COOKHAM   PARISH   COUNCIL

Minutes of a Meeting of the

FINANCE & GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE

PRESENT:       M. Wellman (Chairman)

Cllrs: P. Brockwell, M. Coker, G. Harris, R. Piercey, A. Prichard, J. Stretton and H.J. Woodbridge.

Cllr Ricardo spoke before the meeting to ask the Finance Committee to support the Trinity Festival initiative in the Spring of 2005.

1.      APOLOGIES AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST:

Apologies were received from Cllrs Barnes and Fairlie. There were no declarations of interest.

2.         TO REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS IN CURRENT YEAR 2004/5:

Amended figures were tabled to all Councillors at the meeting. In the general fund, the total expenditure at six months was £19,107.53 compared to a total expenditure last year of £39,892.24. Cllr Prichard noted that the telephone bill seemed to be a lot lower than the budget figure of £600. This was due to changing our service provider from British Telecom to One Tel. The insurance figure was a little over budget due to a revised policy that now insures the contents of the chapel. The Chairman noted that the RBWM Summer scheme had been included on the general budget and may come from another Committee. On the Footpaths & Open Spaces Committee there was only one comment. The Borough in Bloom figures needed to be divided under the “Tidy Village” category to bring the totals within the budget. The Adoptive Acts Committee noted that the capital projects had gone over budget due to the repair of the Chapel porch. But this was alleviated by the £400 grant received from RBWM. The income for Burials was almost up to last year’s total at just six months through this financial year. The Chairman also reminded the Committee that the second half of the precept was received during September which made the Council look very wealthy. However if the reserved funds were used the Council would be left much less in the bank.

3.         REVIEW DRAFT BUDGET FOR NEXT FINANCIAL YEAR 05-06:

The Chairman went through the draft budget figures on the General account for the next financial year. He invited the Footpaths Committee and the Adoptive Acts Committee to do the same at their next meetings. The main change to the funds was the Councillors’Allowances for which the Chairman has allowed every Councillor to claim £1 each. Cllr Coker mentioned the depreciating values of the Council’s assets and queried whether the insurance had a “new for old” clause. It was agreed to include it on the agenda for the next financial meeting.

4.      TO DISCUSS THREE DONATION REQUESTS:

The Parish Council has received three requests for donations from: the Air Ambulance, the Trinity Festival and the Cookham Dean Village Club. The Chairman said that £1,000 was in the donations budget that could be used to fund these requests. It was AGREED that £500 would be awarded to the Air Ambulance along with £250 each to the Trinity Festival and the Cookham Dean Village Club. This would be presented for approval to the Full Council meeting on November 2^nd. It was also AGREED that any monies paid to the Parish Council for granting filming rights throughout the Parish would be put into the Donations budget and distributed at an appropriate time.

5.      SECTION 106 FUNDING – TO DISCUSS ADVANTAGES OF LAND PURCHASE OR LEASE FOR RECREATIONAL PURPOSES:

It was agreed that as a first step, the Clerk would write to local landowners to explore the idea of leasing or selling land for recreational puposes in the Parish.

6.      TO DISCUSS THE IDEA OF SHARING COOKHAM SOCIETY RONDEL AT COOKHAM STATION:

It was agreed that the rondel was not being used to its full potential. Cllr Stretton thought it was an excellent idea. The Chairman said that he would set up a meeting with David Ashwanden of the Cookham Society to explore this idea further.

The meeting ended at 9.15pm.