Ulverstown Town Council Website

• All council funds are public money. All amounts spent or received must be carefully accounted for.
• There must be systems in place for recording all transactions.
• If operating a petty cash system, this must also be subject to strict control.
• The Council should have financial regulations, stating clearly what procedures should be followed at all times.
• Payments should be approved by the Council under the terms of the Council’s Financial Regulations.
• The Council as a whole is responsible for managing the Council’s finances and ensuring adequate safeguards are in place. Councillors must put in place adequate measures of financial control, see a regular report on the Council’s finances and someone else should also check transactions on a regular basis.

Where does the money come from ?

Town/Parish Councils get their money from a variety of sources :

• Grants from other bodies
• Charges for Council services – such as allotment rents
• Loans – for special capital expenditure
• Interest from bank accounts or other investments
• Fund raising income – usually for a specific one-off activity
• The precept – for most Councils the largest part of their income. A demand is made by the Town Council to the District Council, which then collects an additional tax from all parish householders at the start of the financial year via the Council tax bill.

Financial Year

The Council’s financial year is 1st April to 31 March. Financial planning each year needs to start mid-way through that period.

1. During the autumn, the Council must prepare a budget for the next financial year. This process leads to establishing a precept amount in due course.
2. The Council needs to consider all projected income and expenditure, particularly if wanting to undertake any capital projects. It must also look at the financial implications of rising costs – staff pay, extra insurance, etc
3. The whole Council must agree the Council budget. This cannot be delegated to a Committee (a finance Committee can do the preliminary work, leaving full Council to approve final recommendations).
4. Once the Council has calculated how much it will receive, how much it wants to spend, the shortfall is the amount that needs to be financed through the precept. The precept figure cannot be challenged or altered by the District Council.
5. Towards the end of the calendar year, the District Council will write asking for the precept figure. It will also notify the date by which it must be notified of the precept requirements.
6. If the Council miscalculates, it cannot ask for more money once the precept has been set.

1. Once notified of the Council’s requirements, the District Council works out how much this will cost each parish household. The District Council acts as tax collector for all other bodies via the Council tax bill – local Councils, County Council and the Police Authority and sends out Council tax bills to all households. This is done within a strict timetable set by central government, hence the importance of getting the Council’s requirements to the District Council by their deadline.
2. Once this process has been completed, the Council can access its money after 1st April. Some District Councils pay the amount in one sum, others in two parts.

The Accounts

• The Council must appoint someone to be the “Responsible Financial Officer” (RFO). Often that person is the Clerk, but some other person outside the Council may also be appointed. The role of the RFO is to :
• Provide the Council wit the financial information it needs to make sound decisions, keep financial records and implement financial procedures as required by law, prepare annual accounts for presentation to the Council and for audit and make sure that the Council has systems in place to detect fraud or other irregularities.
• All cheques must be signed by at least 2 Councillors.

• There should be paperwork – invoices, cheque stubs, receipts to support all transactions.
• The Council must have provision for some form of internal audit, an independent person to inspect the accounts and provide a year-end statement saying whether there have discovered any irregularities.
• The Council must set up a system for Councillors to have a regular overview (Risk Assessment) of the Council’s financial affairs.
• Council’s accounts must be audited each year by an external auditor. The Auditor is chosen by the Audit Commission.

Audit

• Medium Council’s (£100,000+) such as Ulverston Town Council, receive an Intermediate Audit.
• The Council will receive an Annual Return form to be completed and returned to the External Auditor, together with an end-of-year bank reconciliation station and an explanation of any large variances (more than 15%) in figures between one year and the next.
• No further paperwork should be supplied, unless requested by the Auditor.
• A period of 15 working days prior to audit for inspection of all paperwork by the public, 16 days notice has to be given of this inspection period.
• Financial accounts must be signed and dated by the RFO, certifying that they present a fair and accurate picture of the year. These must be presented at the earliest opportunity, before audit, to the Council for approval.

VAT

• Local authorities, including Town and Parish Councils are not subject to the same turnover limits as small businesses. Local Councils can reclaim VAT on all non-business suppliers but the minimum threshold below which VAT is not chargeable does not apply. If a local Council makes any taxable supply for business purposes, it then comes within the VAT regime.
• “Business” means any activity of the Council which is, or could be, in competition with the private sector. The “non-business” provision allows the Council to reclaim VAT incurred on its basic administration and statutory functions.
• VAT has to be reclaimed regularly.

 

Role of Town Council’s – Planning

District Councils produce local plans. These set out the District Planning policy and proposals of the area. They identify were development can and cannot take place, the natural and the built environment and the management of traffic. The Local Plan covers a 10 year period but is kept under fairly constant review. The District Council also prepares Design Briefs. These are aimed at developers and give details of the type and density of building that is acceptable, the material to be used, green spaces and so forth.

Although there are a number of exceptions, anyone wishing to develop must apply to the District Council for planning permission. The District will forward one copy of the application and the plans to the Town Council. People living in the vicinity of the proposed development will be told that they can inspect the plans at the Town Council offices. The District Council Planning officers will consider all the comments received and reflect these in the report made to the District Council Planning Committee.

The Town Council as a Consultee

The Town Council is a statutory consultee on planning applications and is normally given 21 days to comment. Plans for consideration will be listed on the Council agenda and comments returned to the District within the deadline. In commenting on planning applications, it is important that the Council considers planning issues. These include :

• Consistency with the development plan for the areas
• Traffic and highway safety issues
• Overlooking, loss of privacy and loss of light
• Scale of the development
• Design, appearance, layout and material
• Loss of important open space or physical features
• Noise, disturbance or smells
• Local knowledge of drainage or other possible problems

Issues that are not relevant include:

• Effect on the value of property
• Loss of view over other peoples land
• Possible future development not included in the application
• Private property rights such as boundary or access disputes
• Matters covered by other laws
• The morals or motives of the developer

Special rules apply for listed buildings, conservation areas, trees (some are protected by Tree Preservation Orders). Planning permission is needed for advertisements above a special size. If development appears to have taken place without permission or if the development is more extensive than given in the planning consent, the District Council’s enforcement officer to visit the site and take any necessary follow up action.

An average Allotment plot is 200 sq meters at a yearly rental of £23 per annum at present.  There are some plots measuring 100 sq meters at a yearly rental of £12 per annum. This may vary each year when the Allotment Committee decide on whether they increase the rents for the following year which runs from 1 October – 30 September.

Allotment Sites & Plots

Dragley Beck - 56

Tank Field - 50

The Ellers - 25

Hill Fall - 30

Poplar Grove - 36

Mill Dam - 29

Sandside - 30

Competition

A competition for the “Most Improved Allotment” is run annually by the Council.

We have an annual budget of £10,000 per annum for general grants. The following of which have received so far this current financial year :-

Croftlands Junior School
Ulverston Cricket Club
Ulverston Gardeners Society
Sandside Lodge School
Sir John Barrow School
Ulverston Victoria High School
Feature Youth Club
Young Cumbria
Ulverston Hockey Club
Ulverston Inshore Rescue
Pennington Drama Group

The Town Council also have a budget of £2,500 per annum which is allocated solely for the purpose of supporting the various Festivals in the Town which are as follows :

Walking Festival
St. George's Day
Flag Fortnight
Printfest
Ulverston International Music Festival
Furness Tradition
Ulverston Lantern Procession
Ulverston Fashion Week
Dickensian Christmas Festival
The South Lakes Community Dance Festival
Word Market

Annual Report

			Balance sheet as at 31st March 2009
Current Assets
	Cash at bank			50,198.27
	VAT  Debtor			3,657.47
					53,855.74
Cumulative Fund Balance
	Balance At 1st April b/Fwd			43,224.10
	Add Income			148,329.22
				191,553.32
	Less Expenditure			-137,697.58
					53,855.74
Represented By:
	Fund Balance			50198.27
	Debtors			3,657.47
					53,885.74

				Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31st March, 2009
	Income
		Precept			134,930.00
		Allotments			4,956.11
		Charter Account			500.00
		Sir John Barrow Trust			-
		Joint Trusts			218.79
		Bank Interest			1,055.96
		Town Council Income			5,470.35
		Repairs/renewals			200.00
		VAT Refund			998.01
						148.329.22
	Less Expenditure
		Gross Salary costs			40,041.53
		Charter Expenses			5,470.77
		Sir John Barrow Trust			2,531.10
		Joint Trusts			218.79
		Allotment Account			5,386.43
		Christmas Lighting Exp			12,268.42
		Ulverston 2000 expenses			10,700.00
		Donation- Hoad Monument Fund			12,500.00
		Town Council Expenditure			41,439.44
		Repairs and Renewals			-
		VAT			-
		Retirement fund			7,141.10	137,697.58
	Income over Expenditure for the year.					10,631.64

Ulverston Town Council
Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2009
Analysis of Town Council Income
Cumbria In bloom Contributions			2355.00
Town Guides			00.00
Twinning			885.00
Xmas Lights			750.00
St Georges			950.35
Donations			530.00
Per Accounts			5470.35
Analysis of Town Council Expenditure
Stationery and Postage			1539.46
Subscriptions			1585.00
Advertising			438.20
Venue Hire			511.22
Rent			3100.00
Telephone costs			792.03
Training costs			200.00
Cumbria In Bloom			0.00
Copier Costs			111.80
Insurance			3354.19
Mayor Allowance			1825.00
Audit Costs			1058.00
Civic Sunday			994.46
Twinning town Costs			1490.19
Bank charges			133.49
Sundry Expenditure			1399.00
Petty Cash drawn			50.00
Computer Repairs			525.08
Donations and Grants			14153.81
CCTV			0.00
Brogden Street Convieniences			4434.72
Website costs			1650.00
UIB			2093.79
Per Accounts			41439.44

 

 

 

Documents

Freedom of Information Act Schedule (Microsoft Word Document)

Complaints Procedure (Microsoft Word Document)

Annual Report - The Town Mayor (Microsoft Word Document)