Agenda and minutes
Venue: Town Hall, High Street, Maidstone
Contact: Debbie Snook 01622 602030
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: There were no apologies. |
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Urgent Items Minutes: There were no urgent items. |
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Notification of Visiting Members Minutes: There were no Visiting Members. |
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Disclosures by Members and Officers Minutes: There were no disclosures by Members or Officers. |
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Disclosures of Lobbying Minutes: There were no disclosures of lobbying. |
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Exempt Items Minutes: RESOLVED: That all items be taken in public, unless any Member of the Committee wishes to discuss Item 14 – Exempt Appendix to Item 12 – Cobtree Estate Update or Item 15 – Exempt Appendix to Item 13 – Elephant House, in which case the Committee would enter into closed session due to the possible disclosure of exempt information, for the reason specified having applied the public interest test.
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Minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2024 PDF 68 KB Minutes: RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2024 be approved as a correct record and signed. |
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Presentation of Petitions Minutes: There were no petitions. |
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Question and Answer Session for Members of the Public Minutes: There were no questions from members of the public.
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Questions from Members to the Chairman Minutes: There were no questions from Members to the Chairman. |
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Change to the Order of Business Minutes: The Chairman advised the Committee that there had been a change to the order in which the reports would be taken as follows:
Item 13 - Elephant House Item 11 - Cobtree Manor Estate Financial Position Item 12 - Cobtree Estate Update |
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Minutes: EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC FROM THE MEETING
The Committee, wishing to discuss the information in the exempt appendices in private:
RESOLVED: That the public be excluded from the meeting because of the likely disclosure of exempt information for the reason specified, having applied the Public Interest Test:
Head of Schedule 12A and Brief Description
The public were excluded from 5.11 p.m. to 5.20 p.m after which the Committee:
RESOLVED: That
(See Record of Decision) |
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Cobtree Manor Estate Financial Position PDF 137 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The Senior Finance Manager (Client) introduced his report summarising the financial position of the Cobtree Manor Estate as at 31 January 2024 and stated that the current position showed a surplus of £55,000 for the year to date and no significant issues to report. The following points were noted:
·
As previously reported, gas and electricity costs at
the café were to be largely recharged to the contractor. The
exercise to calculate the recharges would be completely shortly,
with invoices raised. This would largely eliminate the
overspend; · Cleaning responsibilities for the toilets had been taken on by the café tenant, who had redecorated and attended to the cleaning regularly. The cost of this approach was less than using external cleaners and the standards were noticeably better;
· The income from the new café contract was higher than budgeted for and there has been no need to date to draw on the additional ser-aside budget for the Parks Management agreement with the Council. This resulted in an underspend on the Manor Park budget;
· Investment income and bank interest had been higher than anticipated so there was expected to be a surplus on the activities of the estate at the end of the year with no unexpected or significant costs incurred; and
· In response to a query from the last meeting, the Senior Finance Manager (Client) advised that the recharge costs for the Democratic Services team were considered appropriate. The rate was based on the average salary plus overheads for a Democratic Services Officer, who was responsible for the Committee meetings.
In
response to a query, the Senior Finance Manager (Client) advised
that the £40,000, listed under ‘Other income –
Cobtree Charity Trust Ltd’ in
Appendix 1 to the report, referred to income from an investment the
freeholder has, which the Cobtree Manor
Estate were entitled to the interest from. RESOLVED: That the current financial position be noted.
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Cobtree Estate Update PDF 139 KB Minutes: The Head of Property and Leisure introduced the report providing an update on activities at the Cobtree Manor Estate including the following points:
·
The new café operators had completed their
internal fit-outs and redecoration of the toilets. They had also
taken over cleaning responsibilities which were more regular and
had received positive feedback from visitors. Visitors were
comparable to previous years;
·
One of the Elmer the Elephant sculptures themed on
Maidstone Zoo and Cobtree Manor Park
was kindly gifted by the charity to the Cobtree Estate and would have a permanent home
there after being part of an exhibition on the history of the zoo
at the Mote Park Visitor Centre in April;
·
There had been a slight decrease in rounds at the
golf course in comparison to previous years but the numbers were still positive
considering a particularly wet Winter. The new operators were in
situ and working on improvements; · Kent Life were maintaining visitor numbers and providing a good service.
It was noted positively that the first collection of the new cardboard recycling bins had taken place, with 4.2 tonnes of cardboard removed from the site.
RESOLVED: That the Cobtree Estate update be noted. |
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Duration of Meeting Minutes: 5.00 p.m. to 5.31 p.m. |