Completed document to send to External Auditor that has been signed off by the internal auditor

The parish council financial accounts for 2023-24 have been internally audited

Somerset Councty Council has  launched a new online travel planner which is particularly useful for those using public transport and/or residents without easy access to a car. The website also carries information on demand responsive and community transport and has a community board for car sharing. See attached...

Please find a copy of the LVA feedback document attached.

Keinton Mandeville – Full Fibre (FTTP) Broadband – Funding Approved

Following the communications earlier in the year we’re delighted to announce that Government funding has been approved for the delivery of Full Fibre (Fibre to the Premise/FTTP) broadband to a large area of Keinton Mandeville and surrounding areas of West Lydford. The funding allocation of £1,500 per residential and £3,500 per business premise has been confirmed.

We now need your help to make this happen!

We have now started the process of pledging voucher registrations. Provided that we can secure around 200 voucher registrations the entire FTTP broadband delivery will be fully funded through the Government backed Gigabit Voucher Scheme, meaning no upfront costs for the local community.

Please visit https://www.openreach.com/connectmycommunity and enter your postcode.

Complete the application form, providing your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.

If you operate a business from home as a limited company, partnership, sole trader or other legal entity please select the appropriate option. This will enable you to pledge a full £3,500, as opposed to the standard £1,500 residential allowance. The business does not have to be registered to the home address, provided you that can evidence that you operate from home e.g. bank statements, utility bills.

There will be no up-front cost or commitment. The only commitment you make is to agree to upgrade to a FTTP broadband package from your chosen Internet Service Provider (e.g. BT, Sky, Plusnet etc.), which provides at least double your existing speed if your current speed is less than 50Mbps (e.g. upgrade to at least 60Mbps if your current speed if 30Mbps), or at least 100Mbps if your current speed is more than 50Mbps (e.g. upgrade to 150Mbps if your current speed is 60Mbps).

As an example, below are typical BT FTTP service costs for residential use:

74Mbps £29.99 per month
150Mbps £34.99 per month
500Mbps £44.99 per month
900Mbps £54.99 per month

The ongoing costs of Fibre to the Premises broadband are typically the same as what you pay today for Fibre to the Cabinet or ADSL broadband, for the equivalent package and bandwidth. However, you can now access speeds at anywhere up to 1 Gigabit per second through Fibre to the Premises, and benefit from a guaranteed performance always-on connection which is not subject to degraded copper and network congestion.

To remind you about the benefits of FTTP broadband and why it is essential for our village please visit the website www.01458connected.co.uk.

At the time of writing (17/11/21) the current level of pledges is at 47% of the required amount which consists of 66 residential addresses and 10 businesses. We have until 30^th January 2022 to secure the funding and if we don’t reach 100% funding we could be left with a significant shortfall, which would have to be funded from the local community. Please act now and enable us to deliver these vital improvements to our infrastructure in Keinton Mandeville.

If you have any questions, please contact Richard Culley on 07977 516511.

Planning Application 20/03613/FUL.The Parish Council has received a letter from Galion Homes regarding their proposed development of the land behind Church St/Queen St.In the letter they state:

“One aspect of our proposal that we understood to have been universally accepted however, is now being challenged. Members of the Parish Council, responses at consultation stage and the education authority, all fully supported the proposed pre-school in lieu of the standard affordable housing contribution. The Housing Officer is insisting on the full affordable quota which will mean the pre-school cannot be delivered. The development cannot viably support both.

Whilst we do not ask you necessarily to fully endorse our application, we would appreciate it if you could re-state your assertion to the case officer that ‘in the event that consent is granted for this development, the local community’s preference is strongly in favour of a new pre-school rather than the full quota of affordable homes’.”

The matter will be discussed at the PC meeting on the 3^rd August.

Recording of meetings policy

Please open the file to see warning information about vaccination fraud.

Village Plan 2006  and Housing Survey Report 2018