WELLESBOURNE PARISH COUNCIL

The minutes of the Finance and Administration Committee of the meeting on

 Tuesday 15^th July 2008, 7.00 pm at the Parish Council Office, 2 School Road,

 Wellesbourne

Present: Chairman: Cllr Mrs Bolton                   Councillors:Copeland, Grantham, Rutherford, Wright Clerk: Mrs Scriven                                                No members of the public present

1.             Apologies for Absence - Cllrs DC, DJ, MP

2.             Declarations of Interest

Declarations of interest (personal or prejudicial) under the provisions of the LGA 2000, Parish     Councils (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2001.

Cllr Grantham prejudicial interest in connection with the Football and Social Club 97, Wellesbourne Conservative Club Ltd and Dog Close and a personal interest in all matters appertaining to Walton Estates

Cllr Mrs Bolton prejudicial interest in connection with the Village Hall

Cllr Wright personal interest in Methodist Hall

Cllr Close personal interest in St Peters Church

Cllr Mrs Piotrowski personal interest in Walton Estates

3.             Confirmation of Agenda - confirmed

4.             Confirmation of the minutes of 13^th May 2008 - Confirmed & signed as a true record

5.             Matters arising - Cllr RW asked when the Council would begin a monthly VAT claim, it was noted that this would commence once year end had been audited and signed off.

6.             Open session for members of the public to raise any matters of relevance to the Parish and for any Cllr with a prejudicial interest in an item on the agenda to speak on that item - No Cllr wished to raise any matters and no public presence.

7.             Current state of Council finances

7.1           Project Financing - The Clerk raised concerns regarding the duplication and other problems with the Edge finance software and recommended that the Council make no additional payment to Edge until the outstanding problems were resolved. She had spoke to Mr Jonathan Smith (Commercial Manager for Edge Design) and informed him of the three year history surrounding difficulties with the system. Cllrs agreed to write to Edge giving them a suitable timeframe by which to have contacted the Clerk and resolved the outstanding issues.

8         Progress of year end arrangements - Paperwork had been sent to the Internal Auditor and at the end of the year the carried forward reserves were substantially  lower than the advised amount.

9.             Long term budget planning: to consider - It was noted that the projects required careful cashflow management in order to meet targets without going over budgets. Chedham's Yard project was being delayed by the slow drawdown of money from HLF or BBC Restoration. It was agreed that long delays caused difficulty to the day to day running of the project and Cllrs alike.

The Clerk confirmed that where possible the expenditure was not met until the Restoration or HLF grant funding was obtained.

Cllr RW said he was disappointed not to have received response from Barclays Bank to date regarding money management for the projects and it was agreed that this should be followed up.

Discussion took place on long term budget planning and it was suggested that a 3 year plan was considered. It was agreed that benchmarking against another Council of a comparable size would be an interesting exercise and whilst it was desirable to cut costs it was acknowledged that rising fuel costs, ongoing salaries and additional contractor work (amenities being an area where this impacts) all required careful consideration.  It was noted that budget consideration could not be public consultation due to the possible perception that the suggested budget was the actual set budget.

10.          Date of next meeting - 18^th November 2008

There being no further business to discuss the meeting closed at 8.45pm

Chairman...Cllr Mrs Bolton...

Signed.............................

Date...............................