The Parish Council

ABOUT

The Parish Council is the tier of Local Government closest to the people and it is a non-political body. It is at the “grass roots” and as such is in the best position to understand and represent the views of the local community.

Poulton and Pulford Parish Council currently comprises 8 members and there is a vacancy for 1 additional member. Parish Council meetings are usually held on the last Wednesday of the month starting at 7 pm in Pulford Village Hall. The schedule of meetings is published on the web site. There are at least 4 meetings in the year. An Open forum is always included to allow questions, comments and contributions from the general public.

Parish Council elections are held every 4 years, the next one is in May 2019. Any vacancies arising between elections are filled either by a request for volunteer(s) or by co-option.

The only employee of the Parish Council is the Clerk or Responsible Financial Officer who is appointed by the members.

FINANCES

The Budget

The Parish Budget for each financial year is created on a spreadsheet and agreed at the March/April Parish Council meeting. The receipts and payments are logged in the format required by the auditors. The receipts and payments sheets are updated and made available at each Parish Council meeting.

Other information on the spreadsheet are : -

Cash Flow prediction – currently to 2024/25
Accounting Statements for previous financial years
Asset Register
Actions required as identified by the auditors

The Parish Precept

The Parish Council has the power to raise a local precept. This is the money needed for the parish’s budgetary requirements and is added to the council tax charge for the parish. The local precept charge is calculated by dividing the precept we request by the parish tax base. Poulton and Pulford’s tax base for 2017/18 is 288. This is based on the number of tax paying households in the parish as supplied by the Valuation Officer.

In 2016/17 the precept charge was £ 18.30 and it is the intention of the Parish Council that it remains the same for 2017/18.

Bank Details

The Parish Council uses two banks. HSBC holds the current account. Any payment from this account is usually made by cheque and requires the signature of two Councillors whose names are on the Bank Mandate.