Clerk’s Report January 2024
Clerk’s Report to Sticklepath Parish Council January 2024
If any Member of the Public wishes to see details of the correspondence or matters mentioned please contact the clerk, details below.
General Tasks
- I have forwarded lots of emails to the councillors, and read others which proved to not be of interest to Sticklepath.
- I have researched in the archives about the Playing Field Wall and Affordable Housing.
- I have submitted an article to the Beacon for January.
- Kier on behalf of South West Water have sent several street closure notifications for the Sticklepath in Barnstaple. I have notified them many times previously that they are sending them to the wrong councils (sent to WDBC as well instead of North Devon), and have now informed them that in future I will just be deleting them instead of letting them know their error.
- I wrote to North Tawton about their housing initiative, who forwarded it to their Community Land Trust, as it is not run by the Council. A member of the Land Trust rang and emailed me with further information, as they are only just starting and recommended some other people to speak to us. I have therefore contacted Chagford Community Trust https://chagfordcommunitytrust.org.uk/ and some Community Trust facilitators called Middlemarch https://middlemarchclh.co.uk/ to see if either of those could speak to us, but have had no replies over Christmas.
- Alex Rehaag of West Devon Borough Council has confirmed that the need for 7 affordable homes is for Sticklepath parish specifically.
- I have thanked Peter and Alan for their work in organising the Remembrance Day ceremony, and Alan confirmed that no offence had been taken from the Council’s lack of attendance. However Peter is quite upset about it, as he believes that it is the Parish Council who should organise the ceremony, not the British Legion. This is something that some councils do choose to do, but Sticklepath Parish Council have not done in the past, although they do usually take part.
- I have received the new Electoral Register for 2024. We now have 343 electors, one less than last year.
- Cllr Bell has kindly supplied me with a photograph of the litter bin for the asset register.
Website
I have published the following pages/posts:
- Parish Council Minutes and associated reports.
- Assisting Members of the Public Policy
- Christmas Recycling Dates
Agenda Items
9. Donations
Last year £50 donations were given to:
- Citizen’s Advice Bureau
- Okehampton District Community Transport Group
- Sticklepath and Okehampton Conservation Group (StOC)
- Sticklepath Heritage Group
12. 2024-25 Budget
I have revised the budget in the light of the unexpected expenditure from the last meeting. Due to the unexpected MVAS and playing field wall expenditure, we will have overspent our budget this year by an estimated £656 which is about 9%, even after the £500 in grants to cover some of the wall. This overspend will attract attention from the auditor. It does not show good stewardship, even though we could not avoid it. The reserves will be at a level well below the recommended minimum of 50% of expenditure, and these should be built up again.
West Devon Borough Council have confirmed that our Tax Base (the number of people that pay Council Tax) has gone up slightly this year, so the revised budget shows a slightly lower increase for residents than as a comparison between budget figures.
13. Okehampton Hospital
Please see this link about the campaign:
https://www.okehampton-today.co.uk/news/fight-to-reopen-ward-continues-647455
And Sticklepath Parish Council’s report before the closures
https://www.sticklepathparish.gov.uk/groups-committees/parish-council/minutes-2016/minutes-of-meeting-7-december-2016-draft/parish-council-response-to-proposed-hospital-bed-closure/
Parish Clerk: Sally Fullwood, 5 Tor Down, Belstone, Okehampton, EX20 1QU
Tel: 01837 849131 Mobile: 07885 959554 Email: clerk@sticklepath.org
Parish Council