Approved Minutes 2026 January 26

Feb 18, 2026 | Minutes

APPROVED Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting of Blackawton Parish Council held
on Monday 26 January 2026 at 8:00 p.m. in Blackawton Village Hall

Present: Parish Cllrs Rake (Chair), Oughton (Vice-Chair), Coe, Hadow, and Thomas were present, as was Clerk A. Thom.
Absent: Parish Cllrs Luckens and Mardon

  1. Apologies

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Luckens and Mardon.

  1. Declarations of Interest

None declared.

  1. Request for a Grant from BPC

Cllrs Oughton and Coe declared an interest in this item and abstained from the vote.

It was resolved to approve the request for a grant of £588.14 towards the construction of the Blackawton community compost site.

  1. Closure of the Meeting

It was resolved, in accordance with the 1960 Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act, to exclude the public and press during consideration of the following item because of the commercial-in-confidence nature of the business.

  1. Churchyard Wall Maintenance

The meeting considered the quote information and plans to date for the recommended maintenance of the Churchyard wall and for the associated traffic management. There is uncertainty about the method and cost of traffic management during the works. BPC is working to carry out maintenance of the wall as required and with the aim of preventing more costly and disruptive works if an area of the wall was to subside. BPC is also working on a current project to arrange for maintenance works to the Churchyard gates.

It is theoretically possible to obtain grant funds towards these works and BPC will try to do so. However the grant environment is very competitive. It has been confirmed that the Parish Council would be able to obtain a loan from the Public Works Loan Board for work to the churchyard wall, subject to approval from the Minister for Housing Local Government. BPC would need to do this if the wall were to subside. BPC budgets and precepts as necessary for ongoing maintenance works.

  1. Re-open the meeting to members of the public and press

The meeting was reopened.

  1. 2026/27 Budget and Precept

    1. Clerk’s Report and proposed 2026/27 Budget

These were received and the proposed budget discussed. The proposed budget uses all of the current nominated Churchyard reserve funds held by BPC. No funds are added to any reserve funds.

    1. 2026/27 budget

It was unanimously resolved to approve the proposed budget as circulated.

    1. 2026/27 Precept Tax Demand

It was unanimously resolved to approve the proposed Precept demand of £35,973.

This is an increase in the annual Precept of £6,029.94. This equates to a total annual cost of £76.44 and an increase of £12.81 in the annual charge for a Band D equivalent household.

The meeting closed at 20:30.