Accounts, Audit, Budget & Compliance to Transparency Code
Annual Reports 2020/21
Parish and Town Councils must publish an Annual Return that includes a summary of their income and expenditure; its assets and other balances. They also have to complete an Annual Governance statement setting out the arrangements they have in place to ensure that the council and its business is properly managed. Each year those documents have to be reviewed by the appointed external auditor.
To view the Notice of conclusion of Audit and the Annual Governance Statement, Accounting Statement and the External Auditor Certificate and report for the year ending 31st March 2021 click here.
For the council's Year End Accounts click here and for a report on its compliance to the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 click here. The parish council publishes all income and expenditure as an appendix to it's Full Council meeting minutes (published monthy on it's website) which shows more detail than the appendix to this report which lists expenditure over £500.
Details of the Council's income and expenditure of Solar Farm Community Funding and CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) are included as a separate statement in the published Year End Accounts.
Budget 2020/21
Melksham Without Parish Council set its Precept at its Full Council meeting held on Monday 20th January 2020. The Council unanimously agreed to set its Precept - the proportion of Council Tax paid to the Parish Council - at £221,234 for the 2020/21 financial year, which is a rise of £20,126 (10.01%) on last year’s Precept. This means that the average Band D household will contribute £80.33 to Melksham Without Parish Council, a rise of £4.64 on last year, which is a 6.13% rise. Band D properties are used as a measure of the national average, and some households will see a smaller or bigger increase, based on their Band rating for Council Tax.
The parish council run a number of facilities and services in the parish from this Precept funding and support a number of community ventures in both the parish as well as those in the Town and villages outside the Parish. It currently runs and maintains five play areas (Berryfield, Shaw, Beanacre and Kestrel Court and Hornchurch Road in Bowerhill) with two more to be taken on from the developers in the new housing developments in the Bellway development on Semington Road and the Taylor Wimpey development in Pathfinder Place, Bowerhill. In addition it also owns two playing fields, one in Bowerhill and one in Shaw (The Beeches), both of which are soon to have water refill stations installed on the outside of the changing rooms to give members of the public access to free drinking water to reduce the amount of single use plastic bottles in the parish. The parish council is also taking on some additional grasscutting this year, on public open space owned by Wiltshire Council, to improve the cutting in some areas and for wildflower meadow areas in patches on the public open spaces. The parish council has two allotment sites, both in Berryfield, which have full occupancy of 76 tenants at present; and a new enlarged car park reusing the plainings from the A350 Western Way when the road was resurfaced at the end of 2019.
The parish council contributes to a variety of joint ventures with Melksham Town Council such as the Melksham Neighbourhood Plan, development of Shurnhold Fields mini country park and the public toilets in the Market Place. It is also contributing to an Age Friendly Consultant for an Area Board project, towards new furniture for the new café and plaza planned at the Melksham Railway Station and towards the newly set up Junior parkrun at King George V park. As well as joint ventures, the parish council provides grant funding (£24,900 in the current financial year with a similar amount budgeted for next year). These grants provide valuable funding for all the village halls in the parish; Shaw, Bowerhill, Whitley Reading Rooms and the temporary hall in Berryfield plus the Rachel Fowler Centre in town as well as wide spread of clubs, support groups, and organisations that provide sporting activities, village publications, events and activities for young and old such as for Young Melksham that run the Canberra Youth Centre. The grants are for those organisations that benefit the residents of Melksham Without, so are not all contained in the parish but some are based in the Town or in other villages outside the parish. If you are interested in this grant funding, the deadline for applications for 2020/21 is 31st January, please see the council’s website to download an application form or contact the office.
The Parish Council has received additional funding from the Government’s CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) scheme which is a levy directly on new housing developments in the parish. When budget setting the Council have not put money into Reserves for future projects that could be paid for from CIL, and will look to use the CIL funding for a variety of infrastructure projects including the development and kitting out of a new village hall in Berryfield in association with the approved planning application of 150 houses in Land to the east of Semington Road and a new Community Centre in Town, in association with the approved planning application for 450 houses in Land to the east of Spa Road.
Other budgeted items are for highway improvement projects working with Wiltshire Council’s CATG (Community Area Transport Group) such as a new bus shelter on Falcon Way, Bowerhill and a long-held desire to install “Real Time Information” into bus shelters and flood prevention work in Shaw and Whitley.
A copy of the Minutes of the Parish Council’s Finance Committee meeting when the Budget and Precept were discussed is available to view by clicking on the Finance Committee link below.
Finance Committee Meeting Tuesday 7th January 2020 Minutes
2020/21 Budget
A copy can also be obtained from the office at Sports Pavilion, Westinghouse Way, Bowerhill, Melksham, SN12 6TL during the public opening hours of Monday to Thursday 10-12 and 2-4pm.
Grant Aid 2020/21
Grant aid for 2020/21 has already been awarded in April 2020. Any applications received during the financial year 2020/21 will be considered for the next round of funding for 2021/22
Click here to choose another financial year