Annual Governance & Accountability Return (AGAR)

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PKF Littlejohn have now completed their audit of the AGAR for 2021/22 .  Lymington and Pennington Town Council are now publishing The Notice of Conclusion of Audit along with sections 1, 2 and 3 of the AGAR   – Annual Governance Statement 2021/22 (Section 1),  Accounting Statements 2021/22 (Section 2) and External Audit Report 2021/22 (Section 3).

APPLICATION FOR GRANT AID 2022

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Lymington & Pennington Town Council is pleased to announce that applications for Grant Aid may be submitted between 14 September 2022 and 14 November 2022

 

Grant awards will be made in December 2022.

If your Organisation’s objectives are to benefit the residents of Lymington and Pennington, you are encouraged to apply for a Grant. 

 Please click here to obtain a Grant Application.

Lymington and Pennington’s Proclamation of the King

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Crowds gathered at both Lymington and Pennington’s respective war memorials, on Sunday 11th September 2022, to hear the Accession Proclamation of the new King, Charles III.

The Town Mayor, Cllr James Hoare, delivered the proclamation, and commented;

 “ It was an honour yesterday to be asked to make the Local Proclamation in Lymington and Pennington to announce the Accession of King Charles III. Although there was little time to publicise the event, some 100 people gathered at the War Memorial outside St Thomas church at 3pm. It was an emotional occasion, marking the end of HM Queen Elizabeth’s long reign, and the succession of King Charles. The traffic slowed respectfully when they saw what was happening.

I then went to the War Memorial in Pennington with my fellow Councillors where I read the Local Proclamation to a smaller group of residents at 4pm. The sun was out and I enjoyed sharing thoughts and feelings about this historic moment with everyone afterwards.” 

The Town Mayor was joined by the Town Clerk, Louise Young, Hampshire County Councillor, Barry Dunning and Councillors from Lymington and Pennington, with the Deputy Town Mayor acting as Mace bearer and proceeding the Mayor to the ceremony.

Choir members from St Thomas’ Church Lymington attended, starting the National Anthem at the conclusion of the proclamation.

Many members of public attended with Sergeant Andrew Gwyer supporting the event.

Photos courtesy of Paul French

PRESS RELEASE 03 August 2022 - FIRE AT PENNINGTON COMMON

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A second wildfire broke out on Saturday 30th July 2022 at Pennington Common. The first call was put into the emergency services at 15.55, with officers from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire service on site by 16.04.

 

The fire was bought under control within one hour using five hose reel jets, one landrover and two main jets. Fire crews stayed until 21:19 to damp down, with inspections through the night and following morning.

 

The extent of damage travelled from Wainsford Road stretching towards St Marks Graveyard.

 

Between the two fires it has resulted in the burning of an approximate two hectare area comprised mainly of gorse scrub, together with mixed deciduous scrub, mature trees and species rich grassland. Both fires travelled in a north easterly direction, carried by the prevailing south westerly wind.

 

Pennington Common is in the ownership of Lymington and Pennington Town Council and the management of the SSSI, part of the New Forest National Park, is undertaken in conjunction with Natural England and support from the Higher-Level Stewardship scheme.

 

Emergency meetings have taken place with the Town Clerk, Natural England and Station Commander for New Forest West Fire Service to identify areas where mulching and cutting should take place. With the primary aim of minimising risk to any properties and enable any further fires to be bought under control quickly. Contractors are rescheduling other work to carry out the required reductions on Friday 5th August. The annual grass cutting, and removal has been completed. Ditching clearance will take place from Monday 8th August.

 

The Fire service and police are setting up a community contact point on Pennington Common this coming Saturday 6th August in the afternoon. The is to provide community reassurance and fire safety advice. Two operational vehicles will be present, these may have to depart at short notice.

 

If any person has knowledge as to how the fire may have started on either occasion, the Town Council urges them to contact the police.

 

Lymington and Pennington Town Council wishes, once again, to thank the Fire Rescue Teams for their quick response and actions to bring the fire under control.

END

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FIRE AT PENNINGTON COMMON

A wildfire broke out on Sunday 24th July 2022 at Pennington Common. The first call was put into the emergency services at 14.40, with officers from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire service on site by 14.48.

Photo credit deirdre hume

 

The fire was bought under control within 1.5 hours using two caf jets, four main jets and five hose reels with firefighters from Dorset and Wiltshire Fire service also in attendance. Fire crews stayed until 18.48 to damp down, with crew returning on Monday morning to extinguish a hot spot.

photo credit cllr gossage

 

The extent of damage travelled from the NW boundary along Ramley Road starting near to the play area and stretching towards St Marks Graveyard covering an area of approximately 0.5s hectares. At the height of the fire, thick smoke engulfed homes with the wind causing the smoke to travel many kms across Pennington and Lymington and into Boldre. No serious injuries were recorded.

 

Pennington Common is in the ownership of Lymington and Pennington Town Council and the management of the SSSI, part of the New Forest National Park, is undertaken in conjunction with Natural England and support from the Higher-Level Stewardship scheme.

 

Gorse mulching is used to reduce clumps and create fire breaks between areas of gorse, with an annual visit from an Environmental and Land Management consultant advising of areas of gorse that need to be mulched. Mulching can only be carried out from late Sept - late Feb, due to nesting birds. The necessary amount of gorse was successfully mulched by the Woodland management team in Winter 2021/2022.

 

Under the HLS scheme the grass can only be cut once a year from the 1st July onwards. The cutting date is altered year on year to allow for different flowers to have produced seeds, as some variety in the cutting regime is beneficial. Grass cutting took place in September 2021 and is scheduled to take place on 28 July 2022.

 

The Town Clerk contacted the Fire and Safety Protection Officer and Station Commander for Lymington and Pennington to ascertain if more could have been done to prevent the fire and spread, along with managing further risk during these dry conditions.

 

They advised that the fire breaks in the gorse worked well, enabling them to bring the fire under control quickly. Further mulching is advised near the churchyard. Had the Common already had its annual grass cut, it would have made no difference to the outcome of the fire, with gorse and dry conditions being the cause for spread.

 

How the wildfire started is unknown and the Town Council asks those visiting the Common to exercise caution during these very dry conditions with anything that could potentially ignite a fire.

 

Lymington and Pennington Town Council wishes to thank the Fire Rescue Teams that worked with professionalism and skill to bring the fire under control so quickly, we are grateful that their quick actions ensured the safety of the local community.

photo credit cllr gossage

END

Annual Governance & Accountability Return (AGAR)

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Annual Governance & Accountability Return

The Local Audit & Accountability Act 2014 and the Accounts & Audit Regulations 2015 set out the responsibilities of all local councils in respect of their accounting and auditing procedures.

Each year, the Council’s financial accounts and statements must be examined by an independent internal auditor appointed by the Council.  For the year 2021/22 Hampshire County Council were appointed under the operational name of Southern Internal Audit Partnership.

The Council is also required to complete an Annual Governance & Accountability Return (AGAR) which includes the findings of the Internal Auditor, together with Governance Statements and Financial Statements. The AGAR is then submitted to the independent external auditor appointed by the Audit Commission for examination.

A summary of this year’s audit process is detailed below, together with copies of the relevant documents.

Year Ending 31st March 2022

The Council’s Financial Statements and Annual Governance & Accountability Return (AGAR) submission for the year-ending 31st March 2022 had been checked by Southern Internal Audit Partnership and subsequently approved by the Full Council at its meeting held on 22nd June 2022.

The completed AGAR, together with the relevant supporting documentation, has now been submitted to the external auditor, PKF Littlejohn LLP who are required to complete their review by 30th September 2022.

Following this submission, Lymington and Pennington Town Council are publishing the Notice of Public Rights and Publication of the Unaudited Annual Governance & Accountability Return  along with sections 1 and 2 of the AGAR –Annual Governance Statement 2021/22 (Section 1) and Accounting Statements 2021/22 (Section 2) with the Summary of Your Rights stating that any person interested has a right to inspect and make copies of the accounting records for the 2021/22 Financial Year. This will run for a period of six weeks commencing on 1st July 2022 to 11th August 2022. Any person who wishes to review the documentation is advised to contact the Responsible Finance Officer.

PKF Littlejohn are due to complete their audit of the AGAR for 2021/22 by the 30th September 2022.  The report will be published soon after with the audited AGAR being available for public access for a period of not less than 5 years from the date of publication stated above.

 

 

Dated 30th June 2022