Councillor J. Metters in the Chair and Councillors: A. Best, J. Davies, L. Davies, I. Fordham, J. Hood, T. Kelt, B. Kenney, R. Kenney, P. Leason, J. Powell, N. Powell, C. Thornicroft and R. Townend

Officers: L. Trigg, R. Edwards and T. Williams

Councillors: J. Battrick, A. Burgess, K. Dawson and A. Mottershead

Before the meeting began Reverend Paul Kingman led prayers.

Apologies were received from Councillors: J. Battrick, K. Dawson and A. Mottershead

None made.

None received.

None

RESOLVED:

• a) That the minutes of the meeting of the Annual Meeting of the Town Council held on 13 May 2025 (Minute Numbers C26/001 – C26/011), be approved as a correct record.

* Items marked with an asterisk refer to reports or papers circulated with the agenda or distributed at the meeting. They are attached as an appendix to the signed copy of the Council minutes.

RESOLVED:

• a) The draft minutes of the General Purposes Committee meeting held on 20 May 2025 (Minute Numbers GP26/001 – GP26/017), were noted.
• b) The draft minutes of the Planning Consultative Committee meeting held on 20 May 2025 (Minute Numbers PC26/001 – PC26/006), were noted.

The Council considered the following documents which had been circulated with the agenda, prior to the meeting:

• a. Formal Internal Audit submission to the External Auditors*
• b. Report from Internal Auditor*

The Town Clerk reported that the Council was required to consider an Internal Audit Report before approving the Annual Governance Statement and accounts for submission to the External Auditors.

Councillor J. Davies thanked the Town Clerk and the Deputy Town Clerk for the work they had undertaken on the Council’s accounts.

RESOLVED: To note the Internal Auditor’s report and submission to External Audit.

The Council considered the Annual Governance Statement* which must be approved prior to consideration of the Council’s accounts.

RESOLVED: To approve the Annual Governance Statement and supporting explanations for submission to the External Auditor for the year 2024-25.

The Town Mayor signed the Annual Governance Statement 2024-25 to confirm that the detail it contained had been received and considered.

The Council considered the Town Clerk’s report* and the accounting statement* which had been circulated with the agenda for the meeting.

RESOLVED:

• a) To approve the Council’s Accounts for 2024-25 as set out in the report of the Town Clerk, including the use of the rollover reserve to allow the transfer of budgets between financial years and the proposed use of those budgets in 2025-26.
• b) To note the variances between the forecast outturn for 2024-25 and the actual outturn, and the reasons identified for the major variances.
• c) To approve the financial statement for submission to the Council’s External Auditors.

* Items marked with an asterisk refer to reports or papers circulated with the agenda or distributed at the meeting. They are attached as an appendix to the signed copy of the Council minutes.

Openness of Public Bodies Regulations 2014

The Information* for Quarter ending 31 March 2025 was noted.

The Civic Announcements, which had previously been circulated, were noted.

The Town Mayor’s and Deputy Town Mayor’s reports of engagements, which had been previously circulated, were noted.

On this occasion reports were enclosed for the Town Mayor and Deputy Town Mayor 2024-25 and Town Mayor and Deputy Town Mayor 2025-26.

The Town Mayor, Councillor Metters, the Deputy Town Mayor, Councillor Best and the Town Mayor 2024-25, Councillor Leason, each gave an account of the engagements they had attended in their respective positions during April and May 2025.