Report of the Farringdon Parish Council Annual General Meeting - 2nd May 2012
- The following Officers were elected: Cllr Chris Taylor (Chairman), Cllr Mrs Caroline Roe (Vice-chair), Cllr Gary Oakley (Hon. Treasurer).
- The following appointments were made : - Planning Sub-committee : Cllr David Williams, Cllr Mrs Honor Garrard and CllrJeremy Cowan (The PSc will appoint a chairman amongst themselves)
Footpaths Representative: Cllr Williams
Tree Warden: Cllr Williams
EHAPTC Representative: Cllr Peter Durrant.
Village Hall Coordinator: Cllr Peter Durrant (Mr David Horton kindly volunteered to act as Village Hall Manager)
Vision Farringdon 2030: Cllr Clive Elderton
Parish Council Review: Cllr Jeremy Cowan
(Any or all of the above appointments may be subject to change when the Parish Council Review is completed later this year)
- Highways: All roads within the village had been recently inspected by HCC Highways Department and priorities for repairs made. Concern was expressed that pot-hole repairs, while timely, in general, were only intended to be of a temporary nature; however they were recorded as “job done” and thus attracted no further attention from the CC.
- Financial Matters: The annual audit of the PC accounts was complete and is available for inspection by residents.
In order to try for the best interest rate and also flexibility, the funds given for maintenance of Shirnall Meadow had been equally split between a two year bond and a one year bond.
- Several planning matters were raised in a report to Council
- EHAPTC Business: The local Community Forum seemed to be having difficulty in finding its usefulness to residents; feedback was sought from Parishes.
- Footpaths: 6 action points had been raised with HCC; they are “in hand”. Cllr Mark Kemp-Gee would be informed in view of previous intransigence.
- Village Hall: Following the resignation “en bloc” of the VH Trustees at their AGM last month, the Parish Council had agreed to be sole corporal Trustee of the VH; this entailed a change of Constitution which was guided by legal advice and was acceptable to the Charity Commission.
Contrary to some reports, the Hall would remain open for business as usual to regular users and for hire, as before.While plans for the short, medium and long-term future of the Hall were explored, the preferred “de-listing” was high on the agenda and meetings to explore this are scheduled with EHDC and SDNPA. Management of thew Hall is a seriously expensive prospect, it was warned, without some positive action.
Council was greatly indebted to Mr David Horton for volunteering to manage the day-to-day affairs of the Hall in the meantime.
- Vision 2030: Cllr Garrard reported that the coordinating group were currently finalising the questionnaire that would be circulated to all homes and businesses in Farringdon Parish. It is absolutely important that everyone completes this survey, since it will form the basis of the future Village Plan, and will incorporate the needs, fears and expectations of the community into the future.
- Parish Council Review: Cllr Cowan reported that he had started seeking views of Councillors in the first of three stages – how the PC works, who is responsible and what changes should be made. His findings would be correlated, together with recommendations and presented to Council before the end of the year.
- Dates of future meetings (all in the Village Hall, usually on the first Wednesday of the month, starting at 19.30 hrs.):
4July
5 September
7 November
9 January
6 March
3 April (Annual Village Meeting)
8 May FPC AGM)Mike Findlay
Parish Clerk