Agenda and minutes

Mount Edgcumbe Joint Committee - Friday 24 February 2012 9.45 am

Venue: BELVEDERE ROOM, BARROW PARK COMPLEX, MOUNT EDGCUMBE, CREMYLL

Contact: Helen Wright, Democratic Support Officer  Email: helen.wright@plymouth.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

28.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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

Minutes:

Sir Richard Carew Pole Bt declared a personal and prejudicial interest in accordance with the code of conduct as he owned chalets along the coast.

29.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 73 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 25 November 2011 as a correct record.

Minutes:

The Joint Committee agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 24 February 2012 are confirmed as a correct record.

30.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

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

Minutes:

With the permission of the Chair, the Park Manager and the Strategic Waste and Landscape Manager provided an update on the organisational changes taking place within both Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council.

 

The Joint Committee was advised that –

 

(a)

Plymouth City Council had reduced the number of its directorates from five to three (People, Place and Corporate Services);

 

(b)

Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park had transferred from the former Community Services directorate to the Place directorate and would be the responsibility of Assistant Director for Economic Development;

 

(c)

 

Tom Flanagan  the Director for Environment, Planning and Economy would be leaving Cornwall Council; Michael Crich would be undertaking this role;

 

(d)

 

from 1 March 2012, Councillor German would become the portfolio holder for Localism, Sustainability and Devolution and Councillor Double would take on the portfolio for Environment, Heritage and Waste Management.

 

 (In accordance with Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the Chair brought forward the above item for urgent consideration because of the need to inform Members.

31.

REVENUE BUDGET MONITORING 2011/12 pdf icon PDF 46 KB

The Joint Committee will receive a report on revenue budget monitoring 2011/12.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director for People and Assistant Head of Service, Waste and Environment submitted a report on the revenue budget monitoring 2011/12, which highlighted the following main areas –

 

(a)

through the actions of management the operating deficit of £7,425 (reported to the previous Joint Committee meeting) had been addressed; a break even budget was forecast for 2011/12;

 

(b)

there were a number of variations that had been identified which included –

 

 

?

Mount Edgcumbe House (£6.5k adverse);

 

?

Mount Edgcumbe Park (£7k favourable);

 

?

Mount Edgcumbe Trading (£7k favourable);

 

(c)

a  number of projections had been identified which had a high risk of change –

 

 

?

Trenninow chalet rent review;

 

?

car parking price increase from 19 September 2011.

 

The following responses were provided to questions raised by the Joint Committee

–

(d)

a letter had been sent to the Chalet Owners Association from Humberts outlining the proposed rent increases;

 

(e)

the increase in car park charges had been benchmarked against the recent increase implemented by Cornwall Council, as follows –

 (75 pence for one hour, £2.25 over two hours and £4 for over four hours):

 

 

—

70 pence up to one hour

 

—

£2.70 up to four hours

 

—

£3.90 over four hours

 

(f)

 

the permit holders’ car parking charges had increased form £22 to £55 per annum which was also in line the Cornwall Council’s car parking charges;

 

(g)

 

a business case could be carried out as part of the next car parking review, regarding charging blue badge holders for parking.

 

The Joint Committee agreed to note the report.

 

(Sir Richard Carew Pole Bt was not present for this item).

32.

MOUNT EDGCUMBE REVIEW OF 2011 pdf icon PDF 480 KB

The Joint Committee will receive a report on the Mount Edgcumbe Review of 2011.

Minutes:

The Director for People and the Assistant Head of Service, Waste and Environment submitted a report on the review of Mount Edgcumbe 2011 which highlighted the usage of both the park and house, events and key works undertaken in 2011 that included –

 

(a)

the grant of heritage lottery funding (for the conservation of artefacts from the wreck of the Metta Catherine von Flensburgh);

 

(b)

the formal opening of the relic gardens; 

 

(c)

 

the restoration of the Ice House Bridge;

(d) 

events at the park;

 

(e)

the importance of both the financial and volunteer support from the Friends of Mount Edgcumbe Country Park.

 

The following responses were provided to questions raised by the Joint Committee –

 

(f)

it was considered that the success of the Christmas fayre had been due to the variety of stalls and entertainment, the quality of the products/services and the location (the event had contributed £7,000 to the budget);

 

(g)

the ‘Shred Events’ 10k run had taken place in the park in January 2012; a fee was received per runner for participating in the run;

 

(h)

 

social events including a bbq were held each year, as a ‘thank you’ to the Friends of Mount Edgcumbe Country Park; work was currently being undertaken with the caterers to look at the feasibility of providing discounts for the volunteers;

 

(i)

 

work was also being undertaken to provide a ‘volunteer package’ and also an induction session; following the volunteers’ conference that was held in January 2012, two volunteer co-ordinators had been appointed which would provide a point of contact for both the volunteers and management.

 

The Joint Committee agreed to –

 

(1)

note the report;

 

(2)

formally thank the  Friends of Mount Edgcumbe Country Park for their financial and volunteer support during 2011.

 

33.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Minutes:

Agreed that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972 the press and public are excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

34.

REVENUE BUDGET MONITORING 2011/12 (E3)

The Joint Committee will receive a report on the revenue budget monitoring 2011/12.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director for People and the Assistant Head Service, Waste and Environment submitted a report on the revenue budget monitoring 2011/12.

 

The Joint Committee agreed to note the report.

35.

MOUNT EDGCUMBE BUSINESS PLAN (E3)

The Joint Committee will receive an update on the Mount Edgcumbe business plan.

 

(Please note that copies of two further reports will be available at the meeting).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director for People and the Assistant Head of Service, Waste and Environment submitted a report on the Mount Edgcumbe business plan.

 

The Joint Committee agreed –

 

(1)

to note the report;

 

(2)

that officers bring to the autumn meeting a report which details options for business planning support to be funded from within existing budgets.