(Public Pack)Agenda Document for West Norwood Cemetery Scheme
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b WEST NORWOOD CEMETERY SCHEME OF MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Date: Wednesday 11 February 2015 Time: 5.30 pm Venue: Room 101, Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton Hill, SW2 1RW Copies of agendas, reports, minutes and other attachments for the Council’s meetings are available on the Lambeth website. www.lambeth.gov.uk/moderngov Members of the Committee Archdeacon Representatives: Nicholas Long (Chair), Paul Barber, Reverent Ivelaw Bowman, J.E.C. Briant Lambeth Council Representatives: Councillor Max Deckers-Dowber, Councillor Jane Pickard, Councillor Fred Cowell and John Whelan Further Information If you require any further information or have any queries please contact: Gary O’Key, Telephone: 020 7926 2225183; Email: [email protected] Members of the public are welcome to attend this meeting and the Town Hall is fully accessible. If you have any specific needs please contact Facilities Management (020 7926 1010) in advance. Queries on reports: Please contact report authors prior to the meeting if you have questions on the reports or wish to inspect the background documents used. The contact details of the report author is shown on the front page of each report. @LBLdemocracy on Twitter http://twitter.com/LBLdemocracy or use #Lambeth Lambeth Council – Democracy Live on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ Digital engagement We encourage people to use Social Media and we normally tweet from most Council meetings. To get involved you can tweet us @LBLDemocracy. Audio/Visual Recording of meetings Everyone is welcome to record meetings of the Council and its Committees using whatever, non- disruptive, methods you think are suitable. If you have any questions about this please contact Democratic Services (members of the press please contact the Press Office). Please note that the Chair of the meeting has the discretion to halt any recording for a number of reasons including disruption caused by the filming or the nature of the business being conducted. Persons making recordings are requested not to put undue restrictions on the material produced so that it can be reused and edited by all local people and organisations on a non-commercial basis. Representation: Ward Councillors (details via the website www.lambeth.gov.uk or phone 020 7926 2131) may be contacted at their surgeries or through Party Group offices to represent your views to the Council: (Liberal Democrats 020 7926 2028) (Conservatives 020 7926 2213) (Labour 020 7926 1166). AGENDA PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ORDER OF THE AGENDA MAY BE CHANGED AT THE MEETING Page Nos. 1. Welcomes and Introductions 2. Minutes of the West Norwood Cemetery Scheme of Management 1 - 8 Committee (16.07.14) and Matters Arising To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2014 3. Minutes of the West Norwood Cemetery Advisory Group (21.01.15) 9 - 16 To note the minutes of the West Norwood Cemetery Advisory Group held on 21 January 2015. 4. Draft Asset Investment Management Report 17 - 82 5. Graves Re-use Feasibility Study 83 - 124 6. Status of the Horticultural Society Memorial 7. Project Officer's Update 125 - 128 8. Technical Officer Group (TOG) Update 129 - 130 9. Any Other Business This page is intentionally left blank Page 1 Agenda Item 2 WNCSOM b WEST NORWOOD CEMETERY SCHEME OF MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Wednesday 16 July 2014 at 5.30 pm Minutes Present: Councillor Max Deckers Dowber, Reverend Ivelaw Bowman, J. E. C. Briant and Nicholas Long MBE (Chair) and John Whelan Apologies: Councillor Max Deckers-Dowber (for lateness), Councillor Fred Cowell and Councillor Jane Pickard, Prof. Robert Flanagan, Alastair Johnstone, Shaffique Manson-Visram and Raj Mistry Also present: Carolyn Dwyer (Delivery Director, Communities, Housing, Environment & Public Realm), Jeff Raggett (Cooperative Development Team Manager), Steven Wong (Project Manager) and Dick Tooze Action required by 1. WELCOMES AND INTRODUCTIONS The Chair welcomed everyone and noted that this was the first meeting of the West Norwood Cemetery Scheme of Management committee since the Council election, which had given rise to a change in the membership on the Council representatives’ side. Councillors Fred Cowell and Max Deckers-Dowber were new members and Councillor Jane Pickard was a returning member. It was also explained that former councillor John Whelan had been nominated as the Conservative member to fill the vacancy that existed and this had been approved. Apologies for absence were noted. In the absence of a quorum the meeting started on an informal basis. 2. MINUTES OF THE WEST NORWOOD CEMETERY SCHEME OF MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (07.05.2014) RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 May 2014 be approved as a correct record of the proceedings (NOTE: this resolution was passed later in the meeting after it became quorate). 3. MATTERS ARISING Page 2, item 3: It was reported that the planting in the front forecourt was complete and looked very good. The Chair thanked the team involved. Page 4, item 5: Work had been done on the Robson Road wall following the concerns raised by Cllr Kingsbury. Page 2 Page 4, item 6: The Chair suggested that the election of a Council representative as Vice Chair be deferred until the next meeting in order that the new members of the committee could have time to settle in. This was agreed by all present. 4. MINUTES OF THE WEST NORWOOD CEMETERY ADVISORY GROUP (25.06.14) The minutes of the Advisory Group meeting held on 25 June 2014 were noted. 5. MATTERS ARISING There were no matters arising. 6. PROJECT OFFICER'S UPDATE An updated report from project officer Shaffique Mansan-Visram was circulated in hard copy at the meeting and is appended here. Jeff Raggett, Cooperative Development Team Manager, made the following points: The advice from expert barrister Timothy Briden regarding the requirements the Local Authority must observe to achieve a scheme for the re-use of graves was broadly positive. He was of the view that a pilot project should be undertaken before any bigger plan was attempted. This had already been thought of and squares 6, 7 and 63 were being considered. Jeff Raggett would be taking this forward John Whelan joined the meeting at this point A meeting had been held with operational staff to look at the records regarding the leases on various plots to ensure that any initial 25 year leases which had expired could be renewed if desired. This would ensure an income stream which would benefit the cemetery. It was thought the numbers involved were around 1000, which was considered manageable. A working group had been set up to look into this, which would report back to the Technical Officers’ Group (TOG) The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) seminar at West Brompton Cemetery was interesting and informative. At their last meeting, the TOG had been briefed on the bid process by an officer who had put together a successful parks HLF bid and a steering group would be set up off the back of this. Shaffique Manson-Visram would remain the project officer responsible. It was noted that any money put in at this point did not count towards the 25% match funding; however, the Chair stated that he believed HLF were encouraging Lambeth to make a bid sooner rather than later since, unlike the rest of the magnificent seven cemeteries, much of the preparatory work had been done in West Norwood’s case. Bidding early would mean a clearer field. Jeff Raggett reported that bids of up to £7m could be made but these were likely to be turned down. If the bid could be kept under £2m it was less risky and more likely that it could be signed off quickly (though this would still mean around two years) Colin Fenn, Friends of West Norwood Cemetery (FoWNC), on Page 3 behalf of the Scheme of Management committee, was involved in work to investigate how best to engage with the Greek cemetery John Whelan reported that he had been concerned to observe damage to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials in the cemetery. Some original features had been broken and they were quite overgrown. Though they related to WWII, he wished for these to be made fitting for the upcoming WWI centenary. The Chair stated that there was a group of four memorials in square 29 which were war grave markers that sat on public graves; on at least three of these, the public grave marker had been put aside. This did not look good and was a matter for the cemetery management. Jeff Raggett would take photos on his next visit The Chair thanked everyone involved in the TOG, which had been established earlier this year and had achieved a great deal. Officers had demonstrated a real willingness to see progress and this was very encouraging. Councillor Max Deckers-Dowber arrived at this point; the meeting thus became quorate. Steven Wong, Project Manager, introduced his report, included under item 6 of the agenda pack at pages 25-26, and made the following points: There were two main elements to the report: structural works and the capital investment programme Regarding the structural works, new benches had been installed and the laying of Fibredec, a non-permeable and aesthetically pleasing road surface which sat on top of the tarmac, would hopefully be done in August. The gate refurbishment works were now substantially complete and decorative lighting, which shone upwards on the arch and monuments, had been installed. The boundary wall repairs were due in August while the entry card system, which involved obtaining a fob from the cemetery office, had been completed Regarding the capital investment programme, a huge scheme over multiple years looking at increasing awareness of prize assets and generating income was being looked at.