A23/030 PRESENT

Councillors Banks, Coan, Dalzell, Gray, Watson and Wood.

A Keppel-Green (Town Clerk)

 

A23/031 APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN

In the absence of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, it was RESOLVED that Cllr Coan be appointed as Chairman for the meeting.

 

A23/032 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from Cllr Lowe (business)

 

A23/033 DECLARATIONS OF MEMBERS’ INTERESTS

No member declared an interest in any item.

 

A23/034 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

No members of the public were present.

 

A23/035 CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES

It was RESOLVED to confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 18th September.

 

A23/036 REVIEW OF YEAR-TO-DATE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

The financial position year to date was noted. The Town Clerk provided an overview of budget lines where expenditure was exceeding budget provision and explained the Finance Committee would be considering the creation of an infrastructure reserve to fund replacement equipment outside revenue budget lines.

 

A23/020 SUB-COMMITTEE MINUTES

The minutes of the Council Offices sub-committee meeting held on 18th September were noted.

 

A23/021 COUNCIL OFFICE ROOMS CHARGING POLICY

It was RESOLVED to introduce the following policy for the use of rooms at the Council Offices:

  • Hourly charges for rooms will be as follows: Lower Chamber (£15), Committee Room, Moor Room or Heath Room (£10).
  • Charges will not be levied for use of rooms by Knutsford community organisations/charities.
  • Charges will not usually be levied for use of rooms by other public authorities.
  • Tea/Coffee/Biscuits will be made available for an additional fee of £1.50 per person.
  • Trusted bodies may be provided with keys to facilitate access outside office hours, otherwise charges may be levied to facilitate use of rooms outside office hours.
  • The Town Clerk may waive charges, a record of any charges waived shall be kept.

 

A23/022 COUNCIL OFFICES ROOF SURVEY

It was RESOLVED to commission a survey of the roof at a cost of £500.

 

A23/023 STRATEGIC PLAN

Progress on delivery of agreed actions was noted.  The committee noted arrangements for leaf clearance and that uncompleted actions from the current year would be carried forward.

It was RESOLVED to approve the following action for 2024/25 under objective C3:

  • Implement Town Ranger apprenticeship

It was RESOLVED to approve the following actions for 2024/25 under objective S5:

  • Deliver a refurbishment of the Market Hall
  • Develop a funding plan for the phased refurbishment of the Council Offices
  • Increase usage at the Tabley Hill Chapel

 

A23/026 QUESTIONS TO THE TOWN CLERK

The Town Clerk responded to questions advising that there is no reason a street light should not be operational and that any outages should be reported to Cheshire East Council via FixMyStreet, that permission would be needed from owners of trees to undertake any pruning of trees and that Cheshire East Council would not fund the installation of additional street lights but the Town Council was able to should it wish.

 

A23/027 OUTSTANDING MATTERS LOG

The log was noted.

 

A23/028 DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

To note that the next scheduled meeting will be held on 22nd January 2024 at 7:00pm