JRW/291

TODWICK PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Annual Parish Assembly held in Todwick Village Hall
at 7.30p.m. on Tuesday 25th April 2006

Present

• Councillor Pantry - Chairman
• Councillor Cloke
• Councillor Gregory
• Councillor Palmer
• Councillor Varah
• Councillor B Waller
• Councillor L Waller

• J R Walker - Clerk and Financial Officer
• Mr. R Edley
• Mrs. E Wainwright

05/168 APOLOGIES

Apologies had been received from Councillors Kettell and Langford.

05/169 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF 26 APRIL 2005

There were no amendments

The minutes were signed as a correct record.

05/170 MATTERS ARISING

There were no matters arising.

05/171 URGENT ITEMS FOR LATER CONSIDERATIONS

There were no items for later consideration.

05/172 CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

Chairman presented his report.

The past year had seen sound progress in the performance of the Council, but the unexpected death of Councillor John Mosley overshadowed all other events. The Chairman did not wish to deliver another eulogy, but the words - willing, able, eager, and dedicated cover just a few of the late Councillor's attributes. His name was frequently mentioned in Council Meetings.

Paul Langford had been elected vice-Chairman and two new Councillors had been co-opted - Jack Cloke and Phil Kettell, both of whom had proved to be keen to be involved in meetings and other aspects of the Council's work.

The A57 saga continued, and the fate of the community was in the hands of the Ombudsman. Thanks were due to the continued efforts of the Action Group, which had the support of the Council.

A new handyman, Julian Marples had been engaged. John Palmer supervised his work, with advice from Les Waller.

At last the funds were available to rebuild/refurbish the Village Hall. The Council's prudent accrual of 50,000 plus a further 10,000 may well have influenced the decision-makers. The Council would aid the management of the project by providing the skills and experience of Councillors Langford and Pantry, the Clerk Rod Walker to the Village Hall Building Works Committee, which also included John Palmer.

Within the next 12 months there should be two up-to-date buildings in the Village, which would enable higher levels of activity for all the groups in the Village and greater opportunities for collaboration.

The Parish Plan had not seen much progress, mainly due to pressure of the other activities and lack of premises. He had that day met with a representative of YRCC and discussed making formal Expressions of Interest as a first step to obtaining funding to help carry our further parts of the Plan.

Much more involvement by individual Councillors at meetings external to the Village was ensuring that the Council's voice was heard and it remained well informed. Owing to other commitments, Brenda Waller was no longer able to attend the Transport sub-Committee and she was thanked for the years she has been involved.

The INFORMER was written to a standard, which would compete with the "posh" newspapers if The Editor were not confined to four sides of A4 paper. The Council was the envy of other local Councils. He thanked Councillor Gregory for making what could be dull facts into a good read. Copies of the INFORMER and the Council Minutes were available on the Todwick website www.todwick.org.uk for the rest of the world to see, at the same time as the print versions.

TEAG - the Todwick Environment Action Group - not a Council activity, no longer existed after 17 years, but is had left a legacy of plantings and gardens in the Village on which he hoped the new volunteers could build.

Rod Walker, as always, had provided the Council with the level of service required by a Council in an age when there was more regulation and legislation. He offer the Clerk the Council's grateful thanks and hoped the relationship continued well into the future.

As representative of the Council he recently carried out their wishes and signed the Joint Working Charter with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC). All the other local parish and town councils had signed. The Charter was designed "to deliver a new, closer working relationship and provide mutual support between the two tiers".

For the coming year he believe members should ensure they were not distracted by the work on the Village Hall to the detriment of the normal business of Council. They had the skill and the energy to cope with both.

The Council would endeavour to serve Todwick to the best of its ability.

He thanked all Councillors for their support and the standard of debate and decision making in the meetings.

05/173 CLERK & FINANCIAL OFFICER'S REPORT

Clerk had undertaken all the duties placed on him at the previous assembly. He gave details of the duties carried out during the year, explained the accounts for financial year 2005/6, compared them to those for 2004/5 and answered questions.

05/174 APPROVAL OF THE ACCOUNTS FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 2004/5

All members had been provided with a copy of the accounts for financial year 2005/6 together with an explanation of significant variances.

Resolved to approve the Accounts for Financial Year 2005/6.

Chairman and Clerk signed and dated the approved accounts.

05/175 COMMITTEE REPORTS

There were no significant matters to report.

05/176 URGENT ITEMS

There were no urgent items

The Meeting closed at 8.00 p.m.