I have a growing concern about the use of public money within the parish and how year on year the council increases the precept but does not ringfence projects. Unfortunately I am on the parish council and despite protestations year on year this falls on deaf ears. In 2005 the council commissioned the parish plan which was recently completed and this higlighted the underuse of many of the facilities. It was suggested that we sell off some of these as they were a drain on finances but to date this has not happened and all that has happened is the precept has increased to support these facilities. The biggest drain is the village hall. Clubs and WI used to regularly use these but sadly clubs have folded along with the WI. The village hall now holds a small satellite doctors surgery for people from the surrounding villages and is an area where people can collect prescriptions but this is part time, around 8 hours a week. When the post office closed in February a group of volunteers came forward to try to get a "community shop" up and running which effectively became the reinstatement of the village post office and it was suggested that it be set up in the village hall. The post office opened in the village hall this month and is now open for 23 hours a week not Fridays or Saturdays and with the exception of Monday, only mornings. It sells cards and post office services and it is a commercial enterprise. The council protests it is a valuable service for the community although closed Saturday (which suggests it supports a small group rather than the community as a whole) and in order to get it up and running the parish council who own the village hall knocked the hall about to make an area for the post office and did not charge for this - it cost in the region of £3000 and was not budgeted for from the precept. However the volunteers did fundraise to get a post office counter, and new doors for the part it is renting from the hall but the rent and rates, set at £50 a month for the 23hours a week, might bearly cover the running costs with regards heating and lighting. It is charged the same amount as the doctors surgery but quite how this will be justified to the auditors when reconciling the heating and lighting is a concern. This year the council has suggested raising the precept to pay for new curtains, chairs and kitchen for the village hall although it is considering going for funding despite the sizeable reserve. Having some understanding of fundraising, should the council have some idea of who should be using the hall for the future in order to justify going for funding and what projects/money it has ringfenced for the future? Should we be charging a commercial rent for the post office in order to make it a viable option and save having to increase the precept by 5% to accommodate this burdensome millstone, and should we have billed the post office for the remedial work we did and finally could we be criticised for using public money badly in so far as we have not consulted the entire parish regarding the use of the post office (it was stated that some people were surveyed but it would appear these people were in the main village not the peripheral villages) Year on year the council increases the precept and does not ringfence money for projects but gets side tracked by other issues and hence never achieves its goals. Is this open to criticism by the public that we increase the precept to support underused buildings but then spend the money on other projects which occur during the year. To date the parish council has not paid any attention to the issues raised in the parish plan, nor have they consulted with the local high school which is planning on gaining sport status and to become a community building, encouraging the public to use it more, to the extent that it is also piloting opening a proper local library service. Concerns are that any funding or grants would therefore be diverted to this area rather than a village hall which is only for occasional weddings, parties for which there is already a social club and pubs with facilities. If the council listened to what was going on locally and consolidated its services and amenities it would not have to raise the precept year on year chasing projects which have not been well researched or business cases for! I would welcome your comments regarding the rent/rates and also passing on the charges to the post office and how the council could make better use of public funds with regards the village hall as no money has been allocated to advertise it other than in the local village paper which limits the use somewhat! Perhaps you could offer some suggestions as to what the council should be doing regarding ringfencing projects - if needs be, send someone along to help them achieve their goals! Thanks

We wish to set up a postal point in our community shop, which will open in March 2009. Where can we find more detailed information about the correct weighing scales, postal services etc? I know that Brockweir are running a scheme successfully, but I cannot spare the time to visit that shop as it is about three hours' drive each way. They manage to send recorded delivery etc. and that is what we wish to do. Is it in conjunction with the PO in any way, as we have been advised by the PO that we are legally restricted in what we can offer?

The local villagers where i live are trying to start a village shop, they want to know what would be best. 1/ to form a ltd company, 2/ register as a charity, 3/ form a cooperative.

If the shop is run by a paid manager, is that person self-employed, or an employee?

Thanks

We are a village hall with registered charity status. Our caretaker is employed on a self employed basis we recently changed caretakers and one of the committee does the job is he allowed to do this as he is a trustee. the hours worked are no more than 6 a week

Coverack is a small village on The Lizard Peninsula. Our PO has been reprieved from closure but the owner is beyond retirement age and is giving up, The PO is up for sale but no takers. What are the precedents for setting up a charitable trust with village members as stakeholders to purchase and manage. PO is up for sale for £80k and we would need working capital and grants if possible. There is not much scope for additional income as building is quite small and a few gift, charity and stationery items now sold