BAYDON PARISH COUNCIL

 

Draft Minutes of the Extraordinary Parish Council meeting held on Tuesday 9 February 2016 held at St Nicholas School

                                                               

PRESENT: Cllr A Knowles, Chairman, Cllr Kevin Howell, Cllr Tony Prior, Cllr Tamsin Witt,  4  Little Crickets committee, Mr & Mrs Chambers, 1 parent, 1 resident.

 

1. APOLOGIES

None

 

2.DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None

 

3. MINUTES OF LAST PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

The Minutes of the meeting dated 11 January 2015 were approved after one amendment (typo in RBS Treasurer’s a/c figure)

 

4. ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION

 

4.1 Little Crickets (LC) Pre-School request for funding contribution

 

The Chairman opened the meeting explaining that Councillors would be considering the request from LC  trustees for a sum of £1400  for the BYPA hall hire due for the January - March term. This need arose following  the Ofsted report, which stated  the four categories were unacceptable. As a consequence, Wiltshire Council (WC) had withdrawn funding for  that period. Continued operation ahead of a re-inspection would continue but the bank balance would be  reduced to zero by the end of term.

He said he would ask each Councillor for their opinion and take contributions from those present during the discussion.

 

Cllr Prior read a statement.

1. The trustees are responsible for ensuring Ofsted standards are met but unfortunately many shortcomings had been identified.

2. No financial documents to back up the request had been offered at the 11 January PC meeting.

3. Meetings had taken place with Mrs D Dawson, Mr P Chambers and Cllr J. Sheppard to obtain background information and, as a result, he raised  several financial questions with the trustees

4. A potential shortage of operational funds  from the start of April until re-instatement of funding by WC was identified. This could be between 3 and 7 weeks according to WC.

5.In the absence of the 2014 closing balance there was a possibility that a loss was made in 2015.   He could not understand the significant losses reported to the Charity Commission in 2010 and 2013.

6. An Ofsted inspection is always an existential threat to any pre-school. LC has to be run as a business.

7. There is no question that the LC is an asset to village - as is the pub, shop and church.

8. When a crisis is self-inflicted, justification of the use of public money has to be closely scrutinised and considered in the light of possible precedents.

He closed by saying the formal linkage between pre- and primary school set challenges that have to be met by trustees.

 

Mr P Chambers said the governors are keen to support Little Crickets. The school is very supportive and would like to help in any way within the limits of the school procedures.

 

Mrs H Norris, parent, said LC is very important in the opinion of the parents. There is a direct linkage between the pre-school and the reception class in the  school. She looked forward to resolution of the situation.

 

Mr R Gregory, LC treasurer, said he had been advised that it might be possible for funding  to re-commence before the report is  issued ie  a positive result could be communicated to WC. The details of expenditure spent and forecast to the end of  April had not been completed.

 

Cllr Howell made the following points:

1. One possibility is for PC funding to be channelled to the BYPA committee instead of LC.

2. He had good  personal experience in his family of the benefits of LC.

3. The early training in life and educational skills given by LC was a positive advantage for the children before full time schooling.

4. There is a very limited choice of nearby village options. Both Aldbourne and Lambourn are full.

5. He noted there is some opposition to LC due to the Ofsted content.

6. He had found a pre-school who also suffered a bad Ofsted report with its content almost the same as the LC one. The pre-school had closed down and re-opened with a different name in the same location.

7. LC is a local employer and an asset to the village.

8. He recognised the PC was in a difficult position, being asked to decide funding in the  circumstances LC finds itself.

 

Cllr Witt:

1. Several points made by Cllr Howell’s overlapped her thoughts.

2. LC is a charity and a non-profit organisation and therefore different to a pub and a shop.

3. She also had a good personal experience of LC.

4. The advantages of LC to the village are significant.

5. Without exception all the parents she had spoken to said they would be very sad if LC closed.

     

Cllr Cockcroft:

1. He was not in favour of directly funding LC for the January-March term. He made a specific proposal for any funding decided upon be given to the BYPA committee.

2. The PC can  legally fund a hall which is open to the public.

3. He shared some of other Councillors’ opinions.

 

General open discussion.

 The Chairman asked whether £1400 would be sufficient to cover the gap in WC funding – not clearly established. A comment was made about surprise that only one parent attended the meeting to support the request. There was a debate as to the actual meaning of “Ofsted would be completed by 31 March” – unresolved. A question was asked about the level of working capital considered necessary by LC. The answer was 3 months operation plus redundancy, held as a ring fenced reserve. The 2015 opening balance was £7823.ie less than the 2015 closing balance. It was agreed that a loan basis was not applicable. The contributions by parents and staff to funds restoration  was  welcomed and appreciated. There are 17 children currently enrolled and it is expected, at this stage, that 13 will join in September. A suggestion that a donation be given up to a maximum of £2000 was rejected.

 

The Chairman asked if a decision could be made that evening – agreed. After further debate a proposal that £1400 be paid to BYPA for the January-March hall hire was withdrawn.  The following resolution was unanimously agreed.

 

The Parish Council will pay the BYPA hall trustees the calculated sum, as defined on an invoice due for the January-March term hall hire, before the 5th  April. If the  Ofsted re-inspection decision is available by then but unacceptable no payment will be paid.                                                          

 

5. ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING

None

 

The meeting closed at 21.44hr

 

Date of next meeting   21 March 2016

 

 

Signed……………………………………..              Cllr Knowles                            Date………………………………………….

 

 

Additional note:-

Identified when Cllr Prior as RFO wrote the minutes:-

 

If the Ofsted report is unavailable and is unacceptable when published after 5 April  the payment will have to be repaid to the Parish Council.

 

 

 

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