Minutes of the meeting of the Assets and Operations Committee 26th June 2023

A23/001 PRESENT

Councillors Gardiner, Coan, Dalzell, Gray, Lowe, Watson and Wood

A Keppel-Green (Town Clerk) and Cllr Hartley

 

A23/002APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from Cllr Banks (personal business).

 

A23/003 DECLARATIONS OF MEMBERS’ INTERESTS

Cllr Gardiner declared that he had recently met with Bruntwood about other matters and that 60 King Street was briefly discussed.

 

A23/004PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

No members of the public were present.

 

A23/005 COMMITTEE TERMS OF REFERENCE

The terms of reference were noted.

 

A23/006 CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES

It was RESOLVED to confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 27^th March.

 

A23/007 REVIEW OF YEAR-TO-DATE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

The financial position year to date was noted.

 

A23/008SUB-COMMITTEE MINUTES

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

 

A23/009STRATEGIC PLAN

It was RESOLVED to:

1. approve the following actions:

• Assets and Operations Committee to review scope of Town Ranger service
• Personnel Committee and then Council to consider increasing staffing resource for Town Ranger service
• Planning and Facilities Officer undertake a review of equipment and bring proposals forward to committee
• Planning and Facilities Officer to explore enhanced use of CEC depot at Longridge

1. task the Town Clerk with investigating non-glyphosate weedkiller
2. that Full Council should consider whether the ban use of glyphosate weedkillers should remain.

It was RESOLVED that the Town Ranger service should be expanded.

It was RESOLVED to approve the following actions in relation to the Council Offices:

• Town Clerk to investigate income generation from building in current form, including to understand the VAT impact of any income on the council’s overall VAT recovery and report to committee on proposals
• Council Offices sub-committee to develop a phased programme for renovation

It was RESOLVED to approve the following action in relation to public toilets:

• Monitor impact of change in usage fee and introduction of contactless payments

It was RESOLVED to approve the following actions with respect to the Cemetery Chapel:

• Delivery of the promotional leaflet for dissemination via funeral directors and others
• Development of a marketing plan to generate further bookings

It was RESOLVED to approve the following action:

• Agree terms with Bruntwood for their occupation of 60 King Street

The committee noted that following the introduction of the new committee structure, total responsibility for the Market Hall was vested in the Town Centre Committee, and expressed the view that responsibility for the asset should be vested in this committee.

 

A23/010COMMITTEE WORKING GROUPS

It was RESOLVED to appoint Cllrs Gardiner, Lowe and Wood to the IT working group.