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Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Milverton Parish Council
Report of Meeting held 4th January 2016

At its January meeting Milverton Councillors agreed to keep the Precept unchanged for 2016/17. There was considerable debate about what figure should be agreed with a proportion of Councillors advocating a rise to accommodate future commitments such as the public toilets. There was also a worry that the Government may impose a cap which would seriously limit the Councils ability to respond to future calls on its finances. For example a 5% cap would limit any future rises to £700 per annum which would only really cover inflation on existing expenditure. In the end the Chairman proposed that the Precept be frozen at £14000. This was seconded by the Vice Chairman and passed on a vote 5-4.

The meeting of 2016 started with a request from the Milverton Trust that the Parish Council, through its Chairman, formally took up the position of Ex Officio Trustee.

The Clerk reported that SCC would be installing Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) in Milverton on the B3187 near the school on 18th April and the 5th September 2016; in Wood Street on 16th May and the 3rd October 2016 and in Butts Way on 2nd May and the 19th September 2016. The SIDs will remain in place for two weeks.

Councillors expressed concern at the delays in the negotiations to transfer the toilets. However, the Clerk reported that progress would be slow until TDBC had formally adopted its Community Asset Transfer policy.

Councillors also discussed the storage of Council records and minutes. Currently they are held in the Clerks house but this is deemed unsatisfactory. Attempts to agree storage in the Victoria Rooms had been unsuccessful due to lack of space and the Milverton Archive does not have a permanent home. Under the circumstances the Clerk was asked to contact the County Record Centre to see if it would take the records. He was also asked to enquire whether records could be returned if a permanent village archive became established.

In December the Council spent £856 on salaries, PAYE and subscriptions.

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