AGM of Bridgnorth Town Council held on 18th May 2021 at the Castle Hall
The Mayor Cllr Kirstie Hurst Knight acknowledged the works of the NHS ; emergency services etc during the pandemic . She noted that she had been subject to social media abuse during her office and passed the mantle of the mayor on to Bridgnorth born and bred Cllr Sarah Barlow who then thanked KHK for her good work during the last year . The Mayors charities for her year are Macmillan Trust/Seaful and the Bridgnorth Bathing Project
Former Cllr Ed Marshall asked the following questions
The Town Clerk proposed to remove the Standing Order 3 ( already covered by S O ) Ed M argued that this curtailed the rights of Bridgnorth residents and pointed out that not ONE member of the council had received a single vote from any elector and it didn’t look too good to remove the rights of Bridgnorth residents to ask public questions . He asked that members vote should be recorded so that residents knew knew how the Cllrs voted
Ed M said that the Sir Robert Lee Charity was set up for the Poor of Lower Town Three people were approved.
Ed M said that the Town Clerk believed that the Bridgnorth Town Plan Steering Group is a working Group of the Town Council. This was not correct
Another Q from Ed M – Finance Section /Internal Audit -he noted that the SCC ceased to exist from March 31 2009 ans could not possibly be involved in providing the payroll services
(Editor – Good old Ed. He’s not a councillor any longer I hope he is still involved in Council business . It seems he’s on the ball. What is worrying is that not one of these councillors are elected – what’s going on ? Co-opted ?? How do we know they are any good. Apparently the timetable for co-option was 18th June 21 and on July 6th 21 they had to talk for 3 minutes to the committee ( of councillors ) who were themselves not elected . Well I’m all for volunteering. But the whole Town Council???)
The TC said that these issues would be discussed later in the meeting
Planning Application for the Smithfield Site
( here we go !!!!). It was noted there was much public interest in this and that it should be discussed at a later date. (OK. – we know they objected – so far so good- Editor )
( The next bit is a list of Cllrs and the committees they are on – skip this if you want – its for info only-Ed)
Planning Committee – Cllrs Connolly ;D Cooper ; Neal;Sawbridge; Wellings
Personnel Committee- Buffey; Connolly; N Cooper
Art Trail Working Group- Buffey; Buckley: N Cooper
Town Reps for Events and Christmas- Barlow;Connolly: Round: Sawbridge
Community Governance – Buckley :N Cooper: Sawbridge
Local Plan Review Working Group – Buckley; D Cooper;Rochelle; Sawbridge
Tree Planting- Chetter :Neal:Rochelle
Climate Change- Chetter ;Neal
Town Plan Steering Group- D Cooper;Neal; Rochelle; Sawbridge
D Cooper – was later co-opted to the Town Plan W G
External Bodies
St Leonards/Weaver & Bluecote charities – Barlow & Chetter
B’north & Shifnal area Local Councils – Connolly ;Wellings
B’north Parish charity – Baines
Sir Robert Lees Charity – Rochelle;Marshall
B’north Twinning – Sawbridge
Community Hall Management – Baines;Buffet; N Cooper; Wellings
Mr M Marshall & Mr R Whittle are on the Management Committee Community Hall
A review off the Land and Assets have started
To continue …..
The Insurance arrangements which expires in July 23 has been given to the TC to sort out.
The council is a current member of
The Shropshire Association of Local Councils
National Association of British Market Authorities ( Our High Street market is independent and has been for 800 years ..is this really necessary ?)
Cemetery and Crematoria Management.
The TC complaint procedure was adopted as amended
Freedom of Information was approved subject to ‘removal of fees”
Data Protection – decided to delegate to the Personnel Committee to review the current Data Protection Policy
The Employment Policies and Procedures > Personnel Committee
Expedite under the General Power of Competence – None
Resolution to adopt the General Powers of Competence.
Finance
£57950 .09 was approved
Balance ; 840,430. Reserve: 173,937. Com reserve 172,633
£10,566 was approved for payment
JDH Business Services Ltd – Internal Auditors for 20/21;21/22;22/23. The audit of 20/21 was accepted ………….. whilst noting comment by the TC and RTO”. (Hold on a minute…what comment ? Shouldn’t this be put in the minutes for future reference?)
The Risk management strategy was approved
The regular payments /standing orders/direct debits was approved
The co-opt timetable was approved With 18th June being the last day to request to be co-opted. July 6th was the date the co-opted councillors had to talk to ( presumably) the other co-opted councillors (So none of them had a vote from the residents of Bridgnorth which I find fairly disturbing)
These minutes are what I think are the basics of the AGM for you to read.
