9th May 2024 Annual Parish Meeting
Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting in the Village Hall
Thursday 9th May 2024
1. PRESENT: Chairman N. MacDermid, Vice Chairman A. Dewsnip, Councillors T. Hall, C.
Dickinson, J. Locke, K. Tharby and Clerk M. Richards. 1 resident were also present.
2. Apologies: Apologies for absence were received and accepted from Cllr S. Gallimore and Cllr
A. Paraskos (NYC)
3. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 11th May 2023 confirmed as approved at June
2023 meeting.
4. Matters arising – all issues had been followed up at the June 2023 meeting. No outstanding
matters.
5. Reports:
Financial report for the year to 31 March 2024 – presented by the clerk/RFO – The Parish Council continues to be in a healthy financial state, with a significant level of reserves. These reserves, as previously reported, are necessary due to the need to provide for unexpected incidents with regard to high value assets and the need to be prepared for replacement of high-cost play equipment at Follifields which is now in its 7th year. The draft annual accounts statement is being circulated for councillors’ review and approval. 2023-24 has again been a relatively normal year in financial terms with receipts and payments largely mirroring previous years, except for the receipts and payments in respect of the Plompton Road Fund. This scheme, which led to turnover exceeding £25,000, does mean the Council will be subject to an external audit this year. The only outstanding issue is the reclaim of VAT of some £1500 which should be received later this month.
The Internal Auditor has started his review work on the accounts and the state of internal financial control and governance and will be presenting his report to the June Parish Council meeting, at which the formal Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) will be available for Councillors’ scrutiny and review, prior to authorisation, but the draft has been circulated and any immediate queries can be addressed.
6. Chairman’s report to the Annual Parish Meeting
Thanks to all those attending this Annual Parish Meeting.
First of all a quick name check of Parish Councillors: –
I’m Nigel MacDermid – Chairman;
Anne Dewsnip is Vice Chair;
Our fellow Parish Councillors are: –
Sam Gallimore
Charles Dickinson
Justin Locke
Keith Tharby
Terry Hall – representing Plompton
And a final introduction of Mike Richards our Parish Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer.
As with previous years I’d like to give my thanks for the great service that the Parish Councillors
and the Parish Clerk have given to the community, and the support they give to me personally.
Some other people I’d also again like to thank are: –
Steve Smith for maintaining the follifoot.org website
Our village handyperson
Stuart Bush for cutting the grass and maintaining Follifields.
And finally, a mention to Andy Paraskos – our local North Yorkshire Councillor. Andy has continued to be a great supporter of our Parish and regularly attends our meetings. We have also again benefited from the council fund that Andy is able to allocate to community projects.
Thanks & Appreciation
In addition to those I’ve just mentioned, I would like to thank all of the organisations and groups in our community, including Friends of Follifoot School, FoFWRAP, the WI, The Village Hall Trustees/Committee and particular thanks to Anne and Andy for all the great things they are involved in. As ever a huge thanks must go to members of our community who attend and support the organised events that makes all the effort so worthwhile.
Road Safety
Having previously installed a Picket Fence and signage as a traffic calming measure on Haggs Road in this last year, we funded and installed Picket Fences on Pannal Road on the way into the village from the bypass. We will continue to lobby for a reduction in speed limits on some roads within our Parish, with the residential part of Haggs Road being a top priority, but in the meantime we hope that initiatives such as the Picket Fences will help encourage drivers to reduce their speeds. We continue to monitor and report on traffic and speed data from the Vehicle Activated Sign that was installed a few years ago. As a final item of road/community safety, the Parish Council made a donation to Follifoot School towards the purchase of road safety signs to be used on Tofts Lane.
Recreation & Leisure
The Parish Council continues to maintain the Follifields wildlife, recreation and play area.
This includes the regular cutting of the grass, a major pruning of the hedge to maintain the open aspect of the play area, the removal of cuttings from the Wildflower area in the autumn/winter and maintenance of the play equipment.
Whilst there wasn’t a specific fundraising event in the last year we thank those people that made donations to help towards Follifields upkeep. We have built up some good reserves from previous events and we will be holding a specific fundraising event in the year ahead.
Maintenance, Litter Picking and Hygiene
The Phone Box/Information Centre had a painting refresh in the last year and most recently we installed green defibrillator signage that lights up in the evening. We also purchased a new battery and Defibrillator pads for the previous ones that had reached their expiry date.
We held both an Autumn and more recently a Spring litter pick. The Spring litter pick was especially well attended. Thanks go to those residents that were able to attend.
In addition, Charles and Chris Dickinson have continued to carry out litter picking as part of their regular walks, and we are very grateful to both of them. I’d also like to some younger voluteers who have undertaken litter picking activity as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. I’d also like to thank Charles & Chris Dickinson for the planting and maintaining of flowers at the entrances to the village which create an excellent and colourful welcome as people come into the village. Our village handyman has carried out maintenance activity in the village and Stuart Bush has maintained Follifields. Now that the weather is getting better we will be undertaking a. number of bench refurbishments. Finally on maintenance, and also a road safety issue too – theproblem of potholes in roads is a nationwide issue, but it is increasingly becoming a problem on our roads. The most obvious of these is the major issue on Pannal Road on the way into the village from the By-pass. We will continue to lobby North Yorkshire Council to deal with this, and we would encourage residents to do the same.
The Parish Council plays an important role in the planning permission process, and as a consultee we provide local knowledge and comments on planning applications that are submitted for developments in the Parish. We take a positive and constructive approach to the review of applications, but where we feel that an application is inappropriate then we will respond accordingly. As part of the review process, we will take into account the National Planning Policy Framework and other planning policies. 29 applications came forward in the last year for our responses. Having previously supported the outline Planning Application for a Country Club development at Rudding Park we welcomed senior management from Rudding Park to review their application for a prefabricated temporary restaurant that will be in place for a 5 year period whilst the Country Club Development takes place. In June of last year we had a presentation from representatives of North Yorkshire Council to provide an update on the Commuted Sums process. Commuted sums is a process whereby developers pay a levy that is used towards community initiatives. We welcome this funding but the sums involved are fairly modest, and we look forward to the implementation of the Community Infrastructure Levy scheme which replaces Commuted Sums and will provide greater funding and control for the Parish Council.
North Yorkshire County Activity
During the year we discussed two key North Yorkshire proposals to develop a Housing Strategy and new North Yorkshire Development Plan. These will develop over a period of time and we will continue to observe and engage, paying particular attention to how these might impact on ourcommunity.
A few comments on our finances
Mike has already talked in some detail about the Parish Council finances in his report so I will just make a few comments of my own.
The annual Parish Precept (which forms part of residents Council Tax Bills) was £10,930 for the financial year just ended. Having frozen the precept for that year as a Parish Council we made the decision raise the Precept by 2% to £11,150. The Parish Council does hold financial reserves and we are mindful that these should not grow too large. We currently hold £5,292 for the maintenance of Follifields (including future equipment renewal) We have also made a conscious decision to retain reserves for future major maintenance projects such as Follifields, the Phone Box/Defibrillator and Village Stocks. All of which are Parish assets. The Parish Council was pleased to assist the residents of Plompton by facilitating the collection of payments for their road re-surfacing project. We also agreed to pay the cost of an energy performance survey of the village hall as part of a scheme they are working on to replace the current heating system and improve insulation and energy efficiency.
Closing Comments
It is great that we have an active and supportive community, and we look forward positively to the year ahead.
That concludes my annual report.
Submissions from Residents
There being no questions or comments from parishioners, the Chairman closed the Annual
Parish Meeting by thanking all for their attendance and positive contributions to the matters
discussed. He also thanked councillors for their hard work and effort throughout the year in
supporting the community.
Next Annual Parish Meeting:8th May 2025, in Follifoot Village Hall.