CYNGOR CYMUNED LLANSADWRN COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of the MS Teams meeting of Llansadwrn Community Council held on Wednesday 6th January, 2021 at 6.30 p.m.
Present:
Charman: Councillor C. Powell
Councillors: T. Evans, C. Eady, Christine Jones
County Councillor A. Davies
1. Apologies
Councillor L. Jones, Councillor C. Hudson, Councillor J. Evans, Councillor L. Rowlands
2. Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising that were not included on the Agenda
Minutes were accepted as correct.
3. Declarations of Interest
County Councillor A. Davies – Cornwallis
Councillor T. Evans – Llansadwrn Reading Room, Cornwallis, Gardd Gymunedol Llansadwrn
4. Matters arising from the minutes:
4.2 Llansadwrn Reading Room
Councillor T. Evans had been appointed chairman of the Reading Room, but Councillor L. Rowlands would continue to be the member representing the Community Council.
8 (c) Speed Restrictions
County Councillor A. Davies was thanked for all his efforts in securing a 30 m.p.h. speed limit through the village, the signs were already in place.
Brownhill Junction
Nothing to report.
Llansadwrn Play Area
Carmarthenshire County Council had agreed to inspect the Play Area during February or March. A number of complaints had been received regarding the vermin (rats) that had been seen in the hedge on the path leading to the Play Area. This had been reported to Carmarthenshire County Council.
Web Site
It was reported that the website had been a great help during lockdown as a contact for local people. There was a list of volunteers that were available also a lot of work had been done with supporting the Food Bank.
Defibrillator
Due to the lockdown and social distancing the Clerk had not delivered the defibrillator to Llansadwrn, but other delivery arrangements were in place.
8 (2) Highway issues
Nothing further to report regarding the problem with the pot holes.
8 (a) Gardd Gymunedol Llansadwrn Community Garden
No meetings were being held at present.
8 (d) Light for the Community Field
No reply had been received again from Carmarthenshire County Council.
Newly Installed LED lights
This to remain on the Agenda and a site meeting would be arranged as soon as COVID19 issues were relaxed.
5. Correspondence
(a) Latest news – Carmarthenshire County Council
(b) WG Elections newsletter
(c) Hywel Dda newsletter
(d) One Voice Wales newsletter
(e) Have your say Policing priorities
(f) NHS & Frontline Workers day – 5th July, 2021
6. Reports
(a) Report from County Councillor
(i) Highway Issues – The salt and grit boxes were being monitored
(ii) Unfortunately Ash-die back disease affected 90% of the trees
(iii) Problems with the amount of finance required to maintain the roads/highways
(iv) Budget Consultation meetings were being held
(b) Report from Cornwallis Trust Liaison
Councillor T. Evans had resigned as a Community Council representative. It was reported that the results of the feasibility study had been received and distributed.
7. Payments
Payments
YNH – £12.00
Audit Office – £350.25
Clerks Wages – £266.60
(includes expenditure: 30 stamps = £30.00 + £36.00 internet/broadand)
HMRC – £50.00
Donation
A request for a donation had been received from Llangadog YFC, it was discussed and agreed to give a donation of £50.000
Llangadog YFC – £50.00
A letter had been received from Mr Graham Craig, Llansadwrn requesting £50.00 to purchase trees oak saplings from the Woodland Trust, which would be planted around the village. He also asked if one could be planted on the Community field, this to be discussed at the next meeting. The donation of £50.00 was agreed, Graham to order the trees and the Invoice to be sent to the Community Council.
(a) Signing of quarterly income and expenditure reports/bank statements
The next report was quarter 4 which was due at the end of March.
(b) Budget 2021/2020
The Clerk had prepared a budget report which had been included with the minutes. The budget was discussed and accepted.
Precept
This was discussed and agreed that it would remain as £6,000.00
A precept payment of £2,000.00 had been received for the quarter ended 22/12/2020.
S137 Local Government Act
The appropriate sum for 2021/2022 would be £8.41.
Audit 2019/2020
Grant Thornton reported that except for the matters reported below, on the basis of our review, in our opinion, the information contained in the Annual Return is in accordance the proper practice and no matters come to our attention giving cause for concern that relevant legislation and regulatory requirements have not been met.
Approval of the Annual Return
The Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2014 require the Council to approve the accounting statements by the members meeting as a whole and for the Chair of the meeting to sign and date the Annual Return. The accounting statements have not been approved by the Council as a whole and this has instead been agreed in the form of acceptance by email. The Regulations required a minimum that members can hear each other during meetings, therefore the use of email to hold a meeting is not lawful.
(The Clerk explained that the Audit was due by the end of September and it had not been possible to hold virtual meetings)
Payments to the Clerk
In 2019-2020 the clerk received £164 in taxable benefits that have not been subject to tax through PAYE or a benefits in kind declaration. Please note that the Council is required to administer taxation of its employees’ salaries and taxable benefits. Therefore, the correct response to assertion 3 on the Annual Governance Statement (Part 1) is “No”.
(The Clerk had now rectified the situation and had included this quarters expenditure on her pay slip. The PAYE is completed by Accountants and the Clerk will ensure that they receive the information required.)
Accounting Statement, Box 14 – Trust fund disclosure note
Box 14 on the Accounting Statement, trust funds disclosure note, was left unanswered for 2018/2019 on the Annual Report.
The Council has confirmed that it does not act as a sole trustee nor is it responsible for managing trust funds or assets and so this box should read ”N/A”. In future the Council should ensure the Annual Return is completed in full prior to the submission to External Auditors.
High level of Reserves
We note that the Council holds a hight level of general reserves, approximately 1.4 times the annual precept for 2019/2020.
The Council should consider the level of general reserves required and consider taking steps to reduce the level of reserves in future years if necessary.,
Minutes – Staff Costs
We note that there has been an increase in Box 4, staff costs for 2019-2020 due to additional payments to the clerk for translating the relevant documents into Welsh. The Council could not provide evidence of committee agreement of this increase in the Council minutes, it is good practice for the Council to document the discussions and approval of payments.
8. Any other business
Broadband/Internet
This was discussed at length, the closing date for registration was 10th January, 2021. With the present situation and everyone being asked to work from home, schools closed and pupils educated at home there is more and more pressure on broadband speeds. Current lack of adequate provision is hampering business, education and leisure opportunities for local residents. Everyone should be encouraged to use the same provider. The Clerk was asked to write a letter to Jonathan Edwards M.P. and Adam Price A.M.
Event on Community Field
A request had been received for permission to place a Marquee for a wedding on the Community Field, this was agreed on receipt of further details.
9. Date of next meeting
The next meeting to be held on Wednesday February 3rd, 2021.