Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday, 23rd May 2002 in the
Rankin Room, Victory Hall, Broughton-in-Furness

Cllr Mrs L Burch (Chairman), Cllr H J Barker (Vice Chairman), Cllr D Hoggarth, Cllr A Harrison, Cllr Mrs E Knowles, Cllr Mrs V Glessal, Cllr J S Batten, Cllr Read, Cllr J W Curwen, Cllr B Hadwin.

Apologies

All present.

RESOLVED that Mrs L Burch be re-elected as Chairman for a further year - acceptance of office to be signed.

RESOLVED that Mr J Barker be re-elected as Vice Chairman for a further year.

RESOLVED that meetings be held every month on the 4th Thursday at 7.30, unless a change is approved at a previous meeting.

The following account was presented to the meeting for inspection:

Broughton & Kirkby Medical Aid - Mr W Atkinson told the meeting that the trustees would probably be recommending that this charity should be wound up and monies given to other relevant local organisations. The charity had been in existence for 20 years and had supplied numerous items of equipment to the local doctors. Councillors thanked Mr Atkinson and said that a very good job had been done by the charity, and was greatly appreciated by the parish.

RESOLVED that the Chairman sign, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 25 April 2002.

Cllr Curwen told the meeting that the purchase of land at the old council depot at Foxfield had been completed by Furness & South Cumberland Supply Co and that they would be moving to the site in due course. It is hoped that a recycling site would also be established there.

The Clerk presented the following letters received:

After considering the correspondence it was decided to take the following action:

189 copy to Cllr Knowles for consideration as a possible source of a grant for Wilson Park

200 advertise locally for a new clerk

Planning Applications

RESOLVED to pay the following from main account:

All Councillors were given a copy of the simplified accounts for 2001-2002, which had already been endorsed by a meeting of the Financial Working Group last week. After an explanation of the new audit system, it was RESOLVED that the accounts be approved and that the Chairman and RFO be given permission to sign the audit form when it arrived.

The RFO explained the need to appoint an internal auditor retrospectively for the last financial year because of the government edict that the accounting system be changed for last year. Also the Chief Officer of CALC had been consulted as to the type of person needed to carry out this role, which should be a responsible person who had a knowledge of local organisation finances. It was suggested and RESOLVED that Mrs Ann Nixon should be appointed to carry out the internal audit role for 2001-2002 for a fixed fee of £40 and for 2002-2003 for a fixed fee of £50. This would then be reviewed at the next AGM for the following year.

After reports from each Councillor, the following actions were requested:

Clerk to write the the CE of Cumbria County Council to report that no action had been taken regarding the dangerous state of the roadside near Lane End Farm reported last in ???, and that if an accident happened to a member of the public due to this not being repaired, Duddon Parish Council would take action against the County.

Clerk to write to the Environment Agency regarding the dangerous state of the river bank at Shop Bridge, Broughton Mills.

Clerk to write to the Housing Dept at SLDC to report that one of the residents of the Low Kepplewray bungalows is stone cladding the front of the property.

It was RESOLVED that payment would be made for wood to enable the fence at the children’s play park to be repaired - Anthony Todd had offered to do the job if the wood was supplied.

Cllr Curwen reported that a meeting was to be held regarding detrunking of the A595 and other problems, probably at Grizebeck. The alteration to the pavement in the square had been scrapped. All agreements had been made regarding the new sewerage plant.

A request had been made to repair the EP Barker grave - the money for this is not part of the Council accounts, and would be dealt with by the trustees.

After a discussion regarding the last letter from Mr Atkinson’s solicitor, it was unanimously agreed that the Council’s solicitor should be instructed to tell Mr Atkinson that the fence had to be removed by him within 28 days Furthermore, the Council also claimed costs of solicitor’s fee and for time spent by the Clerk and Council in dealing with this matter over the last year. It was hoped that this would be taken to court for a proper ruling without wasting any more time and public money. The request for someone to agree the boundary between his property and the land in question was turned down as it was felt that the boundary is already shown in Mr Atkinson’s deeds.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 9.55 pm and the next meeting set for 4th July 2002.