Camber village voice

Paul was not present, it was Keith who gave the report I attributed to Paul. I do apologise to them both. I need also to apologise to the Parish Council for errors in some of the figures I quoted, the new Chair of Camber Council, Pat Brazier, has clarified the financial details. I feel it best for me to quote her as she has also included details that I did not, and she considers these details important. The Financial Officer reported that the Office expenses budget was £1,800.00 of which £1,733.00 was spent on a lap top for the Clerks use. The Council had not been awarded an Open Spaces Grant for £2,500.00. The budget was set at £2,500.00 which was overspent by £1,456.00. Approximately £700.00 had been spent on repairs and upkeep of machinery for grass cutting. £5,680.00 had been spent on maintenance of and utility bills for street lighting plus an additional amount £8,448.00 to upgrade lights to European standards.

Three local children’s groups were awarded grants of between £150 to £160. During the Chair’s report, she stated that the Council had discovered that many of the statutory policies and procedures were not in place. The Council had spent the past year reviewing all processes and procedures which had proved difficult as much of the information was missing. However, although the review was still on going it was hoped that with the help of the temporary clerk and RFO this would soon be completed. Councillor Brazier tells me that the Parish Council will send a precis of the Council minutes to me in future to ensure that I have it right. My thanks to them, I work hard to report factually in the Village Voice, clearly this time the figures got the better of me.