Draft Minutes of APCM and APM 14th May 2025

BRAMPFORD SPEKE PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING FOLLOWED BY THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
held on Wednesday 14th May 2025

Present: Cllr S Luxton, Cllr R Tillett, Cllr W Honan and Cllr E Hollingsworth
In attendance: Ms Tracy Watkins (Clerk), 1 Member of the Parish and 2 representatives from the Community Land Trust.
The meeting commenced at 7.03pm
Before commencing the meeting proper Cllr Richard Tillett wanted to thank on record Brad Hillson for everything he has done for the Council and to wish him every success for the future.
AGENDA

31/25 Election of Chair
Invite nominations and elect a Chair for the year. As Brad Hillson has resigned the Office of Chair stands empty. Cllr Tillett PROPOSED Cllr Stuart Luxton, who accepted the nomination this was SECONDED by Cllr Hollingsworth RESOLVED.
Cllr Luxton and the Clerk signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office. This will be held on record by the Clerk.

32/25 Election of Vice Chair
Cllr Tillet advised he would like to step down as Vice Chair. Invite nominations and elect a Vice Chair for the year. Cllr Tillett PROPOSED Will Honan, who accepted the nomination this was SECONDED by Cllr Hollingsworth RESOLVED
Cllr Honan and the Clerk signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office. This will be held on record by the Clerk

33/25 Election of representing Councillors
To elect and receive declarations of acceptance from all Councillors. Due to Cllrs Langdon and Wayne not being present at the meeting this has been deferred to the July meeting.
34/25 Apologies - To receive any apologies for absence
Fabian King (EDDC) sent his apologies which were accepted. There was no communication from either Cllr Gent or Cllr Vanstone (DCC). Both Cllrs Langdon and Wayne were absent from the meeting and no apologies were sent.

35/25 Declarations of Interest Under the Code of Conduct
Councillors are reminded of the requirement to declare any interest, including the type of interest, and reason for that interest, either at this stage of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of that interest.
Cllr Luxton declared an interest in any discussions arising to do with the affordable housing schemes.
36/25 Minutes of previous meetings (circulated)
To resolve to adopt the minutes of the APM on 8th May 2024 and the Ordinary meeting of the Council on 12th March 2025 as a true record. PROPOSED Cllr Hollingsworth SECONDED Cllr Tillett. Adopted as a true record. RESOLVED.

37/25 Report from the Chair
To receive the annual report from the Chair which was prepared by Cllr Tillett in the absence of the previous Chair.
Cllr Luxton read out the Chairmans report and this will be added to the documents on the website.
38/25 Reports from the Lead Councillors

Councillors agreed unanimously to the representatives from the CLT giving the Council an update at this point in the meeting.
Nick Scott and Stuart Wass were present from the CLT.
Stuart Wass read out a report regarding the CLT scheme. They held a successful public consultation. Hopefully in early 2026 for full planning application. Water run off concerns are being looked at in more detail. Roadway access will be permeable to help with run off. A survey could advise that soakaways might suffice. Concerns have been raised around the community area. CLT have followed the police guidelines with regards community areas and concerns about anti-social behaviour. If there were problems with the area in the future the CLT will be responsible for sorting this. The CLT have picked up some new members since the public consultation.
Leander Site – Cllr Tillett send an email to developer. There is a hint that the site will be bungalow led but this is not confirmed. Developers are still doing surveys and may not put a planning application in this year. At some point the Council will need to decide whether to formally invite them to a Parish Council meeting.

The Chair read out the annual reports from all Councillors and the Footpath Warden. These will be accessible with the minutes on the website.
39/25 Report from County Councillor
The final report from Cllr Sara Randall-Johnson has already been circulated to Councillors. Cllr Henry Gent retains his seat as County Councillor and Nat Vanstone takes over the seat held by Sara Randall-Johnson. The Council would like to thank Sara for all her support over the years. Clerk to invite Cllrs Gent and Vanstone to future meetings.
40/25 Report from District Councillor
The April report from Cllr Fabian King (EDDC) has already been circulated to Councillors
41/25 Public Question Time
Up to 5 minutes Public Question Time for members of the public to bring forward any issues not on the agenda (where a matter is already on the agenda members of the public will be given an opportunity to speak when that item is considered, within the framework of the Council’s standing orders). Where a decision is required, the issue will be placed on the following agenda.
• The noticeboard is looking very shabby can it be varnished? Also, one of the benches has been broken. Cllr Hollingsworth will contact a local contractor to get a quote to do both.
• Tractors driving through the village very fast. Not much the Parish Council can do. People need to report to the police as it happens.
42/25 The Certificate of Exemption
To resolve to approve the Certificate of Exemption. PROPOSED Cllr Tillett and SECONDED Cllr Luxton. RESOLVED. Clerk to submit to the external auditors as soon as possible.
43/25 The Annual Internal Audit Report
The report from the auditor has been circulated to Councillors. The recommendations have been noted and will be acted upon during this financial year. To resolve to approve this report and publish. PROPOSED Cllr Hollingsworth and SECONDED Cllr Luxton. RESOLVED. Clerk to submit to the external auditors as soon as possible.
44/25 Annual Governance Statement
To resolve to complete and approve this statement. PROPOSED Cllr Tillett and SECONDED Cllr Honan. RESOLVED. Clerk to submit to the external auditors as soon as possible.
45/25 Annual Accounting Statement
To resolve to agree and sign this statement. PROPOSED Cllr Honan and SECONDED Cllr Hollingsworth. RESOLVED. Clerk to submit to the external auditors as soon as possible.

46/25 Notice of Public Rights and Publication of Council’s accounts – to resolve to agree the dates of publication from Tuesday 3rd June 2025 to Monday 14th July 2025 thus including the first 14 days of July as required by law. PROPOSED Cllr Hollingsworth and SECONDED Cllr Tillett. RESOLVED. Clerk to submit to the external auditors as soon as possible.
The notice to be published on the website.

47/25 End of Year Bank Reconciliation and Explanation of Variances
To resolve to approve the reconciled accounts to 31st March 2025 and details of variances have already been circulated to Councilors. To be noted and accepted as a true record of the accounts. PROPOSED Cllr Hollingsworth and SECONDED Cllr Tillett. RESOLVED.
48/25 Financial Matters
To receive the accounts summary to 30th April 2025 (previously approved by Cllrs Luxton and Tillett).
2 x Payments to the Clerk for payroll (March and April salary)
2 x Payments to HMRC for NI & PAYE (February and March)
2 x Payments to BT for phone line in Hall £12.09 (28.03.2025 and 29.04.2025)
1 x payment of £513.28 for a replacement laptop and software (02.04.2025)
1 x Payment to DALC for £155.25 (28.04.2025)
1 x payment to Internal Auditor for £79.00 (29.04.2025)
1 x Payment received of £4375.00 Precept (01.04.2025)
To NOTE the following payments were approved remotely in accordance with Financial Regulations:
Note: Payments approved by Councillors S Luxton and Cllr R Tillett in accordance with the Financial Regulations.
To approve payments and bank reconciliation PROPOSED Cllr Tillett and SECONDED Cllr Honan. RESOLVED.
To confirm appointment of signatories for cheque payments and approvers for all BACS transaction currently Cllr. Luxton and Cllr Tillett. Clerk to add Cllr Honan to the bank mandate as a full signatory.
Budgets– To resolve to review the budgets. These are due to be done in full in November 2025. The Clerk reported at this stage of the year no overspends or concerns.
49/25 Planning
To discuss any planning applications received since the last meeting.
None have been received.
50/25 Asset Register (circulated)
Asset register has been checked and updated. This will be added to the budget spreadsheet for greater transparency. Clerk to add the Hall to this and Cllr Honan will find out how much the Hall is insured for, should it need to be rebuilt, so that this figure can be added to the asset register as a value.
51/25 Financial Risk Assessment (circulated)
To resolve to approve and publish the financial risk assessment. This has been checked by the Clerk and updated where necessary. It has been circulated to Councillors before the meeting. To be published on the Council website. PROPOSED Cllr Luxton and SECONDED Cllr Honan. RESOLVED.
52/25 Policies (circulated)
To resolve to approve and adopt the following policies:
• Code of Conduct
• Publication Scheme
• Internal Control Policy
• Reserves Policy
• Complaints procedure
• Standing Orders – we will use the current format.
All current policies to be re-adopted and new ones adopted. PROPOSED Cllr Luxton and SECONDED Cllr Tillett. RESOLVED.
53/25 Date of next meetings
To discuss the possible changes to dates of meetings going forwards.
All councillors present agreed to change the meetings dates to the first Tuesday of every other month. The revised dates will be circulated to councillors and published on the website.
These are now:
8th July
2nd September
4th November
2026
6th Jan
3rd March
5th May AGM/APM
7th July

Meeting closed at 20:25 pm