Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Jim Stevens, Jawaid Khan and Councillor John Bartlett.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 September were approved as a true and accurate record.

Bruce Bainbridge, Senior Accountant, gave a verbal presentation to the group.

Two papers were distributed, a draft of the 2014 – 15 Parish Precepts and the Impact on individual parishes of the agreed reduction in contribution for 2014/15 of £18,000. The following key points were highlighted and discussed:

·         In 2012 Peterborough City Council had agreed to reduce funding for Parish Councils.

·         Peterborough City Council would pay a rate of £1.43 to Rural Parish Councils for each adult. Urban parishes would receive £0.48 per adult.

·         The amount was set lower for urban Parishes due to a historical decision which was made when Council Tax was implemented as urban parishes would always be larger than rural.

·         The numbers of residents were obtained from the electoral register.

·         Parish Councils should receive final figures relevant to their parishes in the new year

·         There would be the possibility of a referendum if the council decided to have a rise in council tax.

·         A Council Tax Support Grant was paid last year to support Parishes and to compensate for the reduction of Council Tax across Parishes.

·         Peterborough City Council had been working to ensure Parish Councils received a balanced budget as they could not set a deficit budget.

ACTION

Bruce Bainbridge to check Hampton Parish Council’s figures are correct. 

The Chairman reported to the group that the Parish Conference was a success. It had 125 attendees and 45 feedback forms were received all suggesting that they would like to attend anther Parish Conference next year.

The key message from the conference was that Parishes could work together for a stronger, Safer, Cleaner, Greener city.

Members made the following comments:

·         The discussions were positive and the presentation from the police was an improvement on the previous year.

·         The venue was much better than the previous year and that type of environment would be good to host next year’s Parish Conference.

·         The venue was not suitable for wheelchair users as it lacked space and it seemed that no thought had gone in to the needs of disabled people.

ACTION

Cate Harding to collate all of the information and circulate the formal evaluation to Parishes.

Ian Dewar, CPALC and Councillor Henry Clark delivered a power point presentation to the group. The following key points were highlighted:

·         A project was required to:

-       Make people aware of the benefit of having a Parish Council.

-       Persuade people that it was worth devoting two years to setting a Parish Council up.

-       Persuade people that it was worth becoming a Parish Councillor.

-       Inform people that financial and practical assistance was available 

-       Ultimately to help provide a better life for residents

·         The following needed to be covered to start:

-       What a Parish was

-       What was required of a Parish Councillor

-       What could a Parish Council do

-       What were the benefits of having a Parish Council

-       How could a Parish Council raise money

-       How a Parish Council was created

·         How Parishing was sold:

-       A working party was formed which consisted of Parish Councillors, CAPALC and Peterborough City Council

-       Marketing materials were created using existing and new papers and it could be part of the Peterborough.gov.uk website

-       The idea could be sold to the local community and ward councillors

·         A working party had already been set up.

·         The working party would meet in January, February and March to create marketing materials

·         Engagement with communities would take place from April onwards

·         A follow up with interested communities would take place

ACTION

Volunteers for the project to contact Ian Dewar, Councillor Henry Clark or Cate Harding

Adrian Chapman, Head of Neighbourhoods suggested that an extra meeting was held in February to discuss the budget and ward boundary review.

The following future agenda items were suggested by the group:

·         Update on parishing in Peterborough

·         Update on Localism

·         Ward Boundary Review

·         Emergency Planning

·         Refresh on a meeting at the emergency planning centre

There was no further business to discuss.