Folkestone Parks and Pleasure Grounds Charity - Monday 28 April 2025, 10:00am - Folkestone & Hythe webcasting

Folkestone Parks and Pleasure Grounds Charity
Monday, 28th April 2025 at 10:00am 

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  1. Cllr Jim Martin
  2. Ms Jemma West
  3. Cllr Jim Martin
  4. Cllr Jim Martin
  5. Cllr Tim Prater
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  1. Jonathan Smith
  2. Cllr Jim Martin
  3. Jonathan Smith
  4. Cllr Jim Martin
  5. Jonathan Smith
  6. Cllr Jim Martin
  7. Cllr Mike Blakemore
  8. Jonathan Smith
  9. Cllr Jim Martin
  10. Cllr Jeremy Speakman
  11. Cllr Jim Martin
  12. Cllr Polly Blakemore
  13. Jonathan Smith
  14. Cllr Jim Martin
  15. Cllr Jeremy Speakman
  16. Folkestone & Hythe Officer
  17. Cllr Tim Prater
  18. Cllr Jim Martin
  19. Cllr Mike Blakemore
  20. Cllr Jim Martin
  21. Cllr Jim Martin
  22. Webcast Finished

Cllr Jim Martin - 0:00:01
And welcome to the meeting of the Folkestone Parks and Pleasure Grounds charity.
This meeting will be webcast live to the internet.
For those who do not wish to be recorded or filmed, you will need to leave the chamber.
For members, officers and others speaking at the meeting,
it is important that the microphones are used
so viewers on the webcast and others in the room may hear you.
Would anyone with a mobile phone please switch it to silent mode as they can
So apologies for absence Gemma.
Ms Jemma West - 0:00:38
We've received an apology from Councillor Holgate.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:00:41
Okay, thank you very much, that's great.
Declarations of interest, would any member like
to declare an interest?
No, okay, no declaration of interest.
Next item is minutes to agree as a true record
the minutes of the meeting held on the 26th of February 2025.
Has anyone got any issues or problems with them?
Happy to move.
Can we have a seconder?
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:01:16
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:01:16
Councillor, so Councillor Prater to propose.
Councillor Mike Blakemore to second.
All those in favor, please indicate.
Thank you very much.

2. Declarations of interest

1. Apologies for absence

4. FPPG - Annual report and accounts 2022-23

3. Minutes

Moving on then to our next item is our only substantive item,
Folkestone Parks and Pleasure Grounds charity annual report and accounts,
2022 -23.
And we're very fortunate to have Jonathan here who is going to take us through it.
Over to you, Jonathan.
Thank you, Chair.
Jonathan Smith - 0:01:52
So members of the trustees, the item brought before you today is the statement of accounts
for the financial year 2022 -23.
As you'll be aware, finance experienced a challenging and very lengthy audit for the
2022 -23 financial statements for the Council, which were signed on the 5th of December 2024,
and the 23 -24 accounts signed on the 25th of February 2025, bringing the Council fully
up to date.
Now, this is a significant achievement for the Council against a backdrop of huge delays
in the sector and many other councils having their accounts disclaimed by the auditors.
The government has placed significant emphasis on restoring confidence in local authority
audits and made clear that councils that failed to meet the backstop dates would face additional
scrutiny and therefore the councils' financial statements were prioritized to meet those
backstop dates.
Further to the councils' own financial statements, we separately needed to complete the financial
statements for the same financial years for the Folkestone Parks and Pledge Against Charity
accounts, the first of which is brought before you today.
However, it's necessary to complete the Council's accounts before completing the
Charities accounts due to the technical crossover between the Council and the Charity accounts,
such as the Charity not having its own separate finance system or a bank account, as well
as there being a debtor -creditor relationship between the two.
In addition, we also had to find a new auditor to undertake the audit of the accounts, as
the previous auditors for the charity had scheduling conflicts and therefore resigned.
As members will be aware, this resulted in delays in completing the charity's accounts,
and this is highlighted at paragraph 1 .6 in the report before you.
A brief summary of the financial performance of the charity is found at paragraph 2 .1,
demonstrating a sort of a £58 ,000 operating surplus.
And once you take into account
sort of some accounting adjustments and the like,
there's a £16 ,000 net income.
The split of these is summarised
in the statement of financial activities,
which is found on page 25 of the pack before you.
The charity is effectively funded via the special expense,
i .e. via council tax, events that take place in its land,
fees and charges, for example, the sports activities of those on East Cliff and the
car park income that it generates for car parks on this land.
As you will note from the letter of comment, which is found at Appendix 2 to the report,
these accounts are brought to you having been audited by the external auditors for the charity
and deemed to be true and fair, in effect an unqualified opinion on the statement of
accounts.
I mean, this should provide trustees with the assurance that the accounts brought today
are indeed true and fair in their presentation
of the balances, which is the highest level of assurance.
The auditor's statement of accounts
are to be found at appendix 1, which will be, upon approval,
signed by the chair of the trustees,
as well as the letter of representation
to the auditors, which is found in appendix 3 to the report.
Following receipt of the approved and signed accounts,
should you approve them today, external auditors
will sign the accounts, and they can be filed with the charity
Commission which is why they brought before you now.
I'm happy to take any questions on the item.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:05:10
Thank you very much Jonathan.
Can I just to clarify, so we've got three parts.
We've got the report, we've got the letter from Begbys and then we've got the letter
to Begbys.
There are three.
So I'm good on the letter from Begbie's and I'm good on the report, no problem.
Can you just explain to me what a letter of representation is?
Of course.
Jonathan Smith - 0:05:41
The letter of representation is effectively an assurance statement from effectively those
charged with governance, like for example the trustees to say these are certain factual
which we are representing to the external auditors,
just to say, you know, these are the facts
on which we have prepared these accounts,
and there are certain sort of factual items
which are contained within the letter of representation.
It's a very standard thing, you'll have noticed,
for the council's own accounts,
there's a letter of representation to the auditors provided,
so it's just a statement of factual bases
on which the accounts have been prepared,
and certain items which need to be sort of dealt with,
and represented to the auditors.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:06:26
Okay, so it's provided for clarity and further information.
Yep, correct.
Jonathan Smith - 0:06:29
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:06:31
Well, that's all my questions now.
So, very, Councillor Clayton.
Yeah, I had one question.
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:06:38
I noticed on page 32 of the pack
that the auditors remuneration has gone up
from 3 ,000 to 4 ,000 and so have valuation fees.
So, firstly, is that an exact figure,
or is that a rounding, because it's a very exact figure,
three or four thousand, and why the increase
is quite a sizeable jump in the fee,
is that what it's gonna cost?
I'm going with a particular reason
why it was more expensive at the time.
Yes, thank you.
Jonathan Smith - 0:07:01
So it is a rounded figure.
There are more precise figures available.
I'm gonna take a provide to you after the meeting,
as is required.
In effect, though, the fees have gone up.
We have had a new set of auditors looking at this.
there are increased requirements and you'll have noticed from the Council's accounts,
the audit fees have significantly gone up due to the requirements from, for example,
the Financial Reporting Council with regards to the requirements of audits and the work
involved in performing those audits.
So fees have gone up across the board and actually there's quite a significant increase.
You'll have noticed from the Council's accounts, from the PSAA in terms of the agreed fees.
So this is relatively modest in comparison, the increase, but it will be a sort of a maintained
increase for the 4 ,000 per year and certainly for the audit fee or there or thereabouts.
But there will be sort of increases to account for the fact that this is, whilst this is
a small set of accounts, it's still quite involved in terms of the work required for
the auditors to perform the work, which obviously still needs to be signed off and maintained
the right level of assurance that they are attaining.
Councillor Swinton.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:08:21
Sorry.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:08:27
Day 19 of the report, future plans.
Talking about the charity,
we'll be considering enhancing a number of its land and property assets, etc.
etc.
Including work in the
coastal park, I think, or
the coastal park comes under the charity, doesn't it?
My sense is that
they're not including any of the kind of land slip
remedial works.
That doesn't come under the charity, does it?
Thank you Chairman.
Through you, so no they don't come under the charity.
They've removed your works.
Our separate capital programs that are in the capital project for this year.
Right.
Okay.
But the coastal park is managed by the charity already?
The capital project would be done in conjunction with the coastal project work of the Montanis
that they need to do some of the work in terms of the coastal park in order to do the remuneration.
but in terms of where they sit, the remuneration work is under the council
and the actual play part is in the charity.
OK. Great. Thank you.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:09:42
Sorry. Councillor Polly Blakemore.
Thank you. Just a bit of pageantry to start off with.
Cllr Polly Blakemore - 0:09:48
On page 16 is reference to the donkey derby,
just to say that doesn't happen any more.
But the other thing I was going to ask was, the sports facilities at Eastcliff, are they
self -financing or are they subsidised by the charity?
Do they wash their own faces and just know how that works?
Thank you.
They generate, thank you, thank you, Councillor Bailão.
Jonathan Smith - 0:10:13
They do generate income.
I would have to look into the detail of what actually they cost in terms of the operating
costs specifically for that site.
But obviously they do form part of the overall income for the charity.
However, of course the largest funding source for the charity is the special expense which
comes in via council tax and that is the significant proportion of income.
The other key items of income for the charity is for example the car parks and also the
beach huts.
Councillor Spillane.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:10:50
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:10:52
Sorry, maybe this is just jumping the gun a bit,
but I'm just thinking ahead, as it were,
and the changes are coming.
Is that going to have some material effect on this chart
or could it just continue in its present form
or are we just looking at crystal balls
and shaking our heads?
I mean, presumably, as this sort of semi -autonomous organisation,
It could sort of continue in its present form, but I suppose it's a change of trustees, I
don't know.
Folkestone & Hythe Officer - 0:11:21
Thank you, Chair, for you.
So to be decided, as we transition, we go through the LGR process, this is one of the
things that we've reviewed in terms of how it's a charity, please accept our entity.
It will go forward, but really, you can't answer that among us to be decided.
Thank you.
The interesting thing about that and other elements of the, should we say, in the Council's
asset base is that the foresightedness, shall we say, to separate this off as a charitable
entity means it can be transferred.
Whether or not that happens is to be decided, as Alan said.
But we do have that flexibility.
So it will be something that occupies a lot of our discussions over the next couple of
years.
Councillor Brace.
Thank you.
Yeah, just a few comebacks on a couple of those things.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:12:18
We have to remember these are the 22, 23 accounts and therefore reference to the Donkey Derby
is actually from two years ago, I think prior to it stopping.
So because we're working so far in arrears, you are genuinely reading history here.
So, although I accept that it has now ceased and there's no work that could work, I recall
from previous conversations on this that the sports at Eastcliffe are not a profit centre.
They are very much subsidised from general fund.
They do not make as much money as it costs to staff.
An issue that we found in Hyde recently, a similar position whereby we have staffed tennis
courts and bowls and it cost more to staff than it did to offer the facility for free.
I don't think that works for picture and punch in the same way but it'll give us something
to think about in future. But yeah, they were the key things and again the point on transfer
of the asset etc. because we're talking 2022 -23, no there can be no consideration of that because
that wasn't a thing at the time so it's, we're dealing with the hypothetical, dealing with
past at this moment, the next set of accounts might have to start to consider that because
they'll be 23, 24 and consider potentially where we're going, but we're going to have,
again, probably not because that'll still be historical in the next picture.
Councillor Blackmore.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:13:48
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:13:52
Yeah, more on the East Cliffs Sports facilities. So we did, when we agreed not to go ahead
with the large play area on Jocks pitch, we also, we said the council would explore external
of funding to improve the play area, which I definitely think, I'm not aware that anything's
happened since then, so it would be very nice if we could talk about that perhaps at a future
meeting about, because it does feel like the most neglected play area in folks from that
one.
But we also did also agree to address the cost of maintaining the existing sports facilities,
so that was linked in with that as well, so that suggests that we need to raise money
to maintain those facilities.
It would be good to talk about that as well I think.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:14:30
I think we can draw all of this into our leisure strategy discussions
because it's very important that we address them.
Any other councillor wishing to contribute?
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:14:43
I think this, in line with a lot of other work that we've been doing recently,
is extremely helpful to get rid of this backlog of...
you know, uncompleted paperwork.
And again, as ever, I congratulate the team,
Jonathan, Alan and others who have worked very, very hard
to bring this up to its current state
where we can actually sign it off.
So we, would anybody like to propose?
Councillor Blakemore, someone likes a second.
Councillor Speakeman.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Lovely.
Thank you very much everyone and you can all go back leafleting now.
Thank you.