Minutes of the Staffing, Finance & General Purposes Committee held in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Bideford on Thursday 19 October 2017 at 6.30 pm
PRESENT:
North Ward:
Councillor D Bushby
Councillor P Christie
Councillor D McGeough (Mayor)
Councillor P J Pester
South Ward:
Councillor A T Inch (Substitute for Councillor M Langmead).
Councillor S G Inch (Chairman)
Councillor R Wootton
South Ward (Outer):
Councillor D Howell
IN ATTENDANCE:
Mrs H J Blackburn (Town Clerk)
Mrs L C Dixon-Chatfield (Asst to Town Clerk)
077 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Councillor M Langmead (East Ward – Personal).
Councillor Brenton (South Ward – Personal)
078 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
Councillor P Christie declared a pecuniary interest in agenda item 6 - (Receives a small payment for guided walks during Wicked Week.)
Councillor AT Inch declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 6 - (Member of the Twinning Association, family members belong to the Tarka Band and Bideford Youth Pipe Band, President of the Walking Football, Member of the Rotary Club and has given Devon County Council and Torridge District Council grants.)
Councillor S G Inch declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 6 - (Family Members belong to the Youth Pipe Band, Member of the Committee for the Bideford Massed Pipe Bands, Chairman of the Board of the Tarka Pipe Band and Member of the Twinning Association.)
Councillor P J Pester declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 6 - (Bideford and District Archive Council Committee member, President of the Carnival Committee, President of Regatta Committee, and Member of BARC).
Councillor R Wootton declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 6 - (Governor of East-the-Water Primary School)
079 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION
No members of the public were present at the meeting.
080 CHAIRMAN’S ITEMS
Christmas Light Bracket Pull Testing. The Town Clerk advised Members that a number of the brackets which hold the Christmas Lights on the High Street had failed the pull test. She had written to the premises concerned to advise that work needed to be carried out on their brackets, and they were being refitted by DS Electrical. These brackets will need to be retested before the lights are erected.
081 ACCOUNTS
Members received the list of payments.
Proposed by Councillor Pester, seconded by Councillor Howell and
RESOLVED: That the draft list of payments is approved.
(Vote – For: 8, Against: 0)
082 GRANTS TO LOCAL ORGANISATIONS 2018/19
The Town Clerk advised Members of the budgetary implications of making grant awards at the same level as last year. The Town Council will have increased expenditure in the coming year due to the probable employment of a further maintenance operative and the associated costs, coupled with the costs associated with the current operative works, and the increased liabilities assumed by the Town Council over the last year.
Councillor Pester suggested that grant funds are ring-fenced for the Christmas Light Switch on and New Year’s Eve Celebrations, but that the grant allocation decision for both these events is deferred to January 2018, until this year’s events have taken place.
Proposed by Councillor Pester, seconded by Councillor McGeough and
RECOMMENDED: That £24,000 is set aside for the Christmas Light Switch on and New Year’s Eve Celebrations, with the grant allocation decision for both events deferred until January 2018.
(Vote – For: 8, Against: 0)
Proposed by Councillor Pester, seconded by Councillor Howell and
RECOMMENDED: That the maximum total for the grant allocation for 2018/19 is £90,000 (made up of £56,000 for allocation at this meeting with a further £24,000 ring-fenced for allocation in January 2018) with a contingency figure of £10,000.
(Vote: For: 7, Against: 0, abstention: 1)
The Chairman asked Members to agree to vote “in principle” on each application with a vote on the total grant sum once all grants had been considered. This would allow individual grants awards to be revisited at the end should this be required to stay within the agreed budget.
Proposed by Councillor Howell, seconded by Councillor S Inch and
RESOLVED: That voting on the applications is “in principle” with a final vote on the total grant sum once all applications had been considered.
(Vote: For: 8, Against: 0)
The Town Clerk advised that there had been a late application from the Bideford Music club and asked Members whether they wished to consider it.
Proposed by Councillor Howell, seconded by Councillor Bushby and
RESOLVED: That late application is accepted.
(Vote: For: 7, Against: 0, abstention:1 )
The Councillors then considered each application received and made recommendations to Full Council for the award of grants from 1 April 2018, as detailed in the table below. The voting information in italics, shows the proposals which were put forward and seconded, but which did not have the majority vote.
Recipient Proposers Vote For/Against/Abst Amount not agreed Amount Agreed Comments
Bideford Ladies Club PP/AI 5/3/0 DM/DH £150 £300.00
Atlantic Racquet Club DH/DM 5/3/0 £0.00
Atlantic Village TIC PP/PC 5/3/0 £750.00 To be taken from the Tourism Budget
Bideford Amateur Boxing Club PP/AI 8/0/0 £1,100.00 Would they consider putting Bideford crest on medallion?
Bideford AFC Youth SI/DH 8/0/0 £3,500.00
Bid Amateur Rowing Club PP/DB 8/0/0 £2,500.00
Bid Club for Disabled Learners PP/RW 8/0/0 £400.00
Bideford Bay Creatives DH/AI PP/RW £750 £0.00
Bideford Bike Show SI/PC 5/2/1 PP/AI £1,500 £3,000.00
Bideford Blues & Appledore JFC P/DB 6/2/0 AI/DH £500 £1,500.00
Bideford Buzz PP/DH 8/0/0 £2,000.00
Bideford Carnival Committee DH/DB 8/0/0 £1,000.00
Bideford College Lab on Loan PP/DM 5/0/3 £0.00
Bideford & Dist. Comm Archive AI/RW 8/0/0 £1,550.00
Bideford Film Society AI/RW 4/4/0 (casting vote for) PP/DH £750 £1,000.00
Bideford Gardner’s Club SI/PC 6/2/0 PP/DM £0 £500.00
Bideford Keyboard & Organ AI/DM 6/2/1 SI/PP £500 £250.00
Bideford Ladies Club PP/AI 5/3/0 DM/DH £150 £300.00
Bideford/Landivisiau Twinning SI/AI 4/4/0 (casting vote for) DH/PC £0 £1,000.00
Bideford Late Night Shopping DH/DM 8/0/0 £0.00
Bideford Colts PP/AI 6/2/1 DH/RW£1,500 £1,000.00
Bid Massed Pipes and Drums DM/RW 5/2/1 SI/AI £3,000 £1,750.00 Should make a bucket collection at the event
Bideford Methodist Church DM/DH 4/3/1 SI/AI £3,000 £0.00
No.1 Branch Bideford OAPs pc/pp 500 8 for £500.00
Bideford Phoenix Morris Club DH/PP 7/1/0 £300.00
Bid Railway Heritage Centre ai/pp 500 8/0/0 £500.00
Bideford Rugby Football Club AI/DH 5/3/0 PP/PC £2,000 £2,500.00
Bideford Street Pastors DM/PP 6/2/0 AI/RW £500 £0.00
Bideford Town Band PP/DM 6/1/1 AI/RW £3,500 £3,000.00
Bideford Walking Football PP/RW 7/0/1 £380.00
Bideford Youth Pipe Band PP/DH 6/0/2 £2,080.00
Ethelwynne Brown Art Club DHH/PP 6/1/1 AI/RW £300 £250.00
Families in Grief PP/DH 8/0/0 £1,000.00
Friends of Bideford Library DH/AI 7/0/1 £500.00
Friends of Bid Medical Centre PP/AI 5/3/0 DM/DH £0 £750.00
Grow@ Jigsaw DH/DB 8/0/0 £1,000.00
Harbour Bideford DH/SI 6/2/0 £2,000.00
Intagr8 AI/PC 8/0/0 £500.00
Kenwith Company of Archers PP/DH 7/1/0 £1,000.00
N Devon Display Gym Club DH/DM 8/0/0 £1,000.00
N Devon Forum for Autism PP/AI 8/0/0 £1,200.00
N Devon Christmas Fund DH/AI 8/0/0 £1,000.00
Northern Devon Foodbank AI/DM 7/0/1 £1,000.00
Out of this World Events DEFER TO JAN 8/0/0 £0.00
Pete's Dragons DH/DM 6/1/1 AI/RW £500 £0.00
Port of Bideford Regatta Comm AI/DB 8/0/0 £1,500.00
Rainbo Music Trust DH/DB 6/2/0 AI/RW £1500 £1,000.00
Rotary Club of Bideford PP/DB 7/0/1 £1,500.00
St Mary's Church Bideford SI/DH 7/1/0 PC/DM £0 & PP/DB £1,000 £500.00
SW Event Management DEFER TO JAN. 8/0/0 £0.00
Steamship Freshspring Society DH/AI 8/0/0 £1,000.00
Store Homelessness Project PP/DM 6/1/1 £0.00
Tarka Child Contact Centre PP/PC 5/2/1 AI/RW £2,000 £1,000.00
Tarka Pipe Band AI/DH 6/2/0 £1,500.00
The Little White Shed DM/AI 6/2/0 PP/DH £300 £500.00
Torridge Amateur Swimming DB/AI 7/1/0 £329.00
Torridge Male Voice Choir DB/AI 5/3/0 PP/RW £500 £1,000.00
Torridge Neighbourhood Watch PP/AI 8/0/0 £50.00
Torridge CAB PC/AI 4/4/0 (casting vote for) DM/DB £1,000 £3,000.00
TTVS PP/RW 4/4/0 (casting vote for) DM/DB £1,000 £2,000.00
Wicked Week DM/DH 4/2/2 PP/AI £1,000 £0.00
£57,939.00
Plus £24k £24,000.00
(events)
TOTAL £81,939.00
Contingency £ 8,061.00
Proposed by Councillor Bushby, seconded by Councillor Pester and
RECOMMENDED: That the grant allocation totalling £90,000, as detailed in the above table, is agreed by Full Council.
(Vote: For: 8, Against: 0)
The business of the meeting having been completed, the Chairman thanked the members for their attendance and the meeting concluded at 8.10 pm.