Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Perry.

RESOLVED:  That Councillor Burton be elected as Chairman of the Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2023/24.

RESOLVED:  That Councillor Parfitt-Reid be elected as Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2023/24.

There were no urgent items.

There were no Visiting Members, although Councillors Garten and Russell attended the meeting as observers.

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

RESOLVED:  That the public be excluded from the meeting should Members wish to discuss the information contained within the exempt Appendix to item 14 (Cobtree Golf Course) because of the likely disclosure of exempt information for the reason specified having applied the Public Interest Test.

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting held on 18 April 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed.

There were no petitions.

There were no questions from Local Residents.

There were no questions from Members to the Chairman.

The Senior Finance Manager (Client) introduced his report summarising the financial position of the Cobtree Manor Estate as at 31 March 2023.  The report covered activities at the golf course, Kent Life, the Manor Park and the residential properties.

The Senior Finance Manager (Client) advised the Committee that:

·  The report provided an update on the provisional outturn position for the activities of the Estate for 2022/23 and showed a surplus of £133,119 for operational activities which was £58,149 more than budgeted for.  The main reasons for this were:

The golf course contract payment had been received in full, against a prudent budget that assumed that only 80% of the contracted sum would be received.  This meant that additional income of £34,541 had been received.

There had also been underspends across the controlled running costs budgets which reflected prudent budget setting during the pandemic.  There was an opportunity going forward to review these underspends with a view to offsetting some of the anticipated impact of the new golf course contract.

Car parking income was slightly down against the budgeted figure, but this was offset by additional income from the café and, overall, the budgets for the Manor Park were underspent.

·  Given the positive outturn performance and with a healthy bank balance towards the end of the year, an additional repayment was made to the Council in respect of the car park construction costs.  This meant that the loan would now be repaid a year earlier than was anticipated.

·  There were no issues to report in relation to the 2023/24 budget, and a more detailed update on the financial position would be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:  That the financial position of the Cobtree Manor Estate as at 31 March 2023 be noted.

RESOLVED:

1.  That Heads of Terms for the lease of Cobtree Manor Park Golf Course including the clubhouse building, ancillary buildings and facilities are exchanged with Applicant 2 in order to begin the due diligence work required.

2.  That, subject to satisfactory completion of the due diligence work, the lease of Cobtree Manor Park Golf Course including the clubhouse building, ancillary buildings and facilities is granted to Applicant 2.

3.  That delegated authority is given to the Director of Finance, Resources and Business Improvement in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman to agree the final lease with Applicant 2.

4  That delegated authority is given to the Head of Mid-Kent Legal Services to enter into such lease documents and complete any relevant statutory notices and similar statutory documentation in order to complete the lease process.

See Record of Decision:

Your Councillors - Maidstone Borough Council

5.00 p.m. to 5.15 p.m.