FINANCE & GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE

21^st JULY 2009 at 7.05 p.m.

1.           Apologies: None

Present: Cllr R Lumley [Portreeve & Mayor], Cllr Mrs K Gold [Deputy Mayor & Portreeve], Cllr H Jones, Cllr Mrs Winfindale, Cllr J Gist, Cllr Ellard, Cllr Green, Cllr Thomas.

In Attendance: Nil

Officer: Vernon Anderson – Town Clerk

Members of the Public:

2.           Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of 16^th June 2009 were approved as a correct record of proceedings and duly signed.

3.           Policing Issues

              Cllr Gist reported that there was a new police unit in Launceston specifically set up to deal with motoring offences relating excessive noise emitted through illegally modified silencers and amplified music systems.

              Cllr Winfindale raised an issue regarding the lack of police representation at Full Council meetings. Cllr Gist explained that the police have a number of commitments and is difficult for them to attend all Full Council meetings, Cllr Gist was asked to raise the matter with the police when he next meets with them and ask them to attend at least quarterly.

4.           Finance

              a)  Summary of accounts. The summary of the accounts to the 31^st May were received.

b)  Approval of Payments

5.         For Decision – Litter Collections     

At the Outside Services Committee held on the 7^th July that committee considered introducing a weekend litter collection in Saltash Road Recreation Ground and Launceston Road Playing Field for the summer periods.

Following their discussion about responsibilities, liabilities that committee asked for this item to be placed on this committee’s agenda.

Cllr Winfindale gave members and overview of the current situation and following debate on the five options presented for consideration it was agreed that:

Resolved

Proposed Cllr Gist, seconded by Cllr Thomas and unanimously agreed to go with option 1 (agree to pay staff £25 for a weekends litter duty) and that the Clerk has delegated authority to act with regard to the end date for this particular scheme.

6.         For Decision – Capital Receipts; Land Adjacent To Saltash Road Recreation Ground/ Aysshton Gardens Car Park

At the Outside Services Committee held on the 7^th July the committee considered the redevelopment of Saltash Road Recreation Ground. During that debate reference was made with regard to financing capital projects and as a result of that discussion and debate it was resolved:

Proposed by Cllr Mrs Winfindale, seconded by Cllr Mrs Coakley and unanimously agreed that the matter of surplus land disposal (located by Saltash Road car park be referred to the Finance & General Purpose Committee for debate.

The Finance & General Purpose Committee has the remit to approve suitable action to renew planning permissions and once this has been secured decide which plots of land (if any) should be placed on the open market for sale as suitable building plots. If any land is sold it will become a capital receipt and money raised from this can only be used to finance capital projects. Once market values are known or once the plots for sale have been sold the committee may ring fence suitable amounts for specific capital projects as it sees fit.

The surplus land held by the Town Council is generally viewed as an asset which historically has been set aside to fund an unknown future significant project. How long that land should be held for is for this committee to determine but it should be noted that whilst it is being held the value fluctuates and that has never been more so evident. Although an asset on paper its value will never been fully realised until it is sold, at the moment it has no value and often is subject to complaints due to the perceived lack of maintenance which the grounds maintenance staff acknowledge. The reluctance to maintain this land as effectively as other park land is due to the amount of dog mess that is left behind by inconsiderate dog owners.

The matter was debated at length in conjunction with other capital projects and capital reserves and it was evident that there was mixed feeling about using land held in reserve for raising capital for current projects which included the Town Hall redevelopment project and Saltash Road Recreation Ground redevelopment project.

Resolved

Proposed by Cllr Green, seconded by Cllr Gist and agreed by majority (1 against) that Option 1 be the most suitable course of action in so far as the Clerk be given authority to explore the possibility of gaining outline planning permission (for the plots of land adjacent to Saltash Road Recreation Ground / Aysshton Gardens Car Park) directly with the Planning Authority and if it is so possible, proceed with applying for outline planning permission before bringing the matter back for further discussion and decision.

Non agenda item.

The Chair asked the Clerk to thank the relevant people for their hard work who were involved in putting together a very successful gala day, carnival and festival week.

The Clerk was also asked to write to ‘Our Lady of Victories’ Catholic Community Church for their kind invites to join them in celebrating the Callington Festival Week.

The meeting closed at approximately 8.05 pm

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