Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 7th October 2019 at 7pm in the Council Chamber, The Old Courthouse, Jaycroft Road, Burnham-on-Sea
Present: Cllrs Andy Brewer (Chair), Bill Hancock, Nick Tolley, Chris Allen, Sue Barber, Dawn Carey, Peter Clayton, Mike Facey, Rich Gardiner-White, Phil Harvey, Sue Harvey, Andy Hodge, Janet Keen, Alan Matthews, Louise Parkin, Colette Winfield with Samantha Winter, Town Clerk and Lorna Brewer, Admin Officer
Rev Kelton Black, 1 member of press and 10 members of the public were in attendance
Prior to the meeting the Mayor and Lady Mayoress presented a cheque for £485 to TS Dulverton Sea Cadets. The donation had been raised at the Mayor’s Civic Service.
Public participation session
A resident updated the meeting on the continued problems of commercial bins obstructing the highway in Technical Street, resulting in delivery vehicles hitting her building.
Cllr Brewer stated that this long term problem can only be resolved through the police and County Highways working together to take action against perpetrators for obstructing the highway. Cllr Brewer urged the resident to report the recent incident to the police and stated that the Town Council will continue to press the relevant authorities.
108/19/TC Apologies
Apologies were received from Cllr Murphy.
Cllr Groves was absent.
109/19/TC Declarations of Interest
None
110/19/TC Approval of minutes
The minutes of the Town Council meeting held on Monday 2nd September 2019 were received and signed by the Chairman as an accurate record
111/19/TC Action List
Members NOTED the completed action list.
112/19/TC To receive reports from the police or other emergency services
None
113/19/TC Chairman’s Announcements
The Chairman updated the meeting on his busy period attending many events. He thanked all who had supported his civic service, many compliments and letters of thanks had been received. Notable local events recently attended included the well organised & successful kite festival and an uplifting performance at the Princess by the Singing Children of Africa, which was a sell-out and raised £2k for the charity.
The Chairman had attended an event at the Morland Hall Community Hub where he enjoyed a display by the St John Ambulance. The Chairman drew the meeting’s attention to the St John’s Ambulance appeal for volunteers, Re-Start a Heart.
114/19/TC Reports from County Cllrs on County Council
There was no report.
115/19/TC Reports from District Cllrs on District Council relevant matters
Members received a report from Cllr J Keen on subjects including her visit to Churchfield School on the subject of Community Health and Wellbeing. The District Council has a Community Health Fund available to schools, which has been shared by the Clerk.
116/19/TC Reports from members attending meetings of outside bodies
Members received a report from Cllr Facey who had met with the Somerset County Council Tourism Team representative and discussed the positive works undertaken by the Town council and volunteers in promotion of coach tourism.
Motions for note/resolution
117/19/TC Adoption of the revised Financial Regulations
It was resolved to adopt the revised document as reviewed and recommended by the Finance and Resources Committee (min ref: 46/19/F&R).
118/19/TC Ear marked Reserves
It was resolved to agree the descriptions accurately reflect the intended use of funds under each EMR but the amount of money in each fund might be subject to review due to budget setting.
119/19/TC Corporate Plan
It was resolved to agree the further actions set out under the six pillars of the Corporate Plan.
The Chairman noted that a good start had been made on the Corporate Plan. It is an evolving document that will undergo further consideration and development.
120/19/TC Visit Somerset
It was resolved to agree to partner with Visit Somerset for an initial period of one year.
It was further resolved to delegate monitoring and review of the Visit Somerset service to the Town Improvements Committee, with the Town Clerk delegated to attend and report back on Board meetings, along with Cllr Tolley.
The meeting agreed that the Town Improvements Committee will undertake a performance review at the end of the first year prior to consideration of continued membership. The focus of the review will be on whether the town has seen an increase in the visitor economy.
The meeting agreed that it looked forward to an updated Visit Somerset website entry and input into the destination description.
121/19/TC Town Council Website
It was resolved to approve approx. £5k expenditure from the general reserve for the Town Clerk to purchase a Town Council website with integrated customer relations function, that complies with the accessibility requirements for public sector websites.
Accounts
122/19/TC The details of expenditure during August 2019 were received and approved.
123/19/TC The Town Council Accounts for the month of August 2019 were received and approved.
Committee Minutes
124/19/TC The draft minutes of the following committees had been circulated and received:
- Finance & Resources Committee held on 9th September
- Planning Committee held on 16th September
- Burial Committee held on 11th September
- Town Improvements Committee held on 23rd September
Correspondence
125/19/TC Items of correspondence were noted as received.
Dates of next meetings
126/19/TC The dates were noted.
Wednesday 9th October Planning
Monday 14th October Finance & Resources
Monday 21st October Princess Management
Wednesday 30th October Planning
Monday 11th November Town Council Meeting
The Chairman closed the meeting at 19.40hrs.