CTC/06.11.18 – 10923

Minutes of a meeting of TOWN COUNCIL held in the Town Hall, The Broadway, Crowborough on Tuesday 6th November 2018 at 7.30pm

Present Councillors Quentin Burch Peter Ellefsen Martyn Garrett Deputy Mayor Richard Jury David Larkin Chris Moss George Moss Kay Moss (Also WDC) David Neeves Alan Penney Ron Reed* (Also WDC) Greg Rose Mayor (Also WDC) Wendy Scrace Matthew Street* Sandra Timms Neil Waller (Also WDC)

Also present Cllr Sylvia Tidy ESCC Cllr Steve Isted WDC

Caroline Miles Acting Town Clerk Amanda Negus Committee Clerk

*Denotes non attendance

The Mayor opened the meeting with a prayer.

APOLOGIES

Cllr Ron Reed Cllr Matthew Street Cllr Philip Lunn WCC Cllr Richard Stogdon ESCC

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Cllrs Kay Moss, Greg Rose and Neil Waller declared an interest in the Bluebell Wood car park as they are Councillors.

MINUTES

Minutes of the meetings held on 2nd and 23rd October 2018

8588 RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meetings held on 2nd and 23rd October 2018 as confirmed be signed by the Chairman.

Updated action list (attached to agenda)

Noted.

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TO RECEIVE REPORTS OF MEMBERS

Cllr Peter Ellefsen attended the Ashdown Conservators Forest Liaison Panel meeting and reported that they were disappointed they didn’t receive a grant from CTC and won’t be applying again next year.

TO RECEIVE REPORTS FROM DISTRICT AND COUNTY COUNCILLORS

Wealden District Councillors Reports:

Cllr Steve Isted advised –

 The new crematorium is progressing well and will be opening in March. There will be opportunities for councillors and members of the public to view it during January and February. A Crowborough business won the contract for grounds maintenance.

 The cap on borrowing has been lifted by Government, so WDC hope to build more council houses.

 The Local Plan is still in the consultation phase.

 Cllr Isted requested that past Crowborough Mayor Brian Newbury be considered for a street name. The Mayor confirmed that he is already on CTC’s Approved Street Name List, but that CTC were waiting on an answer regarding a 50 year deceased rule that WDC were applying to street names named after people.

 A question was raised as to whether there was a proposal to build in on the crematorium land. This comes under Planning Committee South so the answer was not known, but it could be found out if they are to be council houses.

 The houses being built in Jarvis Brook are not WDC homes, but are being built by Homes which is a business separate to WDC.

East Sussex County Councillors Reports:

Cllr Sylvia Tidy advised –

 Cabinet papers for discussion on the core budget are out today and will be discussed next week. Core budget areas where ESCC feel it is right to spend money have been budgeted for. There may not have enough money to spend on all the areas they would like though. It is not the actual budget, as this has not been set yet. They have to manage with what money they have as options investigated to increase income are not feasible.

 One off bid funding tends to go to councils who haven’t managed their services effectively. For ESCC Children’s Services this is the problem they are up against as they have managed well, they miss out on funding.

 The Ashdown Conservators are working towards becoming a charity, so they can properly trade to bring in funding. Cllrs Richard Stogdon and Sylvia Tidy are Directors. A better understanding of what’s being done and how it impacts locally needs to be built up. It would be good if the Conservators could come and talk to the Town Council. The Mayor suggested that perhaps they could come to an Environment meeting and open the meeting up to any interested councillors.

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 CTC have a very small grants budget so perhaps in the future there could be a different way CTC could support the Forest within the budget.

 In response to a question Cllr Tidy explained that it does put extra strain on ESCC finding capacity for the additional residents when a care home closes.

TO ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS

None.

TO RECEIVE SUCH COMMUNICATIONS AS THE TOWN MAYOR MAY WISH TO LAY BEFORE THE COUNCIL

To note the Town Mayor’s and Deputy Mayor’s engagements (attached to agenda)

In addition to the list circulated with the agenda, the Mayor advised:

 He had attended the South and South East in Bloom Awards on the 14th September with the Deputy Clerk where Crowborough was presented with two Silver Gilt Awards.  He and the Consort attended the Crowborough First Responders Annual Fundraising Black Tie Dinner at Barnsgate Manor on the 6th October.

The Mayor noted there haven’t been many invites from Crowborough organisations recently, most have been from other areas.

COMMITTEE MINUTES

To receive the acts and proceedings of the following committee meetings:

Communications & Events – 14th August 2018

The acts and proceedings of the Communications & Events Committee meeting held on 14th August 2018 were received.

Environment – 31st July 2018

The acts and proceedings of the Environment Committee meeting held on 31st July 2018 were received.

Finance & General Purposes – 4th September 2018

The acts and proceedings of the Finance & General Purposes Committee meeting held on 4th September 2018 were received.

Personnel – 21st August & 13th September 2018

The acts and proceedings of the Personnel Committee meeting held on 21st August & 13th September 2018 were received.

Planning & Development – 3rd & 24th September and 1st & 15th October 2018

The acts and proceedings of the Planning & Development Committee meeting held on 3rd & 24th September and 1st & 15th October 2018 were received.

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Sport, Recreation & Cemetery – 7th August & 11th September 2018

The acts and proceedings of the Sports, Recreation & Cemetery Committee meeting held on 7th August & 11th September 2018 were received.

TO AUTHORISE THE SEALING OF DOCUMENTS

Grants of Exclusive Burial Right

8589 RESOLVED to authorise the following grants of exclusive right of burial:

Certificate Name Grave space Q1061 Alison May HARROLD & Jennifer Ann BROAD 287 Q1062 Alison May HARROLD & Jennifer Ann BROAD 289 Q1063 Susan Ann LAMBERT GRH127 & GRH128 Q1066 Karen Jill MAYO GRH51 & GRH52 Q1067 Carol Ann MEEKS GRH49

RECRUITMENT OF A TOWN CLERK

To note the documentation attached to the agenda and agree actions:

Cllrs Sylvia Tidy and Steve Isted left the meeting at 8.54pm.

a) Job description

8590 RESOLVED to agree the job description attached to the agenda.

b) Person specification

8591 RESOLVED to agree the person specification attached to the agenda.

c) Salary scale

8592 RESOLVED to agree salary scale points between 52 – 60 in band LC4 depending on experience.

d) Councillors to serve on the Recruitment Panel

8593 RESOLVED for Cllrs Martyn Garrett, Kay Moss, David Neeves and Sandra Timms to serve on the Recruitment Panel. Cllrs Peter Ellefsen, Ron Reed and Greg Rose will be substitutes.

e) Responsibilities delegated to the Recruitment Panel

8594 RESOLVED to agree Recruitment Panel’s delegated responsibilities as follows:

 Agree advertisement.  Agree all dates for the process.  Agree contents of application pack and distribution/collection process and whether to keep in-house.  To consider relocation package.  Agree long/short list.  Agree interview procedure.  Agree questions for candidates.  To make a recommendation to Full Council.  To seek assistance and advice from the appointed HR company. CTC/06.11.18 – 10927

RECRUITMENT OF A RESPONSIBLE FINANCE OFFICER

To note the documentation attached to the agenda and agree actions:

a) Job description

8595 RESOLVED to agree the job description attached to the agenda with the following additions to be included:

 Managing the Mayors account.  Attending F&GP meetings.

b) Person specification

8596 RESOLVED to agree the person specification attached to the agenda.

The Committee Clerk left the meeting at 8.30pm.

c) Salary scale

The Committee Clerk returned to the meeting at 8.41pm.

8597 RESOLVED to agree salary scale points 29 – 36 in band LC2 depending on experience.

d) Hours for the post

8598 RESOLVED working hours to be three days per week including the attendance of F&GP meetings. To be included in the job description.

e) Where to advertise

8599 RESOLVED to advertise for 28 days on the SSALC, KALC and CTC websites. In the Kent & Sussex Courier (Fish for Jobs) £1,060 package and Crowborough Life.

The RFO position is to be interviewed for by the Acting Town Clerk, Chairman of Personnel and Chairman of F&GP. The Locum RFO to be asked if she would assist if she doesn’t intend to apply herself.

CTC INSURANCE

To note the quotation and to agree action (attached to agenda)

Because of insufficient time to obtain three quotes before the renewal it was

8600 RESOLVED to reinsure for 1 year with Zurich Municipal for a cost of £27,649.20. Three quotes to be obtained for next years renewal.

PINE GROVE

To note the report (attached to agenda)

Cllr Peter Ellefsen attended the Crowborough Community Associations AGM where Basepoint had been invited to attend to talk about the new Enterprise Centre at Pine Grove. They confirmed Basepoint as the brand they will be operating under. The units will be “Easy in/Easy out” and they anticipate 20% occupancy upon opening. They also advised they have started recruiting and advertising, but the Working Party would like confirmation of this.

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To note the request from the Pine Grove Working Group for additional funds to complete the repair and resurfacing of the Pine Grove car park area and agree further action (attached to agenda)

 The refurbishment works are currently on schedule and under budget.

 Additional works that have been agreed are the replacement of three boilers - £50,000 and atrium glazing repairs - £25,000.

 The ground floor toilets are not going to be refurbished at the current time.

 CTC Office reconfiguration – it is now clear that the allocated space is not big enough, so a quote has been asked for to remove a stud wall and square up the corridor side wall to make a larger open plan office.

 Car park resurfacing – The advice was to budget £20,000, but the quote came in at £67,000. The car park is in a bad way and will need resurfacing at some point, but there is not enough money left to do so now. The working group has currently decided against a recommendation to ask Council for the additional funds that would be needed.

BLUEBELL WOOD CAR PARK

To note the verbal report and agree any further action

Cllr Peter Ellefsen advised the Bluebell Wood Working Group had met with WDC and a revised car parking scheme is now being worked on to protect some of the outside trees whilst still increasing parking spaces, although not as many as originally planned. WDC still haven’t confirmed they are paying for the parking. Some of the proposed spaces are in the middle of the existing car park on land which belongs to WDC.

Abbey Homes have been asked if they would be prepared to install the pedestrian crossing on Pine Grove prior to the occupancy of the new homes.

FINANCIAL MATTERS

To note payments for period 6th September to 31st October 2018 inclusive (attached to agenda)

The item listed as book tokens is petty cash, but there isn’t space to list all the items.

Noted.

To note earmarked reserves position including committed expenditure (attached to agenda)

A couple of non-urgent questions have been emailed to the Locum RFO.

Noted.

URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIRMAN FOR NOTING

An apology letter has been received from Nat West for the refused cheques issued to Neilcotts.

The meeting closed at 9.21pm.