Aintree Village Parish Council

 

At a meeting of the Parish Council held on 12 November 2007 at 7.00pm

the following Parish Councillors were present:-

 

C Mitchell (Chairman)

T Baldwin, G Downey, M Duggan, F Forrest, J Harkins, L Green, G Payne and J Rooney

 

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P Gill and M Varney

 

Prior to the commencement of the formal business, Councillor Godfrey Downey thanked the Parish Council for the Special Civic Award that the Parish Council had given to him at the recent Civic Service; he informed Parish Councillors that the award was very much unexpected and that he was very appreciative of Parish Councillors’ kind thoughts in giving him the award. A card of thanks from Mrs Monica Downey for the flowers she received from the Parish Council was read out and Councillor Downey also expressed his thanks to the Parish Council for the gift of flowers to his wife and also for the gift vouchers which the Parish Council had kindly presented to him.

 

4477 Minutes – 22 October 2007

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 October 2007 were received as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

4478 Financial Matters

The Parish Council

1)      agreed that in accordance with its powers under section 137 of the Local Government Act 1972, it should incur the following expenditure which in the Parish Council's opinion, is in the interests of the area or its inhabitants and will benefit them in a manner commensurate with the expenditure: grant of £60 to the North West Air Ambulance

2)      approved the following invoices for payment:

 

Payee

Details

Amount

£-p

Cheque no.

Cheque cancelled

-

-

4818

Aintree Conservative Club

Civic Service – welcoming drinks

100.00

4819

Cheque cancelled

-

-

4820

Aaron Signs

Sign writing

56.40

4821

BT

Calls/line rental/call out

183.53

D/D

Arco

Work wear

350.39

4822

Yates Playground

Repair safety surface

185.65

4823

C Bond

Wages from 2006

37.50

4824

HMRC

Tax/NI

918.87

4825

C Mitchell

Adjustment to mileage

14.09

4826

K Ellis

Refreshments/postage

8.66

4827

Zurich Insurance

Review

919.63

4828

J Gordon

Taxis for locking up

158.70

4829

C Mitchell

2nd half Chair’s allowance/flowers

340.00

4831

J J Ormandy

Catering for Civic Service

560.00

4891

Sefton Council

Two call outs to intruder alarm

88.13

4892

R G Harris

Vouchers for Special Civic Award/fee for Civic Service organist

117.46

4893

G Downey

Mileage

22.10

4894

Grainger

Fire alarm repairs

99.88

4895

N W Air Ambulance

Section 137 grant

60.00

4896

A Forrest

Second half of web site manager’s fee/cost of web site hosting

288.07

4897

D Evans

Second half audit fee/review of disciplinary procedure

250.00

4898

 

Councillors Downey and Forrest declared respective interests in the payments for cheques 4894 and 4897 respectively and took no part in the discussions or decisions for those respective payments.

 

The Chairman, Councillor Mitchell, declared her interests in the payments for cheques 4826 and 4831, vacated the chair and did not take part in the discussion or decision for those payments; the Vice Chairman Councillor Downey took the chair for those payments.

 

3)      agreed that the above payments were lawfully payable under the General Powers of the Parish Council and Open Space legislation

4)      agreed that cheques 4832 to 4890 be formally cancelled due to the cheque book being lost in the post

5)      agreed that the RFO be requested to submit a detailed summary of work wear purchases over the last year and to carry out a review of taxi fare refunds for locking up the park

6)      noted the following budget comparison statement for the first half of the financial year 2007/2008:

 

 

 

Expenditure to

September 2007

£-p

Budget

allocation

£

Bank charges

280

500

Capital purchases

0

30,000

Heat, light and telephone

838

2,000

Loan repayment

14,198

14,200

Mileage

165

350

Purchases – see breakdown

7,885

10,000

Repairs/renewals – see breakdown

1,292

10,000

Sundries – see breakdown

8,728

15,000

Section 137

1847

1,000

Salaries and wages

36,140

67,000

Water

656

1,500

VAT

1,813

0

Totals

£73,847 *

£151,550

 

      Breakdown of repairs and renewals

 

Drainage

£

337

Paint

32

Door Repair

155

Electrical Work

516

Padlocks/Keys

176

Work wear

19

Locks

55

Total

£1,292*

 

      Breakdown of purchases

 

Admin expenses

 £   

428

Alarm maintenance

 705

Cleaning materials

92

Equipment

    422

Fuel

 199

Hedge cutting

    300

Maintenance/repair of equipment

  1,059

Paint

     174

Petty cash

  260

Professional fees

   500

Renovation of lawns

 2,639

Skip hire

   679

Taxis

     153

Work wear

     271

Total

 £7,885 *

 

      Breakdown of sundries

 

 

Mini Bus Hire

£

90

50% Chair's Allowance

250

50% Website Upkeep

200

LAPTC

100

Zurich Insurance

7,122

Health and safety

267

Key holding

111

Merseyside Association

35

Fire equipment service

117

Park inspection

147

LAPTC conference

287

 

£8,728 *

 

* Pence figures in above have been deleted for ease of comparison to budget figures; consequently, columns do not add up exactly to the total figures

 

4479 General Correspondence

1)      Sefton Council re parking around the single Holy Rosary site in Oriel Drive from 1 September 2007 noted.

2)      Sefton Council – noted that it had boarded up the insecure openings of the Vernon Tower.

3)      Sefton Council – noted that the draft Green Space Strategy Report was available and that comments had to be made before 23 November 2007.

4)      Sefton Council – noted that there were no plans to reconstruct the footpaths in the shops’ service road of Ormskirk Road but further repair work would be carried out to the road in this area.

5)      Sefton Council – noted that there were no plans to reconstruct the footpaths in Winchester Avenue.

6)      Sefton Council – noted that one tree overhanging 10 Bradfield Avenue would be removed in due course.

7)      Standards Board for England – noted that the Clerk had now notified the Board of the Parish Council's adoption of the model Code of Conduct.

8)      Sefton Council – noted that an officer would meet Councillor Payne re problems along the main service road of Ormskirk Road and hopefully, at the junction of Aintree Lane/Melling Road.

9)      Sefton Council – response re advertising publications calendar noted.

10)  Sefton Council – noted that the street lighting in the “racecourse” roads might be upgraded in three years.

11)  Sefton Council – noted that the rear of the Altway shops would be inspected to ascertain if there are rats there.

12)  Sefton Council re Core Strategy Development Plan; agreed that a copy of the letter be forwarded to Aintree Davenhill and Holy Rosary Schools.

13)  NALC; noted the 2007/2008 pay award had been agreed and that the Clerk would report in detail at the next meeting.

14)  NALC; noted that the minimum statutory holiday entitlement was now 28 days which included the 8 bank holidays.

15)  NHS North West Annual Report 2006-2007 noted.  

 

4480 Planning Issues

The Parish Council noted the following planning matters:

 

 

Application

Number

 

 

Details

 

0879

Approval for extension – 42 Aintree Lane

0869

Approval for certificate of lawfulness – Unit 11 Racecourse Retail Park

0788

Refusal for extension – 155 Altway

0863

Approval for vehicular access onto Wango Lane – 2 Valentine Grove

0910

Application for conservatory – 64 Taunton Drive

0903

Application for extension – 8 Cranwell Close

0946

Application for extension – 7 Keble Drive

0947

Application for certificate of lawfulness – Unit 4 Racecourse Retail Park

0948

Application for dormer etc – 19 Sefton Drive

0891

Application and approval for variation – Unit 5 Racecourse Retail Park

0975

Application for advertisement consent – Unit 9 Racecourse Retail Park

0867

Approval for extension – 245 Altway

0874

Approval for exte