26 July 2016 – Minutes
THAME TOWN COUNCIL
Minutes of a Meeting of the Community, Leisure & Recreation Committee held on 26 July 2016 at 6.30pm in the Upper Chamber, Thame Town Hall.
Present: Cllrs N Champken-Woods (Chairman), P Cowell, M Deacock, N Dixon (Deputy Mayor), M Dyer, L Emery (Town Mayor), C Jones, P Lambert, M Stiles (Deputy Chairman) and Tom Wyse
Non-Voting:
Cllr Fickling
Officers:
G Hunt, Town Clerk
J Howells, Asset Manager
C Pinnells, Community Services Manager
A Oughton, Committee Services Officer
1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence received from Cllr Butler (Personal).
2. Declarations of Interest and Dispensations
There were no declarations of Interest or Dispensations.
3. Public Participation and Public Questions
There were no questions put to the Committee.
Mr Ashford spoke for item 7 – A Thame Shed – he had been invited to visit a ‘Shed’ whilst staying with his family in Australia and was so impressed with what he saw decided to explore the idea of a Thame Shed.
A Shed allowed people to meet, particularly older people who found pleasure in pursing practical activities in the companionship of others. The Shed in Australia was in a disused school and had a recreation / meeting room as well as workshops.
Mr Ashford raised three questions: 1) Was a Shed in Thame desirable? 2) Would the Town Council consider facilitating an open meeting to gauge interest and recruit volunteers? 3) Would the Town Council help in locating suitable premises for a Shed?
4. Minutes
The Minutes of the meeting held on 12 April 2016 and 10 May 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
5. Budget Summary
Members received the budget summary up to 30 June 2016. A question was raised as to the usefulness of Income item lines 214 & 215 being shown separately? The Town Clerk agreed to review this at budget setting in October.
6. Reports from Representatives on External Organisations
a) Cuttle Brook Management Committee – Report noted.
b) Thame Carnival Committee – Report noted.
c) Thame Football Partnership – Report noted.
d) Twinning Association – Report noted.
e) Thame Good Neighbour Scheme – Report noted.
f) Cricket Club – Report noted.
g) Chinnor RFC – Report noted.
h) Music in the Park – Cllr Stiles apologised for not having time to submit a written report. This year’s event had been a great success and the weather had been good. Monthly meetings to organise next year’s event have begun. The headline band is booked and at the Committee meeting yesterday evening a decision was made as to which security firm would be employed. Next year’s event will take place on Sunday 30 April 2017.
i) Red Kite Childrens Centre – Report noted.
j) Sinaia Friendship Association – Cllr Champken-Woods reported that efforts were being made to enable a group of teachers to visit Thame. Members of the Classic Car Club were planning to drive from Thames to Sinaia to take part in the Classic Car Concourse in 2017.
k) Thame Museum Trust – Report noted.
l) Thame Remembers – Report noted.
m) Towersey Festival – Report noted.
7. A Thame ‘Shed’
Cllr Champken-Woods thanked Mr Ashford for bringing the idea of a Thame Shed to the Town Council.
Cllr Champken-Woods had visited a Shed in Aylesbury yesterday and was very impressed. The Shed was over two floors with wood working machinery on the ground floor and electronics on the first floor. He had met with a gentleman in his 80’s who proudly showed him the crib board he had made. The Aylesbury Shed also had female members. There was initial start-up costs but thereafter the running costs of the Aylesbury Shed were met by membership fees, currently £10 per month.
Members agreed that the idea of a Thame Shed was a great idea and would be happy to support an Open Meeting to gauge support from the community. Once this had been established further investigations would be made into suitable premises. Cllr Champken-Woods would arrange for a small group of Councillors and Mr Ashford to visit the Shed at Aylesbury in the next couple of weeks.
RESOLVED that:
i) An Open Meeting take place in the Upper Chamber on a suitable date to be arranged.
ii) Cllrs Champken-Woods, Dyer, Stiles and Wyse, together with Mr Ashford visit the Shed in Aylesbury.
8. Town Fairs
Work had commenced on the organisation of the Town Fairs for 2016. The Safety Management Plan laid out the controls for the Fairs and there were no major changes to the Plan.
Members noted the amendment to the Fair Agreement – Section 55 to remove the sentence that allowed Goldfish to be offered as a prize. The Showmen’s Guild had been invited to speak at the meeting to discuss the amendment but no one was available to attend.
A delegation from the Showmen’s Guild would meet with the Community Services Manager and representatives of the County Council to discuss the location of the new DSLAM cabinet outside Co-op and the impact it would have on the September Fair.
RESOLVED that:
i) The Safety Management Plan for the Town Fairs be approved.
ii) The amendment to the Fair Agreement was noted.
9. Priest End Allotments to Burial Space
Members noted the update report.
The Town Clerk drew attention to the fact that now conditional Planning Permission had been granted to change the land use of the existing allotments to burial space it was timely to now transfer the ownership of the land to St Mary’s church. It was in both the interests of the Town Council and the Church to maximise the use of available burial space and the Town Council would continue to provide the appropriate support for the church to take on the project and move it forward.
RESOLVED that:
i) A recommendation be made to Full Council that the land known as Priest End Allotments be transferred to the church to extend the existing graveyard at St Mary’s church subject to relevant conditions and costs to be negotiated by the Town Clerk.
10. Cricket Club Clubhouse Redevelopment
Members noted the report.
The Asset Manager reported that further to the submission of the Capital Grant application the District Council had come back with further questions. Subsequently the percentage of the funding for the project had increased to 42.51%. Cllr Champken-Woods reported that the grant application to the Welfare Trust had been successful.
11. Open Spaces Working Group / Elms Park Consultation
Members noted the report.
The Town Clerk reported that a large amount of work had been undertaken in order to meet the s106 time requirements. A meeting had taken place with the District Planning Officer at the Park on a day when the Park was full of people, of all ages and different groups, all enjoying the open space. It had been constructive and it was now a case of waiting for a decision on the planning application. Managing the communities expectations on actual delivery, given funding dependencies, will be the next challenge.
12. Town Awards 2016
The Town Awards 2016 had been another successful event with the recipients of the Awards being both surprised and pleased to be acknowledged for their particular achievements. This year had been the first time the Awards had been presented at an event dedicated entirely to the Awards having previously been part of the Civic Reception and Annual Town Meeting.
The Awards Panel had met for a ‘wash up’ meeting and from discussions it was proposed to reduce the seven award categories to five, with provision to present up to two extra awards in any of the five categories if required. Members of the Panel would also work on the nomination form to include a number of questions / phrases to help people making the nomination and to ensure a similar level of information for each candidate was available to the Panel on which to make their decision.
RESOLVED that:
i) The five Award Categories: Service with a Smile, Volunteer of the Year, Sports Achievement of the Year, Creative Arts Achievement and Lifetime Achievement be approved for 2017.
ii) A contingency of £600 be incorporated into the budget for the 2017/18 Awards to be used only in the event of no sponsorship funding being obtained.
13. Litter and Dog Fouling / Carnival
Cllr Lambert thanked the Town Council, on behalf of the Carnival Committee, for taking part in this year’s event and showing good spirit. The Committee hoped that the Town Council would consider taking part in the Carnival next year to be held on Saturday 10 June 2017.
14. Her Majesty the Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebrations
The grants allocated to St Mary’s Flower Festival (£500), Festival Quiz (£250), Street Cricket (£1,200), the Carnival (£1,200) and the Beacon Lighting (£1,202) were noted.
15. St Mary’s Church Flower Festival
The letter of thanks from St Mary’s church was noted. Members were pleased to note that a total of £2494.78 was raised which would go towards the church’s Restoration Fund. £346.10 raised from the Songs of Praise Service would go towards the work of the Salvation Army.
16. Memorial Gardens Flag Pole
Members noted the installation of the flag pole at the Memorial Gardens and the initial flag raising ceremony to mark the centenary of the start of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 2016.
The timing of the proposed project to refurbish the War Memorial was discussed.
17. Drainage Work – Upper High Street
The proposed work to replace the central footpath on the Upper High Street planned for the Autumn was noted.
18. Southern Road Recreation Ground
It was noted that permission had been given to the Police to use Southern Road Recreation Ground for a proposed Emergency Services Day on Sunday 25 September 2016.
19. Maintenance Report
The maintenance report was noted. Efforts would continue to ensure appropriate lighting and fully functioning fountain. The Chairman proposed that the Maintenance team be formally thanked for their continued hard work.
RESOLVED that:
i) A Vote of Thanks be given to the Maintenance Team for their continued hard work.
The meeting concluded at 7.24pm
Signed ……………………………
Chairman, 25 October 2016
26 July 2016