Minutes of Meetings

Held in the Community Room on Tuesday, 15^th September 2009, after the Planning Meeting commencing at 7.30pm.

1. APOLOGIES AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Apologies were received from Cllr M. Barnes and Cllr F. Hewer who was attending the Thames Riverside Parishes Forum on behalf of the Parish Council. There were no Declarations of Interest.

2. ACCOUNTS FOR THE 2009-2010 FINANCIAL YEAR: The accounts for the year so far had been circulated to all Councillors. Most of the figures were self-explanatory but the Chairman mentioned a couple of errors to be noted. On the Footpaths Committee, the rental sum should be £412 not £4.12. Also noted was the sum for purchasing materials for replacing the allotment fence at Cookham Rise at £2505. This sum would be transferred to the 106 developers contributions when the work was completed. The Chairman also informed the Committee that the figures from the end of year were distorted by the late payment from RBWM of the 106 developers contributions to the sum of £26,423. This had been due in February and was eventually paid in May.

3. IMPACT OF “E”-PLANNING AND ANY EQUIPMENT NEEDED TO PRODUCE PLANS: There had been much talk of using projectors and screens in meetings. However, the Clerk felt that Councillors and members of the public still needed to look at paper plans. The Clerk recommended to the Committee that they should consider purchasing an A3 printer – colour inkjet for printing most standard plans. For more complicated plans where A3 was too small, the Clerk had got quotes from Kall Kwik for individual copies at larger sizes ranging from A2 @3.60; A1 @6.00 and AO @£9. Prices for A3 printers ranged from £99 for a Samsung.

Cllr Coker agreed with the Clerk but it was also felt that the Parish Office should look to replace the aging computers and a laser colour A4 printer – estimated costs for the printer - £2-300. It was AGREED that the Clerk would discuss our plans with RBWM and get some prices from the Town Hall as well as privately.

If new computers were purchased for the Parish Office, the Dell laptop could be used in meetings along with a screen and projector as necessary.

4. RECOMMEND NEW EQUIPMENT FOR THE PARISH OFFICE: This item was covered in item 3.

5. INSURANCE OF EACH INDIVIDUAL STREET LIGHT: At present the Council owns 88 street lights covered by an overall insurance cover of approx. £23,000. However, in the event of one column needing replacement, the Council can only claim the insurance cover divided by 88 which leaves just over £300 per column. The Council asked Zurich for a quote on individually covering each column and bracket light. The cost would push the annual insurance up by approx. £1,000 every year. The Clerk advised that it would be false economy to take up this increase in the insurance because we only rarely need to replace a column. The more sensible option is to reserve a sum every year for this eventuality in the same way as we budget for other events such as a surprise by-election.

6. APPROVAL OF THE REVISED FINANCIAL REGULATIONS: The Financial Regulations had now been revised and up-dated according to the meetings minuted earlier in the year. On the proposal of Cllr Wellman, seconded by Cllr Woodbridge, it was AGREED to recommend the up-dated Financial Regulations to be accepted at Full Council.

7. REVISED TERMS OF REFERENCE: Due to the change in the cycle of meetings for this year, the Clerk up-dated the Terms of Reference to reflect the new meeting structure. The details of the Emergency Committee and the Consultation Committee were also included. It was noted that the Emergency Committee would have a quorum of appointed Councillors but the meeting would be available for all. On the proposition of Cllr Woodbridge, seconded by Cllr Fry it was AGREED to present the revised Terms of Reference to the Full Council for approval. There was one abstention with the voting.

8. FINANCIAL HELP FOR COOKHAM LIBRARY: Since the opening of this successful facility in Cookham, the Parish Council has supported the library by paying for the opening hours on a Wednesday afternoon. The figures received from RBWM confirmed that this facility continued to be well used by the village. On the proposition of Cllr Wellman, seconded by Cllr Fry it was AGREED to continue to provide £2,000 towards the running costs of the opening the library on the Wednesday afternoon.