Agenda and minutes

The meeting was not quorate and is the Committee is a non-decision making body, it proceeded with the agreement of the Chair on the basis that any views were of the members present and not those of a properly constituted meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Boldrin, J Bradshaw, Draycott, Forrest, C Harris, K Harris, Miah, Morgan, Smidowicz, Tillotson and Ward.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 15th June 2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed.

For information, disclosable pecuniary interests and registrable interests relate to entries that are included, or should be included, on a councillor’s register of interests. Non-registrable interests relate to any other matters.

No disclosures were made.

No questions were submitted

No questions were submitted.

A report of the Head of Finance to advise the Loughborough Area Committee of the draft Loughborough Special Expenses budget for 2023/24.

A report of the Head of Finance to advise the Loughborough Area Committee on the draft Loughborough Special Expense Budget for 2023/24, was submitted (item 5 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

The of Head Finance, the Head of Regulatory and Community Safety and the Head of Contracts (Leisure, Waste and Environment) attended the meeting to provide assistance in consideration of this item. The following responses were provided to questions raised:

      i.        The increase in CCTV costs charged to the Loughborough Special Rate was due to a number of factors, including an increase in the percentage of CCTV costs charged to the Loughborough Special Rate, an increase in staffing costs and support service recharges following the Council’s Leadership Review and a reduction in income due to loss of Carillon Court monitoring work. The Council was looking for opportunities to increase the income generated by CCTV services.

    ii.        The streets alive and events budget had been reduced by £2k as a result of spend in the previous year. It was unclear how this reduction related to the spend on the Bedford Square Gateway Project.

Post meeting note: The proposed budget allocation for streets alive / events in 2023/24 had no correlation to the Bedford Square Gateway project. Bedford Square Gateway had been funded by the Town Deal, LLEP and Borough Council; the Council had not diverted funds from events budgets to fund the project. The reason for changed levels of expenditure on streets alive / events is that it is a proportionate allocation linked to funding which the BID (Love Loughborough) provided for this area of activity in the town. Reduced spending did not lead to any cuts in the number of events the Council managed / supported in the town centre and where possible it would look to do more, should income and sponsorship streams permit.

   iii.        There had been significant increases in costs to run the Nanpantan Sports Ground. This was primarily due to the increase in energy costs (100% increase in electricity and 200% increase in gas). Nanpantan Sports Ground used more energy than the other sports grounds due to the nature of the services provided.

   iv.        The minutes from the meeting of the Loughborough Area Committee held on 15th June 2022 indicated that there would be an anticipated underspend of £126k to carry into the current budget. Officers agreed to explain this in more detail in a post meeting note.

Post meeting note published as a supplement to the minutes of the meeting.

    v.        The budget allocated to Shelthorpe Golf Course included the costs for maintenance and operations. Any financial support to provide improvements to the course would depend on whether the improvements were of a capital or revenue nature.

   vi.        The Carillon Tower museum was not yet open. The Council was in the process of preparing funding bids in order to achieve more income to complete the project.

  vii.        The budget for the Carillon Tower had been reduced from the previous year. This was due  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

A report of the Head of Contracts (Leisure, Waste and Environment) to enable the Committee to consider its work programme.

A report of the Head of Contracts (Leisure, Waste and Environment) to enable the Committee to review its own work programme (item 6 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

There were no further items for future meetings identified by members of the committee. It was suggested that members consider any topics they wish to be included within the Loughborough Area Committee Annual Report 2023 and to highlight these items to Democratic Services and the Head of Contracts (Leisure, Waste and Environment) before May 2023.

It was highlighted that the grass area around Queen’s Park Remembrance Garden was slippery in some weather conditions. The Head of Contracts (Leisure, Waste and Environment) agreed to look at a solution to this issue.

RESOLVED that the Head of Contracts (Leisure, Waste and Environment) look at solutions to the slippery grass area around Queen’s Park Remembrance Garden.

Reason

To ensure that the area was safe for residents to visit in all weather conditions.