Agenda, decisions and minutes

It was noted that apologies for absence had been received from Mr Richard Corben, the Chairman of the Cobtree Charity Trust Limited.

There were no Visiting Members.

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

RESOLVED:  That the items on the agenda be taken in public as proposed.

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2012 be approved as a correct record and signed.

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Finance and Customer Services setting out details of the financial position in respect of the Golf Course and the Manor Park as at 31 January 2013.  The report also included details of capital expenditure, deposits held and total investments.  It was noted that:-

·  No significant financial issues had arisen during February/March to date and both the Golf Course and the Manor Park were operating within budget at present.

·  The market value of the endowment funds invested with Charifund had increased to £1.513m, which was higher than the purchase value.  This was important as endowment funds would be used to implement the Master Plan over the next few years.

·  The budget for the Master Plan had been set at £1.065m.  To date there had been expenditure of £70,100 on Phase 1 works in respect of the play area, but no endowment funds had yet been drawn down as there were sufficient resources available from the 2011/12 operational surplus to fund this amount.

RESOLVED:  That the financial position in respect of the Golf Course and the Manor Park be noted.

That the draft response to the Management Letter issued at the conclusion of the audit of the 2011/12 accounts, as set out in Appendix B to the report of the Head of Finance and Customer Services, be approved.

DECISION MADE:

That the draft response to the Management Letter issued at the conclusion of the audit of the 2011/12 accounts, as set out in Appendix B to the report of the Head of Finance and Customer Services, be approved.

To view full details of this decision, please follow this link:-

http://meetings.maidstone.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=675

Note:  Councillor Greer entered the meeting during consideration of this item.

1.  That the work undertaken across the Cobtree Estate over the last six months and the future work planned, as set out in Appendix A to the report of the Cobtree Officer, be noted.

2.  That the outline proposal for events at Cobtree Manor Park for the coming year, as set out in Appendix A to the report of the Cobtree Officer, be endorsed, and that the proposed total cost of the events programme (£2,000) be approved.

DECISION MADE:

1.  That the work undertaken across the Cobtree Estate over the last six months and the future work planned, as set out in Appendix A to the report of the Cobtree Officer, be noted.

2.  That the outline proposal for events at Cobtree Manor Park for the coming year, as set out in Appendix A to the report of the Cobtree Officer, be endorsed, and that the proposed total cost of the events programme (£2,000) be approved.

To view full details of this decision, please follow this link:-

http://meetings.maidstone.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=676

The Committee considered the report of the Cobtree Officer setting out details of the property performance indicators for the Cobtree Estate for 2012.  It was noted that:-

·  A property condition survey was carried out every 5 years.  A programme of works was then set for the following 15 years.  The data set out in the Appendix to the report of the Cobtree Officerwas not available at the time of the Asset Management Report for 2012 as it was still being collated.

·  The most important data for monitoring purposes was the condition category.  This showed that there had been an improvement in the condition of the properties between the previous survey in 2008/09 and the survey in 2011/12.  The percentage of floor area in good condition had also risen since 2008/09.

·  The cost of the maintenance required showed a small increase approximately in line with inflation.  Total spend on maintenance between 2008/09 and 2011/12 (disregarding the capital works to Garden Cottage) was very similar.

·  The split normally expected between planned and responsive maintenance was 70% planned maintenance and 30% responsive maintenance.  The planned and responsive maintenance split had improved greatly since 2008/09 with the figures of 82% planned and 18% responsive being well above normal.

RESOLVED:  That the property performance indicators for the Cobtree Estate for 2012, as set out in the Appendix to the report of the Cobtree Officer, be noted.

5.45 p.m. to 6.10 p.m.