MEETINGS
The first meeting of Shipley Town Council took place on Thursday 28 May 2020 at 6.00pm.
Agendas for all other previous and future meetings can be found on the meetings page.
Full Meeting of Shipley Town Council
The agenda is now published for an extraordinary full meeting of Shipley Town Council, to be held on Tuesday 27 July 2021 at 7.00pm in Victoria Hall, Victoria Road, Shipley, BD18 3JS. Members of the press and public are welcome to attend the meeting. Members of the public can also address the Council during the Public Participation period at the start of the meeting.
Climate Emergency & Environment Committee
The agenda is now published for the next ordinary meeting of the Shipley Town Council Climate Emergency & Environment Committee, to be held on Thursday 22 July 2021 at 7.00pm in the York Room, Victoria Hall, Victoria Road, Shipley, BD18 3JS. Members of the press and public are welcome to attend the meeting. Members of the public can also address the committee during the Public Participation period at the start of the meeting.
Community Engagement Committee
The agenda is now published for the first ordinary meeting of the Shipley Town Council Community Engagement Committee, to be held on Tuesday 20 July 2021 at 7.00pm in the Glen Room, Victoria Hall, Victoria Road, Shipley, BD18 3JS. Members of the press and public are welcome to attend the meeting. Members of the public can also address the committee during the Public Participation period at the start of the meeting.
Management Committee
The agenda is now published for the next ordinary meeting of the Shipley Town Council Management Committee, to be held on Thursday 15 July 2021 at 7.00pm in the York Room, Victoria Hall, Victoria Road, Shipley, BD18 3JS. Members of the press and public are welcome to attend the meeting. Members of the public can also address the committee during the Public Participation period at the start of the meeting.
Volunteers Needed for Family Fun Day
Shipley Town Council is holding a family fun day, “Shipley Unlocked”, on Saturday 31 July 2021.
Help is needed from volunteers willing to be stewards for the event. Tasks will include handing out maps and leaflets, signposting, litter-picking and assisting with safety at pedestrian crossings.
The Town Council would love to hear from anyone who can offer some time. This could be from just one hour’s help, up to the whole day from 9.00am to 5.00pm.
Please contact the Town Council office to register your interest. A full briefing will be provided for volunteers in advance of the event.
Notice of Vacancies for Town Councillors (Shipley Town Council)
Shipley Town Council
NOTICE OF VACANCIES
in the offices of town councillors for
Nab Wood & Moorhead Ward (two vacancies)
Shipley Centre & Dockfield Ward (one vacancy)
J. T. Ashton
Clerk to the Council
Information for applicants
Shipley Town Council welcomes and encourages applications for co-option from people of all backgrounds. The Town Council particularly welcomes applications from women and black and minority ethnic people, as they are currently under-represented on Shipley Town Council.
Prospective applicants should contact the Town Council office for an application form.
E-mail: shipleytownclerk@gmail.com
Telephone: 07517742566
Post: Shipley Town Council, Room LG2, Town Hall, Kirkgate, Shipley, BD18 3EJ
Closing date for applications is 22 July 2021 at 6.00pm
Please note that applicants are expected to make a statement and attend interview, between 7.00pm and 9.00pm, on Tuesday 27 July 2021.
The statement and interview will take place during the meeting of the full Town Council, in person at Victoria Hall, Victoria Road, Shipley, BD18 3JS. The meeting is open to the press and public and can be recorded and reported upon.
Reasonable adjustments will be made on request.
Saltaire Public Toilets to re-open on 10 July
At 2.00pm on Saturday 10th July 2021, Councillor Mike Connors, the Chair of Shipley Town Council, will officially re-open the Caroline Street public toilets in Saltaire World Heritage Site, following a £15,000 refurbishment.
The public toilets were closed in 2017 by their current owner and previous operator, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, following major cutbacks in local government funding which affected toilet provision across the Bradford district and in other parts of the country.
The Saltaire public toilet building stood mothballed in the public car park, until May 2021, when the recently-created Shipley Town Council agreed to take on a licence, without rent, to run the toilets, initially on a one year trial basis.
To fund the toilet service, the Town Council has used a share of its parish precept (a small amount of additional Council Tax raised from Shipley households for spending in Shipley) and a portion of the town’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which is raised mainly from new housing developments in Shipley.
The facilities have been deep-cleaned, repainted in the heritage colour “Saltaire Green” and generally repaired. A baby change table has been added within the accessible toilet unit and other innovations are under consideration for implementation during the year ahead. The toilets also include a small booth from where tickets, programmes and visitor information could be made available, especially during events.
The renovation work was mainly completed by Cromwell Property Services of Bradford, reporting to Bradford Council as Clerk of Works. The overall project was managed by a team of three: Town Councillor James Roberts, former town councillor Dr Farzana Khan and the Town Clerk, Joe Ashton.
In normal circumstances during the summer months, the toilets will be open to the public between 8.00am and 8.00pm, daily, including weekends. Initially at least, there will be no charge to use the facilities. In normal circumstances, the toilets will be cleaned once per day by contractors, Churchill Group, who already clean the neighbouring Shipley College campus.
Speaking ahead of the opening, Councillor Connors, said: “We ultimately owe the re-opening of this much-needed facility to Robbie Martin, who had the foresight to successfully petition for the creation of Shipley Town Council. Without the new town council, it is unlikely that Saltaire’s toilets would have been re-opened in 2021, if ever. However, I would also like to thank Saltaire Village Society, the officers of which worked hard to lay the foundations for this project.”
Shipley Town Council is now considering how to approach the lack of public toilets elsewhere in the town. The town centre’s toilets in Shipley Market Square have been closed and partly sold-off by Bradford Council but the £25million Shipley Town Deal Fund, recently agreed in principle by central government, presents an opportunity to restore the service.
The Town Council also hopes to work with Bradford Council to provide public toilets in Northcliffe Park and to open discussions about better toilet provision in Roberts Park (which is located within Baildon Town Council’s area but part of the Saltaire World Heritage Site).This follows the recent re-opening of a toilet at Shipley railway station.
Planning & Regeneration Committee
The agenda is now published for the next ordinary meeting of the Shipley Town Council Planning & Regeneration Committee, to be held on Tuesday 6 July 2021 at 7.00pm in the Glen Room, Victoria Hall, Victoria Road, Shipley, BD18 3JS. Members of the press and public are welcome to attend the meeting. Members of the public can also address the committee during the Public Participation period at the start of the meeting.
Annual Accounts 2020/21
Annual Accounts 2020/21
Shipley Town Council
NOTICE OF PUBLIC RIGHTS AND PUBLICATION OF UNAUDITED ANNUAL GOVERNANCE & ACCOUNTABILITY RETURN
ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021
Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 Sections 26 and 27
The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/234)
| NOTICE |
| 1. Date of announcement: 30 June 2021 2. Each year the smaller authority’s Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) needs to be reviewed by an external auditor appointed by Smaller Authorities’ Audit Appointments Ltd. The unaudited AGAR has been published with this notice. As it has yet to be reviewed by the appointed auditor, it is subject to change as a result of that review. Any person interested has the right to inspect and make copies of the accounting records for the financial year to which the audit relates and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents relating to those records must be made available for inspection by any person interested. For the year ended 31 March 2021, these documents will be available on reasonable notice by application to: Mr Joe Ashton (Clerk to the Council) Shipley Town Council, Town Hall, Kirkgate, Shipley, BD18 3EJ shipleytownclerk@gmail.com 07517 742566 commencing on Thursday 1 July 2021 and ending on Wednesday 11 August 2021 3. Local government electors and their representatives also have: The opportunity to question the appointed auditor about the accounting records; andThe right to make an objection which concerns a matter in respect of which the appointed auditor could either make a public interest report or apply to the court for a declaration that an item of account is unlawful. Written notice of an objection must first be given to the auditor and a copy sent to the smaller authority. The appointed auditor can be contacted at the address in paragraph 4 below for this purpose between the above dates only. 4. The smaller authority’s AGAR is subject to review by the appointed auditor under the provisions of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 and the NAO’s Code of Audit Practice 2015. The appointed auditor is: PKF Littlejohn LLP (Ref: SBA Team) 15 Westferry Circus Canary Wharf London E14 4HD (sba@pkf-l.com) 5. This announcement is made by Mr Joe Ashton (Responsible Financial Officer). |
PUBLICATION OF UNAUDITED ANNUAL GOVERNANCE & ACCOUNTABILITY RETURN
LOCAL AUTHORITY ACCOUNTS: A SUMMARY OF YOUR RIGHTS
Please note that this summary applies to all relevant smaller authorities, including local councils, internal drainage boards and ‘other’ smaller authorities.
The basic position
The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (the Act) governs the work of auditors appointed to smaller authorities. This summary explains the provisions contained in Sections 26 and 27 of the Act. The Act and the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 also cover the duties, responsibilities and rights of smaller authorities, other organisations and the public concerning the accounts being audited.
As a local elector, or an interested person, you have certain legal rights in respect of the accounting records of smaller authorities. As an interested person you can inspect accounting records and related documents. If you are a local government elector for the area to which the accounts relate you can also ask questions about the accounts and object to them. You do not have to pay directly for exercising your rights. However, any resulting costs incurred by the smaller authority form part of its running costs. Therefore, indirectly, local residents pay for the cost of you exercising your rights through their council tax.
The right to inspect the accounting records
Any interested person can inspect the accounting records, which includes but is not limited to local electors. You can inspect the accounting records for the financial year to which the audit relates and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents relating to those records. You can copy all, or part, of these records or documents. Your inspection must be about the accounts, or relate to an item in the accounts. You cannot, for example, inspect or copy documents unrelated to the accounts, or that include personal information (Section 26 (6) – (10) of the Act explains what is meant by personal information). You cannot inspect information which is protected by commercial confidentiality. This is information which would prejudice commercial confidentiality if it was released to the public and there is not, set against this, a very strong reason in the public interest why it should nevertheless be disclosed.
When smaller authorities have finished preparing accounts for the financial year and approved them, they must publish them (including on a website). There must be a 30 working day period, called the ‘period for the exercise of public rights’, during which you can exercise your statutory right to inspect the accounting records. Smaller authorities must tell the public, including advertising this on their website, that the accounting records and related documents are available to inspect. By arrangement you will then have 30 working days to inspect and make copies of the accounting records. You may have to pay a copying charge. The 30 working day period must include a common period of inspection during which all smaller authorities’ accounting records are available to inspect. This will be 1-14 July 2021 for 2020/21 accounts. The advertisement must set out the dates of the period for the exercise of public rights, how you can communicate to the smaller authority that you wish to inspect the accounting records and related documents, the name and address of the auditor, and the relevant legislation that governs the inspection of accounts and objections.
The right to ask the auditor questions about the accounting records
You should first ask your smaller authority about the accounting records, since they hold all the details. If you are a local elector, your right to ask questions of the external auditor is enshrined in law. However, while the auditor will answer your questions where possible, they are not always obliged to do so. For example, the question might be better answered by another organisation, require investigation beyond the auditor’s remit, or involve disproportionate cost (which is borne by the local taxpayer). Give your smaller authority the opportunity first to explain anything in the accounting records that you are unsure about. If you are not satisfied with their explanation, you can question the external auditor about the accounting records.
The law limits the time available for you formally to ask questions. This must be done in the period for the exercise of public rights, so let the external auditor know your concern as soon as possible. The advertisement or notice that tells you the accounting records are available to inspect will also give the period for the exercise of public rights during which you may ask the auditor questions, which here means formally asking questions under the Act. You can ask someone to represent you when asking the external auditor questions.
Before you ask the external auditor any questions, inspect the accounting records fully, so you know what they contain. Please remember that you cannot formally ask questions, under the Act, after the end of the period for the exercise of public rights. You may ask your smaller authority other questions about their accounts for any year, at any time. But these are not questions under the Act.
You can ask the external auditor questions about an item in the accounting records for the financial year being audited. However, your right to ask the external auditor questions is limited. The external auditor can only answer ‘what’ questions, not ‘why’ questions. The external auditor cannot answer questions about policies, finances, procedures or anything else unless it is directly relevant to an item in the accounting records. Remember that your questions must always be about facts, not opinions. To avoid misunderstanding, we recommend that you always put your questions in writing.
The right to make objections at audit
You have inspected the accounting records and asked your questions of the smaller authority. Now you may wish to object to the accounts on the basis that an item in them is in your view unlawful or there are matters of wider concern arising from the smaller authority’s finances. A local government elector can ask the external auditor to apply to the High Court for a declaration that an item of account is unlawful, or to issue a report on matters which are in the public interest. You must tell the external auditor which specific item in the accounts you object to and why you think the item is unlawful, or why you think that a public interest report should be made about it. You must provide the external auditor with the evidence you have to support your objection. Disagreeing with income or spending does not make it unlawful. To object to the accounts you must write to the external auditor stating you want to make an objection, including the information and evidence below and you must send a copy to the smaller authority. The notice must include:
- confirmation that you are an elector in the smaller authority’s area;
- why you are objecting to the accounts and the facts on which you rely;
- details of any item in the accounts that you think is unlawful; and
- details of any matter about which you think the external auditor should make a public interest report.
Other than it must be in writing, there is no set format for objecting. You can only ask the external auditor to act within the powers available under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.
A final word
You may not use this ‘right to object’ to make a personal complaint or claim against your smaller authority. You should take such complaints to your local Citizens’ Advice Bureau, local Law Centre or to your solicitor. Smaller authorities, and so local taxpayers, meet the costs of dealing with questions and objections. In deciding whether to take your objection forward, one of a series of factors the auditor must take into account is the cost that will be involved, they will only continue with the objection if it is in the public interest to do so. They may also decide not to consider an objection if they think that it is frivolous or vexatious, or if it repeats an objection already considered. If you appeal to the courts against an auditor’s decision not to apply to the courts for a declaration that an item of account is unlawful, you will have to pay for the action yourself.
| For more detailed guidance on public rights and the special powers of auditors, copies of the publication Local authority accounts: A guide to your rights are available from the NAO website. | If you wish to contact your authority’s appointed external auditor please write to the address in paragraph 4 of the Notice of Public Rights and Publication of Unaudited Annual Governance & Accountability Return. |
Allotments & Green Spaces Committee
The agenda is now published for the next ordinary meeting of the Shipley Town Council Allotments & Green Spaces Committee, to be held on Wednesday 30 June 2021 at 7.00pm in the Glen Room, Victoria Hall, Victoria Road, Shipley, BD18 3JS. Members of the press and public are welcome to attend the meeting. Members of the public can also address the committee during the Public Participation period at the start of the meeting.
