Hothfield Parish Council

...in the rustic heart of Kent

PRESENT: Mrs S Whittington (Chair), Mr J Collins, Mr P Howard, Mr L Hughes, Mr L Krause, Mr P Patten and Mr A Rawlins

PARISH CLERK: Mrs J Batt

BOROUGH COUNCILLOR:

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC: There were no Members of the Public present

1. ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN
Mr Krause proposed Mrs Whittington for the position of Chairman.
Seconded Mr Patten. There were no other nominations.

Mrs Whittington agreed to accept the position of Chairman for the coming year.

Mrs Whittington signed her Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
An Apology for Absence was received from Mr P Holloway due to a family commitment.

3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no Declarations of Interest.

Updating of Declarations of Interest for the Code of Conduct
The Clerk reminded Councillors that they should update their Declarations of Interest with the Monitoring Officer if necessary.

4. CO-OPTION OF PARISH COUNCILLOR
Mrs Whittington proposed Mrs Warren for the vacant position of Parish Councillor.
There were no other nominations. The proposal was seconded by Mr Peter Patten. Unanimous.

Mrs Warren was not at the meeting due to a previous commitment.

The Clerk will send her an information pack.

5. ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRMAN
Mr Krause proposed Mr Patten for the position of Vice Chairman. Seconded by Mr Collins.
There were no other nominations.

Mr Patten agreed to accept the position for the coming year.

6. ELECTION OF OFFICERS TO COMMITTEES
The following Councillors agreed to represent the Council on the following:-

7. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES
Minutes 55 were accepted and it was unanimously agreed that Mrs Whittington should sign them.
Proposed Mr Krause Seconded Mr Rawlins

8. MATTERS ARISING
There were no Matters Arising.

9. PUBLIC INTERVAL
There were no Members of the Public present.

10. CORRESPONDENCE, ACCOUNTS AND OTHER COUNCIL BUSINESS
Correspondence
Kent Highways – Ashford Liaison Officer Contact
Ashford and Tenterden Citizens Advice
KCC Kent Minerals Development Framework
KAPC Minutes of Meeting held 28.03.07
ABC – Permission to Co-opt Parish Councillor
Kent Police re Lay-by
Housing News
Clerk and Councils Direct
Mr Bates
Standards Board for England
LaMis
ABC re Code of Conduct
South East Planning Aid
KAPC Parish News etc
 

Accounts to be paid
 

Resolution: Councillors unanimously agreed to pay the above accounts.

Bank Balance
The account balance stands at £12176.69. £1500 of this is earmarked for the Village Appraisal. Therefore the amount available to the Parish Council is £10676.69.

Adoption of Internally Audited accounts and completion of associated paperwork
Councillors were circulated with copies of the summary receipts and payments for the Year ended 31 March 2007.

 
The Clerk reported that the internal audit took place on 19 April and the report was discussed.

Councillors unanimously agreed that they were satisfied with the effectiveness of the Internal Auditor, Mr Kevin Funnell and agreed to employ him again next year.

The Chairman read through section 2 of the Annual Report and answered all the questions.

The Clerk and Chairman then signed the relevant sections of the Annual Report.

Councillors unanimously agreed to accept the internally audited accounts.

Standing Orders and Financial Regulations
Adoption of the above deferred until next month.

Code of Conduct
Adoption deferred until July.

Filing of Parish Council Documents
The Clerk asked Councillors whether they were satisfied with the present arrangements for filing documents. The documents are stored at Headley Brothers, courtesy of Mr Roger Pitt.

Quote from Biffa to extend their litter picking to cover the whole village
A decision on this item was deferred until next month.

11. PLANNING
There were no Planning Applications

12. VILLAGE RESPONSIBILITIES
Tidying the Village

Nothing to Report.

Items to be reported the County Lengthsmen
The road surface in Beech Drive and Coach Drive is cracking up.

13. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Mr Rawlins asked whether Councillors were satisfied that work had started on the 24 bed extension to Hothfield Manor within the time that the planning condition stated that work should have started. It was agreed that all was in order.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.35 pm.






Signed …………………………………………………………. Dated …….............................
Mrs S Whittington, Chairman

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