Town Council 050312

WESTON-SUPER-MARE TOWN COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT THE TOWN HALL ON

MONDAY 5TH MARCH 2012

Meeting Commenced: 7.00 p.m. Meeting Concluded: 8.15 p.m.

PRESENT: Councillors Cyril King (Town Mayor), Keith Morris (Leader of the Town Council), Clive Darke (Deputy Leader of the Town Council), Raymond Armstrong, Roger Bailey, Mike Bell, Mark Canniford, Peter Crew, John Crockford-Hawley, Peter Fox, Dave Hitchins, Jan Holloway, Philip Judd, Michel Kus, Mike Lyall, Frederick Parsons, Robert Payne, Alan Peak, Lisa Pilgrim, Ian Porter, Tony Probert, Len Purnell, Sonia Russe, Tim Taylor, Richard Tucker, Rose Warwick, Roz Willis and Clive Webb.

IN ATTENDANCE: Malcolm Nicholson (Town Clerk), Sarah Pearse (Responsible Financial Officer), Samantha Middlemiss (Committee Officer), Chris Millard (Mayor’s Civic Officer), Kevin Lilwall (Manager of Barcode Youth Café), Cathy Durston-Hestletine (Finance Assistant), Jennifer Lawley (Temporary Committee Officer), Reverend Richard Taylor (Town Mayor’s Chaplain) (part attendance), Mayoress, (James Franklin (Weston & Somerset Mercury), Martin Hodgson (Chief Executive of the YMCA) + 2 others and John Carson (Parishioner).

The Town Mayor invited, Reverend Richard Taylor to say prayers.

Prior to the commencement of the meeting to Town Mayor invited questions form parishioner’s present at the meeting.

John Carson (Parishioner) addressed the meeting in relation to item 10 on the meeting agenda and urged how he hoped to see the Town Council in support of taking over the Youth Services for Weston-super-Mare that had been cut by North Somerset Council.

401. / Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Clare Kingsbury-Bell and Holly Young.
402. / Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest received.
403. / To approve the accuracy of the Minutes of the Town Council Meetings held on 6th January 2012
The minutes had been previously circulated with the agenda.
PROPOSED BY: Councillor Keith Morris
SECONDED BY: Councillor Peter Crew
RESOLVED: That the minutes be approved and signed by the Chairman.
404. / To receive announcements and communications from the Town Mayor
The Town Mayor confirmed that a combined 220 engagements had been carried out by himself and the Deputy Town Mayor, to date.
405. / To receive the notes of the Youth Council Meeting held on 12th January 2012
The notes had been previously circulated with the agenda.
The Chairman of the Youth Council was unable to attend the meeting.
RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Youth Council meeting held on 12th January 2012 be noted.
406. / Partnership Working with the YMCA
Martin Hodgson, Chief Executive of the YMCA was invited to present to the meeting.
Martin Hodgson reported that the Weston-super-Mare YMCA had fallen into financial difficulties over the past four years and that he had been working to try and sustain the facility, which had now merged with the Bridgwater YMCA. He had been working with North Somerset Council and had come up with a proposal for the facility which would involve changing the use of the first and second floors of the building to 9 studio accommodation apartments, to be utilised by young people going through a transition and trying to make a positive step in their lives. There would be a time restriction applied of stays up to no more than 2years. The revenue generated from the studio apartments would fund the proposed multiuse centre on the ground floor, which would provide a Café, sports room and meeting rooms to be utilised for all types of activities. He invited Councillors to visit the Bridgwater YMCA where this proposal had been applied to see how the concept/facility worked.
He encouraged that, considering the recent cuts in Youth Services by the District Council, Weston-super-Mare needed to apply some formality and develop a strategy for how to support and maintain Youth Services within the town. He would be eager to work with the Town Council to achieve such a strategy.
Martin Hodgson then invited questions from Councillors.
A Councillor asked whether the facility would be supervised on a 24hour basis.
Martin Hodgson informed that the facility would be supervised 24 7 and that there would also be an on call service.
A further Councillor asked if activities would be run during the school holidays and Martin Hodgson confirm this.
The Leader of the Council then thanked Martin Hodgson for attending and presenting his proposals and that the Town Council would very much look forward to working with him on developing the project.
407. / Timetable for the year end closedown of accounts
The Responsible Financial Officer’s report had been previously circulated with the agenda.
The Responsible Financial Officer advised that it was a formality.
PROPOSED BY: Councillor Keith Morris
SECONDED BY: Councillor Tony Probert
RESOLVED: That the Timetable for the year end closedown of accounts be noted.
Reverend Richard Taylor, Martin Hodgson + 2others left the meeting at 7.12 p.m.
408. / Approval of final Earmarked Reserve requirements for 2012-13
The Responsible Financial Officer’s report had been previously circulated with the agenda.
PROPOSED BY: Councillor Peter Crew
SECONDED BY: Councillor Mike Lyall
RESOLVED: That the final Earmarked Reserve requirements for 2012-13 be approved.
409. / Annual Review of Standing Orders and Financial Regulations
A copy of Standing Orders and Financial Regulations had been previously distributed to Members as part of their 2011-2015 Handbook.
The Town Clerk advised that it was an auditor’s recommendation to annually review the documents and that he would be bringing a report to the next Policy & Finance Committee Meeting with various Committee Membership changes, to be formality ratified by a subsequent Town Council Meeting.
PROPOSED BY: Councillor Keith Morris
SECONDED BY: Councillor Peter Crew
RESOLVED: To agree the annual review of the Standing Orders and Financial Regulations and that the Town Clerk incorporated substitution of Committee Members within his report to the Policy & Finance Committee.
410. / Motion to Council under Standing Order 11 by Councillor Tony Probert:
“Weston Town Labour Group propose that our council should take on the Youth Services which are being closed by North Somerset District Council and work out ways of raising funds to do so”
Councillor Tony Probert was invited to address the meeting.
Councillor Tony Probert informed parishioners present that all Town Councillors were unpaid volunteers and expressed his gratitude to the Town Mayor and Leader of the Council who gave up their time to serve the Town Council.
He then proposed for the Town Council to take on the Youth Services for Weston-super-Mare and explained how he proposed to do this :
That all local businesses be approached and asked to donate £10 per month which would generate £83,000 annually, to fund the Youth Services.
Ask famous westonians like Lord Jeffery Archer and John Cleese to make a financial donation and in return, their kindness would be signified by a plaque, in recognition of their donation.
At this point in the meeting, a handout was distributed illustrating the kind of plaque that could be produced.
That two full time Youth Workers be appointed to work alongside the experienced staff at the Town Hall to run the Youth Services.
Councillor Richard Tucker seconded this proposal.
Councillor Crew was in favour of the proposal but highlighted that 20% of the Town Council’s budget was already designated to supporting youth services in the form of Barcode Youth Café, Water Park and Hutton Moor Skatepark and proposed an amendment that:
the Town Council should retrieve more information from Martin Hodgson in order to pursue the idea of working to support the YMCA initiative, and that the proposal be delegated to the Policy & Finance Committee for discussion, where Councillor Lisa Pilgrim could organise representatives from the Youth Services to attend and that the Town Clerk progress a meeting with group leaders and that a representative sit on each of the three Local Commissioning Networks (Hubs)set up to deal with the Youth Services.
Councillor Lisa Pilgrim reported that two Town Councillors already sat on the LCN Hubs for the Central and East Wards.
RESOLVED: That Councillor Tony Probert agreed to sit on the LCN Hub for the South Ward.
Councillor Lisa Pilgrim informed that a working party scrutiny panel had been set up to allocate the £75,000 available Youth Service budget and a further forthcoming £250,000. North Somerset Council was making every effort to try and save the Youth Service.
Considerable debate ensued.
Councillor Keith Morris further highlighted that the Town Council does enough to provide and support the Youth in Weston-super-Mare by providing facilities such as Barcode Youth Café, Water Park and Hutton Moor Skatepark and seconded Councillor Crew’s amendment to the proposal.
Further debate ensued.
Councillor Tony Probert agreed to accept the amendment to his proposal with the assurance that the Town Council agreed to find a way to support the Youth Services.
PROPOSED BY: Councillor Peter Crew
SECONDED BY: Councillor Tony Probert
RESOLVED: That
1) The subject of Youth Services be delegated to the Policy & Finance Committee, where representatives of North Somerset Council’s Youth Services be invited to attend.
2) The Town Clerk progress a meeting with Group Leaders
3) That the three Town Councillors allocated to the three LCN Hubs regularly attend meetings and feedback to the Town Council.
411. / Contract for Christmas Lights Display
The Town Clerk’s report had been previously circulated to Councillors.
Designs of the proposed lighting was displayed at the meeting.
The Town Clerk proposed the recommendation that was outlined in his report but explained that it was subject to colour selection.
A Councillor advised that there should not be too much blue lighting used as this affected people who suffered with macular degeneration.
A Councillor raised concerns over the exceptional circumstances which resulted in the lighting fail.
The Town Clerk advised that the lighting fail was due to strike and that the company had assured him that this would not happen again.
A Councillor suggested that a penalty be built into the contractual agreement for future reference, to prevent this from happening again.
PROPOSED BY: Councillor Peter Crew
SECONDED BY: Councillor Tony Probert
RESOLVED:
1. Agree in principal to the proposed settlement including a completely new display for 2013 as reported.
2. Authorise the Town Clerk in consultation with the Leader and Deputy Leader to agree a contract extension with the company on this basis, to include a built in penalty to cover the Town Council for any future occurrences of exceptional circumstance issues.
The Town Clerk informed that the final payment to contractors had not been released.
412. / Election of Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council for the year 2012/13
The Town Mayor invited nominations for Leader of the Council 2012/13.
PROPOSED BY: Councillor Clive Darke
SECONDED BY: Councillor Dave Hitchins
RESOLVED: That Councillor Keith Morris be elected as Leader of the Council for the year 2012/13.
Councillor Keith Morris returned his thanks for his election.
The Town Mayor invited nominations for Deputy Leader of the Council 2012/13.
PROPOSED BY: Councillor Roz Willis
SECONDED BY: Councillor Jan Holloway
RESOLVED: That Councillor Peter Crew be elected as Deputy Leader of the Council for the year 2012/13.
413. / Election of Town Mayor and Deputy Town Mayor for the year 2012/13
The Mayor invited nominations for Town Mayor for the year 2012/13.
PROPOSED BY: Councillor Keith Morris
SECONDED BY: Councillor Peter Crew
RESOLVED: That Councillor Dave Hitchins be elected as Town Mayor for the year 2012/13.
The Mayor invited nominations for Deputy Town Mayor for the year 2012/13.
PROPOSED BY: Councillor Ian Porter
SECONDED BY: Councillor Roger Bailey
RESOLVED: That Councillor Keith Morris be elected as Deputy Town Mayor for the year 2012/13.
There being no further business, the Town Mayor closed the meeting at 8.15 p.m.
Signed: ...... Dated: ......
Town Mayor

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