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CHEPPING WYCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL
Finance and General Purposes Committee
Report of the meeting to be held on Thursday 2 October 2025 at 7.30pm
at the Council Office, Cock Lane, Tylers Green, High Wycombe Bucks HP10 8DS
The meeting is open to members of the public and press
Present: Cllr A Barron – Chairman Cllr C O’Leary
Cllr I Forbes – Vice-chairman Cllr R Wilks
Cllr C Dodds Cllr H Darch Cllr N Thomas Cllr K Griffiths
Cllr L Webb Cllr D Johncock (ex-officio)
Cllr K Wood (ex-officio)
Also present: Cllr L Johncock, Mr & Mrs Johnson (FH Bowls Club)
FGP/25/001 Apologies for absence
Apologies were received and approved from Cllr Willis (personal)
FGP/25/002 Declarations of members’ interests in agenda items
There were none tendered.
FGP/25/003 Delegated Actions
Members were asked to note that since the last committee meeting the Clerk had instigated the following delegated action:
Vehicle trackers for insurance purposes at a cost of 38.00/month this will cover the Transit, Isuzu and both Kubota vehicles. As a gesture of goodwill our first 3 months are free.
FGP/25/004 Grants
Members were asked to consider for recommendation to Council a request from Flackwell Heath Bowls Club for a contribution of £10,000 towards the replacement of the drainage ditches surrounding the green.
It was RESOLVED that;
The request of £10,000 be recommended for approval to Council. Contribution being split 50:50 between the Grants line and CIL EMR.
Mr & Mrs Johnson thanked the committee and left the meeting at 8.46pm
FGP/25/005 Staff Matters
1 Staff Absence Report
Members were asked to receive a verbal report from the clerk on the sickness absence of staff since the last committee meeting in April.
The clerk advised that two members of the grounds team had been off sick. One member for 6 days over two periods and the over 4.5 days over one period.
2 Cleaner Position
Members were asked to note that Mr Kingsland had resigned from the position of cleaner with effect from the end of August 2025, he had undertaken the job since January 2001. A new cleaner had been found.
3 Recruitment of Groundsman
Members were asked to note that an additional groundsman had been recruited, and his start date was 6 October.
FGP/25/006 Health & Safety Report of any incidents
Members were asked to note that there had been no incidents since the last committee meeting in April. The last notified incident was on 25 March 2025, therefore being incident free for 127 working days as at the date of the agenda.
FGP/25/007 Policies and Procedures
Members were asked to consider for recommendation to Council the following policy document.
- Financial Regulations
1.1 Increases to transfer limit between accounts and delegated expenditure limits
Following the last committee meeting the Regulations were checked and members were now asked to
Consider for recommendation to Council the following increases:
Transfer between bank accounts from £20,000 to £25,000
Delegated expenditure;
- Clerk’s delegated authority to increase to £2,000
- Clerk and Chairman to increase to £3,000
- Committee to increase to £3,000 (to £10,000)
- Emergency expenditure to increase to £3,000
It was RESOLVED that;
the amendments be made to the Financial Regulations be recommended to full Council for adoption.
2 Risk Register
Following the last committee meeting work was undertaken to the Register to bring it in line with our insurance company, members were asked to consider the Register for recommendation to Council its approval.
Amendments were noted at points G13, G15 and G17, P7 and P8, and S11.
It was RESOLVED that;
the Risk Register be recommended to full Council with the noted amendments made.
3 IT Security Policy
Members were asked to consider for recommendation to full Council the IT Security Policy from the working group.
It was RESOLVED that;
The IT Security Policy be recommended to Council for adoption as amended.
Members were also asked to consider for recommendation to Council the following agreed actions by the working group:
- Cybersecurity Training
- All councillors to receive “cwpc.org.uk” email addresses
3.3 Cost implications:
Microsoft Exchange Online Plan 1
Mailbox size: 50 GB per user
Features: Email, calendar, contacts, anti-spam, and anti-malware protection included and backup for one year
Recommended Security Add-On (Optional but valuable)
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1
Protects against: Phishing, malware, malicious links, and attachments
Adds features like: Safe Links, Safe Attachments, and real-time threat detection
Monthly Cost Per User: £8.50
Total Monthly Cost: £144.50.
Total Annual Cost: £1734 (+ £200 one off deployment cost)
It was RESOLVED that;
The above recommendations be taken to Council for approval.
Members were asked to note that the Microsoft Portal was part of the Intune platform and acts as a secure gateway for users to access approved apps and corporate resources.
This can be integrated as part of the onboarding process at no extra charge.
FGP/25/008 Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG)
Members were asked to note the minutes from the last NAG meeting held on 30 June 2025. Cllr Johncock advised that a pamphlet had been developed to educate – parents, grandparents, guardians about drugs and how they were easy to purchase and that they could be mistaken for sweets.
Cllr Johncock also advised that Mr J Sparks who was a great supporter of the Community Speedwatch and the deputy of the NAG was gravely ill in hospital. He would keep the council updated.
Members were asked to note that the next meeting was due to be held on 28 October at 7pm at the Tylers Green Village Hall.
Cllr Johncock was thanked for all the work he did with the NAG.
FGP/25/009 Community Board
Members were asked to receive a report from Cllr Barron on the new Community Board as attached.
FGP/25/010 Investing – CCLA
Members were asked to note that the parish council had invested £250k with CCLA and we have been receiving around 4.2% investment return; amount currently in our account – £254,748.60. We receive quarterly investment reports on the stock market from CCLA.
Members were asked to note that CCLA had been taken over by Jupiter Asset management for £100 million, but there was no change to the level of service of staff dealing with our account.
FGP/25/011 In-house Auditors
Members were asked to review the requirement for in-house auditors.
It was RESOLVED that;
The requirement for in-house auditors was not required and therefore should be removed from the Financial Regulations.
It was noted that the use of in-house auditors had been a unique item for the parish council and not part of the Model Financial Regulations. In-house auditor requirement could be returned to the Financial Regulations at any time if it was felt necessary.
FGP/25/012 Grants
Members were asked to consider for recommendation to Council a request from Tylers Green Community for a 50% contribution of £366.00 towards a replacement flagpole.
It was RESOLVED that;
The paperwork needed to be completed more fully and therefore no decision could be made at committee level.
It was noted that an email was to be sent asking for clarification on the ownership of the flagpole, who the payment should be made out to and whether the flagpole would be suitably covered by insurance.
FGP/25/013 Publicity
Members were asked to note that the newsletter was finally out for delivery.
FGP/25/014 Annual Return and Governance Statement
Members were asked to note that the Annual Return and Governance Statement had been returned, and the audit was complete. There were no financial exceptions, however, boxes had been missed on completion of the form Section 1 box 9 and Section 2 boxes 11a and 11b relating to Trust Funds.
FGP/25/015 Budget
1 Precept Timetables
Members were asked to note that the next cycle of committee meetings would be the start of the new financial year budget setting process. The committee budgets would be taken to the next Finance & General Purposes committee meeting in December before final approval by full Council on 18 December. Proposals for this committee need to be with the Clerk by 19 November. This allows time for any minor changes prior to 30 January when the precept request needs to be with Buckinghamshire Council.
Members were asked to note that the second and final precept payment for this financial year in the sum of £236,234.32 was received in the bank account on 19 September 2025.
Members were asked to note Analysis of Council Tax Levels of Local Precepting Authorities 2025/26. Our Band D was currently £68.97 which was well below the national average.
2 Council Finances (Period 5) August
Members were asked to note the summary of the Council’s current position.
3 Committee Finances (Period 5) August
Members were asked to note the Committee’s current position.
4 Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
Members were asked to note the budget line for CIL at £66,904.02. These funds are to be used for
community benefit and need to be spent within a timeframe as below:
£14,112.44 2025/26
£31,767.33 2026/27
£7,975.22 2027/28
£13,049.03 2028/29
5 5-Year Plan
Members were asked to note the 5-year plan and make any suggestions for additional projects. The plan
was always under constant revision as projects are added and removed.
FGP/25/016 Questions from council members and the public
There were no questions.
FGP/25/017 Accounts for Payment
Accounts for payment were circulated at the meeting for consideration by councillors.
It was RESOLVED that;
the accounts for payment be approved; direct debits to Castle Water, Clear Business (Unicom), Grenke Leasing Ltd, HMRC, Peninsula Business Solutions Ltd and Trade UK along with Bank Transfers to Cllr A Barron, Castle Water, Ecology Partnership Ltd, Newco Electrical, Barclays, Buckinghamshire Council Portal Plan Quest Ltd, Karen Saunders and Cllr A Webb. be approved for payment.
Date and time of next meeting: Tuesday 2 December 2025 @ 7.30pm
Signed: Dated: 16 October 2025
Verbal report to F&GP on the West Chilterns Community Board
Date: 15/09/2025
There was a physical meeting of the new community board on the 11th September in Stokenchurch. I did not attend.
I did receive notification by e-mail of the intended meeting on the 26th August with the intention to publish the agenda by 4th September.
My apologies for not attending, but I was a little preoccupied with the planning application to develop the green belt land adjacent to Hilltop, Hammersley Lane. So things slipped my mind!
The Agenda was published on the Community Board Website (apparently), but no e-mail sent.
I did speak to Sofia Comer to find out how the meeting went – details as follows.
21 people in attendance with representatives from various “communities” that also included Loudwater and Tylers Green. (Apparently unitary member(s) – probably Jonathan Waters, and someone from St. Peters Church, Loudwater.
Funding is reduced from last year, and the new community boards are there for ‘seed’ funding. Apparently, there are more ‘resources’ behind the new community boards – probably means there have been no redundancies from the reduction in the number of community boards, – just larger teams that can “hit the phones” to find other sources of funding!
The minutes should be published within 4 weeks after the meeting!
The plan is to rotate the venue within the board area, and have up to 2 meetings a year. Next meeting 26th March 2026.
Sofia did say that the aim is also to provide the facility for “networking”. The sceptic in me says that nobody wants to be seen as the first to leave!
Alec Barron