Annual Meeting of the Council, 21 May 2008

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HELMDON PARISH COUNCIL
Draft Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Helmdon Parish Council held on Wednesday 21st May 2008
in the Reading Room, Church Street, Helmdon at 7:30 p.m.
Present: Councillors Barnes, Burns, Crouch, Duncombe, England, Stothard, Thorne
Parish Clerk: Liz Hart
Five members of the public were present.
Action
1 Election of Chairman for 2008/2009
Cllr England proposed, seconded by Cllr Crouch that Cllr Burns be nominated for Chairman.
All were in favour.
2 Signing of Chairman’s declaration of acceptance of office
Cllr Burns duly signed the declaration which was countersigned by the Parish Clerk.
3 Apologies for Absence
Cllrs Turner and Coatsworth were absent to due other commitments.
4 Election of Vice Chairman for 2008/2009
Cllr Barnes proposed, seconded by Cllr Crouch that Cllr Thorne be nominated for the position of Vice Chair. All were in favour.
5 To appoint the Responsible Financial Officer
Cllr England proposed, seconded by Cllr England that the Parish Clerk, Liz Hart continue as
RFO. All were in favour.
6 To appoint an Internal Auditor
Cllr Stothard proposed, seconded by Cllr Thorne that NCALC be retained as the Internal
Auditor. All were in favour.
7 The appointment of committee members
The membership for 2008/9 is as follows:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
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Finance: Cllrs Burns, Barnes, Stothard, Thorne and RFO
Planning: Cllrs Burns, Barnes, Coatsworth, Thorne, Duncombe, Crouch
Road Safety: Cllrs Turner, England, Stothard
Playground: Cllrs Turner, Duncombe, Crouch
Allotment: Cllrs Barnes, Coatsworth, Turner
The appointment of Parish Representatives
The following were appointed with all in favour:
a) Parish Paths Warden – Roger Miles b) Parish Highways Representative – Cllr Stothard

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c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
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Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator – Cllr Crouch
School Liaison Councillor – Cllr Burns
PC Rep on Reading Room Committee – Cllr England
PC Reps on Parish Plan Monitoring Group – Cllrs Barnes and Coatsworth
Poppy Organiser – Cllr Burns
PC Reps on Blackpits Monitoring Group – Cllrs Thorne and Turner
Health and Safety Officers – Cllrs Coatsworth and Turner
Updating of Register of Interests
The Clerk made available copies of the Register of Interest forms to be returned within 28
days.
10 Approval and signature of the Minutes for the AGM held on 14th May 2007
Cllr England proposed, seconded by Cllr Thorne that the Minutes be approved by Council.
All were in favour and Cllr Burns duly signed the Minutes.
11 Matters arising from the minutes of 14th May 2007
None.
S Committee & Representative Reports a) Finance – Cllr Stothard had nothing further to be reported as the end of year accounts were to be signed off in the following meeting.
b) Planning – Cllr Burns highlighted that the busy period when the Clerk had to call meetings frequently had now passed and that applications were back to their normal level with no major applications outstanding. He thanked the Clerk for making information available in a timely matter c) Road Safety (Parish Highways Representative) – Cllr Stothard reminded the meeting that work on Station Road was due to be completed shortly. The pavements on
Shortlands Close remain an outstanding issue.
d) Allotments – Cllr Barnes reported that clearance work on the brook had been completed, Cllr Turner had cleared rubbish away and the installation of a hand water pump was in hand. All plots are let.
e) Helmdon Parish Plan – Cllr Barnes reported that the PPMG had met 5 times this year.
The main areas of discussion were Pathfinder project, Road Safety, the new village amenity, and a Village Welcome Pack. The current Plan needs to be revisited as many of the “quick wins” have been achieved.
f) Parish Paths Warden – Roger Miles commented on the good relations with Rights Of
Way at NCC. More remedial work is needed at the site of the new bridge in Wickets
Mead. Several new signs and gates have been erected and problems resolved by contacting local landowners. Cllr Burns thanked Roger for his work.
g) Neighbourhood Watch – Cllr Crouch is not receiving the email communications from the Police. The Clerk will investigate this.
h) School Liaison – Most of the liaison work this year has been to do with the licence agreement which is still ongoing.
i) Reading Room – Cllr England reported that the Reading Room ceiling had been taken down and that further discussions on renovation would take place at its AGM on May th 28 . There was a total of £15 461.91 in the accounts at the end of the financial year.
The meeting closed at 8pm.
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