4 Mar 2025 – Finance Meeting (Minutes)

GREAT SANKEY PARISH COUNCIL
Finance Committee

Minutes of meeting: Tuesday 4th March 2025
Whittle Hall Community Centre

Chair: Cllr T Williams
Present: Cllr P Watson
Cllr B Simpson
Cllr N Cotter
Cllr S Pennington

In Attendance: K Carter (Clerk)

1. To receive and approve any apologies for unavoidable absence.
There were no apologies.

2. To approve the minutes of previous meeting 4/2/2025.
The draft minutes were moved and accepted as a true record of the meeting and signed as
such.

FINANCE/2025/25: To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 4th February 2024 as a
true record.

3. To consider request from WBC for additional contribution towards the installation of
the Pump Track on Dakota Park.
A £20,000 funding contribution from the Parish Council to WBC for the pump track was agreed
in February 2023 to match the contribution from WBC. The track was finished in July 2024 and
WBC have now contacted GSPC for the contribution. They advise that costs had increased
during the project and have requested an additional £10,000 for the track. The Parish Council
had not been notified previously that the costs had risen, and an increase had therefore not
been included in the budget. After discussion and consideration of the current demands on the
parish council’s finances, it was decided that that an additional contribution is not possible.

FINANCE/2025/26: Resolved that GSPC is unable to increase its financial contribution to the
Pump Track on Dakota Park due to budgetary constraints.

4. To review the 2025-26 budget:
• To include the increase for PCSO funding and election costs.
• To be updated on earmarked reserves
• To consider Brentnall Boat Park project
The 2025-26 budget was amended slightly to include the extra costs for the PCSO and
election costs. This was achieved by reducing the amount in Miscellaneous to £5,000.

The committee was given an estimate of the remaining funds in earmarked reserves at the
end of the financial year along with the additional sums which will be available from the 2025-
26 budget. The anticipated total at the start of April 2025 is £258,400; there are 5 earmarked
budgets which are proposed as follows:
Parish Playing Field £95,000 Project to install piped drainage system
Sankey Station £91,548 Project to create community hub
Estates Office £67,079 Project to relocate & improve current facilities
TP recreation ground £4,000 For improvements to TP park
Donations for TP rec £773 For improvements to TP park

FC/2025/10
1.4.25
Chair’s Signature:
GREAT SANKEY PARISH COUNCIL
Finance Committee

Minutes of meeting: Tuesday 4th March 2025
Whittle Hall Community Centre

It was accepted that these figures may change slightly depending on year-end figures, but the
proposed allocations were agreed in principle.

FINANCE/2025/27: Resolved to accept the amended budget and earmarked reserves as
proposed.

Brentnall Boat Park: The Parish Council had asked Your Housing if it was possible to take on
the playground alone without the surrounding strip of land and trees as this significantly
increases the maintenance liability. YH state they would prefer to transfer the whole site and
provided estimates on a 3–5-year basis for maintenance of the trees (£5-700). GSPC have
obtained independent quotes for this which are significantly higher (£2,000 per day) although it
is impossible to assess how much would be required as the area is currently inaccessible. The
hedging on site would also be a significant cost, estimated as £3-5,000 over the 3-5-year
period. It was also noted that YH have not maintained the playground; they wish to transfer it
‘as seen’, but as this hasn’t been agreed yet, YH is still responsible for the play area. There
are repairs needed to the play surface, and it needs clearing of the leaf litter and moss to
make it safe. The Committee concluded that the Parish Council cannot take on this financial
responsibility; Your Housing to be advised of this and a request made for them to maintain the
park to a safe standard.

FINANCE/2025/28: Recommended that GSPC cannot take on the financial responsibility for
Brentnall Boat Park and that Your Housing are reminded of their obligations for the park.

5. Sankey Station CIC: to receive details of request for financial contribution.
The Parish Council had agreed a £10,000 contribution to Sankey Station CIC and were
expecting written confirmation of the details before approving the expenditure. The CIC has
recently advised that the funds may be used for a different purpose than that originally agreed
and would forward details. This is awaited.

6. To scrutinise financial expenditure arising since the last meeting, including payments
by Direct Debit.
A list of payments to be made had been circulated prior to the meeting. The following
payments were considered and approved.

Presented By Description Amount, £
J Riley Office laptop and set up £1,377.00
The Design Project Design of spring 25 newsletter £200.00
K Ashby Toll Charges – Training £16.00
WBC Supply, Install and remove Christmas Tree £1,874.82
MKM Building materials – TP Garden £430.10
MKM Cat 4 cable locator – BB £17.62
MKM Building materials – TP Garden £27.53
WBC Dakota Park Pump Track £20,000.00
Trade UK Materials – TP Garden £43.98
360 Aggregates 2 Tonne MOT – TP Park £100.00
Tom Taylor Fix to webpage and social media sharing £240.00
MKM Timber post for BB £311.84

FC/2025/11
1.4.25
Chair’s Signature:
GREAT SANKEY PARISH COUNCIL
Finance Committee

Minutes of meeting: Tuesday 4th March 2025
Whittle Hall Community Centre

B&B Hygiene Cleaning supplies £512.61
MKM Gate Latch & Hinges – TP Garden £18.12
T&O Harrison Greenwaste – Grounds Maintenance £30.00
Brentwood 1 tonne Greenwaste Compost – Grounds £122.40
MKM Green Timber – TP Garden £359.82
Brentwood Green Waste Compost – Grounds Maintenance £122.40
Trade UK Cable ties and Gloves – TP Garden £16.38
MKM Paving – TP Garden £499.99
Equals card Petty cash top-up £431.70
P.Watson Chair Allowance 2025 £1500.00
TOTAL £26,659.31

FINANCE/2025/29: To authorise all payments listed (under LGA 1976 s19 or LGA 1972
s15(5), s101, 111, 112, 133, 142 or 137).

The following direct debits on the Council’s account during January were also checked:

Novuna 02/01/2025 Electric Van Lease 456.20
SSE Energy 02/01/2025 GAS HM 288.13
SSE Energy 02/01/2025 GAS WH 200.95
SSE Energy 02/01/2025 GAS BB 318.40
SSE Energy 02/01/2025 GAS HL 154.51
Lex Autolease 02/01/2025 Council Electric Van Lease 851.98
Water Plus 02/12/2024 Water charges BB 79.91
Water Plus 02/12/2024 Water charges HM 50.95
Water Plus 02/12/2024 Water charges WH 80.38
BT 06/01/2025 WIFI/Telephone Office 281.32
SSE Energy 06/01/2025 Electricity TP 254.05
SSE Energy 06/01/2025 GAS TP 900.80
Peninsula 06/01/2025 H&S Service H&S 200.93
Global 4 Comms 14/01/2025 Office 365/email Office 106.38
Public Works Loans 20/01/2025 Loan repayment Office 11666.94
Water Plus 20/01/2025 Water charges TP 77.13
Water Plus 20/01/2025 Water charges HL 101.70
SSE Energy 22/01/2025 Electricity BB 564.44
WBC 30/01/2025 December Business Rates TP 96.00
WBC 30/01/2025 December Business Rates HM 61.00
WBC 30/01/2025 December Business Rates WH 65.00
WBC 30/01/2025 December Business Rates BB 52.00
BT 31/01/2025 WIFI/Telephone Office 322.46
Utility Warehouse 31/01/2025 Mobile phones Office 53.40
Service Fee Charge 31/01/2025 Service Charge Office 30.15
TOTAL £17315.11

FC/2025/12
1.4.25
Chair’s Signature:
GREAT SANKEY PARISH COUNCIL
Finance Committee

Minutes of meeting: Tuesday 4th March 2025
Whittle Hall Community Centre

7. To consider any quotes received and authorise or make recommendations to full
Council where appropriate.
None.

8. To consider requests for financial assistance.
Request to refund donation
The Parish Council had agreed to refund any donation to the Friends of Tim Parry Park
GoFundMe appeal on application to the Parish Office. The form included an option to claim on
behalf of someone else as the council had been advised that someone had passed away
since making the donation. An application form had been received which included 29 names
out of a total of 33 original donors with the funds to be remitted to one bank account. This had
not been signed by those donors and whilst the applicant stated that these were friends and
family, the council had no way of validating this and did not feel it could approve a single
refund of £785 to one individual. It was therefore agreed to request that claims are made by
the individual donors. The council will reassure applicants that their personal data will only be
used for the purposes of the refund and their information will not be stored. If people do not
wish to give bank details, the council will issue a cheque for the refund.

FINANCE/2025/29: Resolved to respond to the claimant for a refund of the donated sums to
the Friends of Tim Parry Park appeal to request that claims are made on an individual basis
with a signed application form. Claimants to be reassured that personal details will only be
used for refund purposes and will not be stored and that the refund can be made via BACS or
cheque.

9. Budget 2024-25: to scrutinise documentation and when satisfied as to correctness to
sign off financial reports and bank reconciliations for January.
The bank reconciliation and budget monitoring pages for January were considered and
accepted. Checks on financial transactions were carried out prior to the meeting by Cllrs
Simpson and Cotter.

FINANCE/2025/30: To accept the bank reconciliation and budget monitoring pages for
January 2025 (Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 reg 4).

10. To authorise payment of wages, tax and ERNIC for February.
The list of wages to be paid was considered and authorised. Total Employment Costs
(including salaries, pensions & HMRC) were £22,603.35.

FINANCE/2025/31: To authorise payment of wages and HMRC costs (£22,603.35 total) for
February 2025 (LGA 1972 s112).

FC/2025/13
1.4.25
Chair’s Signature: