Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Remote meeting using Microsoft Teams

Contact: Democratic Services  01530 454512

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Appointment of Chairman for Ensuing Year

Minutes:

Melanie Long, Democratic Services Team Manager opened this first meeting of the civic year by inviting nominations for the appointment of Chairman for the ensuing year.

 

     Nominations were moved and seconded in respect of Councillor M Wyatt and Councillor E Allman and, upon voting on each nomination, it was subsequently

 

     RESOLVED THAT:

    

Councillor M Wyatt be appointed Chairman of the Coalville Special Expenses Working Party for the 20/21 civic year.

 

 

2.

Appointment of Deputy Chairman for Ensuing Year

Minutes:

A nomination was moved and seconded in respect of Councillor A Bridgen and, there being no other nominations, it was 

 

RESOLVED THAT:

 

     Councillor A Bridgen be appointed Deputy Chairman of the Coalville Special Expenses Working Party for the 20/21 civic year.

 

 

3.

Apologies For Absence

Minutes:

No apologies for absence were received.

 

 

4.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

Councillors Legrys declared a non pecuniary interest in any items relating to the Town Centre given his role as a volunteer at Hermitage FM; and Councillor Geary declared a non pecuniary interest in any item which referred to the Springboard Centre given his role as a director there and also to any reference to Mantle Arts and Coalville Football Club given his role as a Council representative on these bodies. They both remained for the entirety of the meeting.

 

 

5.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 205 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17 December 2019

Minutes:

     Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 17 December 2019

 

     RESOLVED THAT:

    

     By affirmation of the meeting, the minutes of the meeting held on 17 December 2019 be approved as a correct record subject to a minor amendment to show that Councillor Geary moved the minutes of the previous meeting.

 

 

6.

Events Update pdf icon PDF 486 KB

Report of the Cultural Services Team Manager

Additional documents:

Minutes:

     Wendy May, Cultural Services Team Manager provided an update on the 2020/21 events and projects funded within the Coalville Special Expenses Area, the details of which were set out in the report. This included the impact on these events as a consequence of COVID-19. She advised Members that, since writing the report, there had been some early discussions with fairground operators given the recent relaxation of the lockdown rules, which may enable a funfair to be held later in the year, though it was too early to confirm that at this stage. She also reassured Members of the ongoing discussions surrounding Remembrance 2020 adding that a county-wide meeting was scheduled at the end of July.

 

     The Cultural Services Team Manager took Members through the report and invited comments thereon. 

 

The Chairman referred to the report on the Artwork at Needhams Walk stating that it was a very comprehensive report and that he agreed with the suggested recommendations. He stated that he was eager to see how the work on the Christmas lights could be progressed to enable a more robust contract to alleviate some of the issues of the past, adding that he believed there would be more funding coming forward from developers in the future. The Chairman urged Members to ask any future developers coming forward with applications in and around the town, if they would like to contribute to the Christmas lights in the future.

 

The Chairman invited comments from the floor.

 

Councillor Legrys asked whether, in light of the recent planning application from the precinct owner, discussions regarding Needhams Walk would be progressed or put on hold until the planning application had been determined. 

 

The Cultural Services Team Manager advised that she had not had sight of the full details of the planning application but she considered that the artwork in this area to be ‘the icing on the cake’ and did not consider discussions at this very early stage to be a primary matter for the developer. Timely conversations would be had once she was in a position to better understand the anticipated timescales of the proposals of the planning application. The Chairman added that he had spoken with the precinct owners and he had mooted the idea of artwork at Needhams Walk and they were very favourable of the initiative and would very much like to support such a project. He agreed with the Cultural Services Team Manager that conversations on how this would be progressed would need to be had in a timely manner.

 

Councillor Geary fully supported this view and asked that conversations not be held with the developer until their intentions for the site were fully understood. With reference to Remembrance 2020, he asked for clarification on the references in the report to plans A, B and C. The Cultural Services Team Manager advised that Plan A – life is normal and the delivery of the event would be as previously, Plan B – dependant on guidance on the lockdown position and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Capital Projects Update pdf icon PDF 368 KB

Report of the Leisure Services Team Manager

Additional documents:

Minutes:

     Jason Knight, Leisure Services Team Manager provided an update on the 2020/21 capital projects, the details of which were set out in the report.

 

     Upon the request of the Chairman, the Leisure Services Team Manager took Members through each item in turn and invited questions thereon.

 

     Turning to the first item, Thringstone Miners Social Centre Training Pitch, Councillor Everitt advised that the issues surrounding the Club had been rumbling on for quite a while but he was hopeful that a solution would be found and that works could progress.

 

     Councillor Geary added that Thringstone once had a prime football club within Leicestershire which had rapidly declined and he had been following the circumstances around this very closely over the past few years and he urged caution on the provision of funding until they could prove beyond all reasonable doubt that they were capable of running a stable organisation. The Leisure Services Team Manager assured Members that the Club had now left the site and had no involvement whatsoever, so any funding would go to the Trustees and any resident clubs who would oversee any projects.

 

     On the issue of the Melrose Road Play Hub, Councillor Everitt asked whether stonemasons, who cut granite as a matter of course, had been contacted to do the work. The Leisure Services Team Manager advised that he could not confirm this but he would find out and report back outside the meeting. That said, he was confident that the contractors would be able to do this work and will be in a position to commence in the next two weeks.

 

     In relation to Coalville Park, the Chairman expressed his concern regarding the capacity of the park in retaining the ability to hold future events adding that it would be a huge shame to lose this space. Therefore he encouraged any planting to be around the perimeter of the site and not in the centre which would render it incapable of being used to host large events.

    

     Councillor Black and Councillor Allman echoed these concerns, acknowledging that enhancing green open spaces was vitally important but that this should not be at the expense of the ability to use those spaces.

 

     Councillor Legrys asked that his thanks and appreciation be passed on to the Parks Team for their efforts in keeping Coalville Park maintained throughout the difficult past few weeks. He asked whether local residents and volunteers could be consulted on the design element of the planting scheme before a final decision was made.  The Chairman gave his assurance that no scheme would be progressed if it did not meet with approval from local residents.

 

     Councillor Everitt stated that the problem over lack of green spaces was not limited to Coalville as this was replicated throughout the district with even the smallest pieces of land being built on. He endorsed the comments already made.

 

     Councillor Allman made reference to a protection order for Ashby Baths Grounds and asked whether something similar was or could be applied to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Coalville Special Expenses Finance Update pdf icon PDF 312 KB

Report of the Head of Community Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Paul Sanders, Head of Community Services presented the report.

 

The Working Party was advised that, at the time of writing the report, the revenue outturn and asset protection fund for 2019/20 was still being finalised. The provisional outturn will be reported to Cabinet on 23 July 2020 and an update will be provided at the next meeting of the Working Party in October.

 

It was noted that the 2019/20 outturn had not yet been finalised and therefore the opening balance of the reserve was likely to change.

 

Members were advised that, due to the pandemic, there would be a reduction in planned expenditure of £81k due to the suspension of the grounds maintenance services received (£52k) and the cancellation of a number of events (£28k). As the special expenses account is ring-fenced, the reduction in planned expenditure will be transferred into reserves. This has meant that that there will now be a contribution to reserves of £66k, compared to a budgeted deficit of £15k that was to be funded through reserves.

 

There is a planned maintenance programme in place for 2020/21. The approved budget is £46k, of which £24k is funded through the asset protection fund, £12k from reserves and £10k from external contributions. There has been no planned maintenance undertaken during the year yet and therefore nil expenditure.

 

By affirmation of the meeting it was

      

RESOLVED THAT:

 

The 2020/21 Period 1 actuals and forecast outturn for the year, be noted.

 

 

Before the close of the meeting, Councillor Geary reported that during the lockdown period, the Owen Street Pavilion had been refurbished from top to bottom at the Football Club’s expense which was welcome news. He also asked whether there would be any further meetings of the Events Sub Group before the end of the year. It was acknowledged that a date had been agreed for a meeting on 16 September at 5pm. The membership of this had been agreed at an earlier meeting. Councillor Geary asked if he could attend and was advised he would be welcome.

 

 

POST MEETING NOTE - As the above date now clashes with a changed time to a meeting of the Local Plan Committee, the Events Sub Group will be held on Tuesday 15 September at 5pm.