none

92.4        Rail Matters – none

92.5       Youth Initiatives – none.

92.6        Report from Councillors on meetings of outside bodies where the Council is represented –

Nothing to report.

PC21/93     CHAIRMANS REPORT – nothing to report

PC21/94       CLERK’S REPORT

94.1      Budget Proposal 2022/23

The Clerk introduced the report setting out a budget proposal for 2022/23 together with the projected out turn for the current financial year 2021/22. (Appendix 3)

The attached paper had previously been considered by the Policy Resources & Communications Committee in late November where they recommended that the Council consider setting the precept level at £312,302.

The Clerk indicated that the report before members had been prepared for illustrative purposes to show the impact on the budget in the event members chose not to apply any uplift. If this approach was taken this would return a deficit budget of (£6,655) for 2022/23.

The Clerk then took members through each page of the report in turn. Member’s attention was drawn specifically to page 3 of the report under Summary of Budget information where 3 options were presented for members to consider together with details of the impact on the precept.

Based on the Policy Resources & Communications Committees recommendation their preferred option would be to adopt option three which would result in a band D property paying £1.76 per annum extra in the forthcoming financial year in part as the property base had increased which meant the costs could be spread across more properties. On page 4 of the report a table summarised the impact of each option.

Members were then invited to consider section 3 on page 5 of the report which detailed the year end projected out turn and the proposed budget for the next financial year. In section 4 a narrative was provided to explain some of budget variances/proposed options.

The Clerk paused at this point and invited any questions from Members.

A number of questions were raised by Members which were responded to by the Clerk which members were content with. Although members were supportive of the funding allocated to support a Community Led Plan it was acknowledged that a formal decision would need to be taken ultimately by Full Council to support this prior to embarking on this approach.

Members were advised that in section 5 of the report it summarises the overall impact on the council finances in the event the Council chose not to increase the precept it would not deliver a balanced budget.

Members were then invited to view page 10 of the report which set out the current earmarked reserves position.

The Clerk advised members that In 2021/22 a number of savings have been realised therefore an opportunity existed to allocate some additional funding to support the councils priorities by transferring funds from general reserves to earmarked reserves prior to the year end. It was suggested that members consider the allocation of an additional £41,105 (22/23) from general reserves and allocate the £35,000 (20/21) previously allocated last year to specific schemes. It was suggested that these funds should be allocated to those areas recently identified and supported by the Grounds & Environment Committee, the tables set out in section 6 on pages 10 and 11 of the report set out the position if members were minded to support this approach.

This proposal had been supported by the Policy Resources & Communications Committee.

Members welcomed the allocation to Flooding which may be available to support the work of the Flood group. Members sought clarification on some of the allocations therefore the Clerk provided some background in relation to how the additional sums were apportioned to the respective descriptors. Members were content with the explanations provided.

Members were therefore requested to consider whether they wished to accept the Policy Resources & Communications Committee recommendation to raise the 2022/23 precept to £312,302 to deliver a balanced budget and enable provision to fund the play area sinking fund for 2022/23.

If members were minded to do so this would equate to an overall precept % increase of 5.67% but as a result of the increase in the property base a 2.1% increase in charge which would be equivalent to an additional £1.76 per annum for a band D property.

The Chair therefore invited members to consider this recommendation

Members RESOLVED to APPROVE the proposed precept for 2022/23 in the sum of £312,302 to deliver a balanced budget and support the provision of the play area sinking fund.

All members present voted in favour of this proposal

Members were also invited to consider approving the additional allocation of £44,102 from General Reserves to Earmarked Reserves and the detailed allocation of funds to the specific initiatives.

Members RESOLVED to APPROVE the additional allocation of £44,102 from General Reserves to Earmarked Reserves to support the ongoing Councils priorities.

94.2     Interim Internal Audit Report

The Clerk introduced the Interim Internal Auditors report set out in Appendix 4 and were invited to consider two recommendations made by the auditor.

Recommendation 1: Members are asked to consider reviewing the level of fidelity guarantee insurance cover the Council currently holds which currently stands at £200,000 which was the level set initially in consultation with the Councils Insurers but is below the value of the authority’s financial holdings however the level of coverage should be determined by the risk appetite of the organisation.

Members were advised that the Council has a number of risk mitigation measures in place but members are requested to consider the following options:

a) Retain the current level of cover noting the mitigation measures in place.
b) Increase the overall coverage immediately and attract a higher premium.
c) Review the level of coverage when the insurance policy is reviewed in June 2022.

Members did not express a strong view at this stage but requested that the Clerk approach the Councils Insurer to ascertain the level of premium increase if the coverage were to be uplifted and a further report be brought back to full council to consider, The Clerk agreed to undertake this task and to bring something back to the next full council.

Recommendation 2 was that the Councils Financial Regulation should be reviewed against the NALC model documents. The Clerk indicated that this will be undertaken and considered by the Policy Resources & Communications Committee at a future point when in person meetings resume fully, Members NOTED the proposed action.

Members were satisfied with the content of the report and RESOLVED to Note and AGREE the contents of the report.

PC21/95       URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIRMAN – none                  

PC21/96       DATE OF NEXT MEETING

To note that the date of the next Parish Council meeting is Tuesday 8th February 2022 at 7.30pm.