MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL
COBTREE MANOR ESTATE CHARITY COMMITTEE
Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 25 April 2018
Present: |
Councillor McLoughlin (Chairman), and Councillors Cox, Mrs Gooch, Perry and Mrs Wilson |
Also Present: |
Mr Roger Hext, Cobtree Charity Trust Ltd |
60. Apologies for Absence
There were no apologies for absence.
Apologies for lateness received from Councillor Mrs Wilson.
61. Notification of Substitute Members
There were no Substitute Members.
62. Urgent Items
There were no urgent items.
63. Notification of Visiting Members
There were no Visiting Members.
64. Disclosures by Members and Officers
There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.
65. Disclosures of Lobbying
There were no disclosures of lobbying.
66. Exempt Items
RESOLVED: That the Agenda Item 14 – Minutes (Part II) of the meeting held on 25 January 2018 and Agenda Item 15 – Update on Contractual Issue be taken in private due to the possible disclosure of exempt information.
67. Minutes (Part I) of the meeting held on 25 January 2018
RESOLVED: That the minutes (part I) of the meeting held on 25 January 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed.
68. Presentation of Petitions
There were no petitions.
69. Questions and answer session for members of the public
There were no questions from members of the public.
70. Cobtree Manor Estate Operation Update
Ms Elizabeth Buckingham, Cobtree Manager, and Mr Jason Taylor, Leisure Manager, presented the report to the Committee.
In response to questions from the Committee, Ms Buckingham replied that:
· The heavy vehicle which reversed into the main gates on 8 March 2018 causing damage to the gates, posts and height barrier was not captured on CCTV belonging to Travis Perkins.
· Officers were assessing the electronic gate counter which stopped working on 17 January 2018. The counter had been reset to ascertain whether the counter was completely broken or if the loss of the data from the last quarter was an anomaly.
· The Parking Enforcement Team regularly visited Cobtree Manor Park car park.
In response to questions from the Committee, Mr Taylor confirmed that the extreme weather earlier in 2018 had a significant impact on the number of rounds played at Cobtree Manor Golf Course. However, the Golf Course was arranging a number of events to increase usage.
Ms Dawn Hudd, the Head of Regeneration and Economic Development, stated that the Contracts and Compliance Officer would be able to provide a summary on the performance of the contracts to the Committee quarterly and that she would be invited to the next meeting of the Committee.
RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
Note: Councillor Mrs Wilson arrived at 10.49 a.m. during consideration of this item.
71. Financial Position Report 2017/18
Mr Paul Holland, Senior Finance Manager (Client), presented the report to the Committee.
It was noted that the operations of the Estate for 2017/18 showed a small surplus of £5,047, following the transfer of 2/9ths of the net golf course surplus. The resources of the Trust had increased by £47,859 in 2017/18, taking into account the investment income received.
The Committee requested that Officers bring a report to the next meeting of the Committee to clarify the situation on VAT exemptions, to confirm what ‘cleaning costs’ referred to at the Cobtree Manor Park and at the Cobtree Visitor Centre, and to give a breakdown of the unrecoverable £20k VAT payments that were made during 2017/18.
RESOLVED: That the current financial position be noted with reservations, awaiting the further information that was requested.
72. Cobtree Manor Estate Budgets 2018/19
Mr Paul Holland, the Senior Finance Manager (Client), presented the report to the Committee which set out the current budgets for 2018/19 for the four operational areas of the Estate and provided an update on a number of factors that would impact upon them.
It was noted that an updated set of budget figures would be presented to the next meeting of the Committee once the various considerations mentioned in the report had been made. It was proposed that in the future draft budgets be brought before the Committee at an early stage prior to their inclusion in the Council’s budgets.
The Committee requested that a memorandum of understating be produced between the Council and this Committee based upon the derivation of cross charges.
RESOLVED:
1. That the current budgets for 2018/19 be noted.
2. That an updated set of budgets be reported to the next meeting of the Committee.
3. That in future draft budgets should be reported to the Committee for consideration.
4. That a memorandum of understanding based on the derivation of cross charges be produced.
Voting: Unanimous
73. Exclusion of the Press and the Public
RESOLVED: That the press and public are
excluded from the meeting due to the possible disclosure of exempt information.
74. Minutes (Part II) of the meeting held on 25 January 2018
RESOLVED: That the minutes (part II) of the meeting held on 25 January 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed, subject to the replacement of the word ‘way’ to ‘phase’ in Item 58, Paragraph 2.
75. Update on Contractual Issue
The Committee considered the exempt report of the Ms Dawn Hudd, the Head of Regeneration and Economic Development which detailed the background to a contractual issue between the Council and a Contractor.
RESOLVED:
1. That the offer from the Contractor detailed in the exempt report be accepted subject to the conditions in the legal agreement requested by the Committee.
2. That the remaining amount as detailed in the exempt report be written off.
Voting: Unanimous
76. Duration of Meeting
10.30 a.m. to 12.02 p.m.