The Joint Committee will be asked to note the appointment of the Joint Chairs from Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council.

The Joint Committee to note the appointment of Councillor Vincent (Plymouth City Council) as Joint Chair for this municipal year 2018/19 and agreed to appoint Councillor Trubody (Cornwall Council) as Joint Chair for the same municipal year.

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

In accordance with the code of conduct, the following declarations of interest were made:

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2017 as a correct record.

The Joint Committee agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2017 are confirmed as a correct record subject to the following change:

Minute 12 – change minuets to minutes.

To receive reports on business, which in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

David Marshall (Business Development Manager) provided a presentation on the English Garden House Heritage Enterprise Bid which highlighted:

(a)           the current state of the English Garden House and the developments to the house over the years including the recent findings by Dr Kate Fellows;

(b)          that they had put forward a bid to English Heritage Scheme for £2m to renovate the house and if successful would commence a community engagement programme offering full archaeology scheme and year-long apprenticeships in restoring wallpaper, line plastering and stone masonry;

(c)           that the bid was not without risk and they were up against some very worthy projects, however, if unsuccessful this time round were ready to go into the next round of funding.

The key areas of questioning related to the marketing and projected revenue of the English Garden House.

David Marshall also provided the Joint Committee with an update on the first English Black Bee Reserve at the Park.  It was reported that they had a really successful first season which started with 5 colonies and had since grown to 17 colonies.  The Black Bee Reserve sits within a site which had been abandoned for about 100 years and they had received £10k from Tesco to build the reserve.  A further £4k to enable electricity and water to the site and observation cameras installed.  The Black Bee Reserve now has charity status and over the last three years the workforce had grown from 3 to 15 employees.  The Black Bee Reserve viewing area receives 400 visitors a week.

Questions from members related to the charity status, how to stop bees outside the area entering the colony at the Park and further projects to encourage more people to visit.

The Chair thanked officers for their work.

James Reed (Technical Accounting Officer) presented the Revenue Outturn 2017/18 and Budget 2018/19 report which highlighted the financial activities.

The main area of questioning related to the reserves and the continued commitment from both authorities to achieve a nil subsidiary with good commercial working.

The Joint Committee:

1.         Notes the financial position contained in the report along with the risks, issues and any mitigating actions.

2.         Approves the capital proposals to be presented to Plymouth City Council’s Investment Board.

Chris Burton (Park Manager) provided the Joint Committee with a presentation on the commercial development opportunities within the Park.  This included the 24 small businesses at the Park, the Quantitative Tree Risk Assessment, shepherd huts, repairs to the sea walls, housekeeping, painting of the house fence and future projects.

The main areas of questioning related to the impact of the Rame Peninsular on Mount Edgcumbe and surrounding the area and the Mayflower celebrations.

The Joint Committee noted the report.

Chris Burton (Park Manager) presented the park activity report to September 2017 which highlighted the work and activities carried out in the Park which included buildings and parks infrastructure, events, business development and weddings.

The Joint Committee noted the report.

Mr Neil Rugg, Chair of the Friends of Mount Edgcumbe Country Park provided an update on the key areas of work that the Friends undertook in supporting the Park which included financial and practical support and social events. 

On behalf of the Joint Committee, the Joint Chairs thanked the Friends for their continued and highly valued support.