Chesham Town Council Bill Richards
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Chesham Town Council Bill Richards Town Clerk Tel: 01494 774842 Fax: 01494 582908 www.chesham.gov.uk Email: [email protected] 12th December 2017 Dear Councillor I hereby give notice of a meeting of the RECREATION AND THE ARTS COMMITTEE to be held in the Council Chamber, The Town Hall, Chesham, on MONDAY 18th DECEMBER 2017 AT APPROXIMATELY 8.00 PM (i.e. immediately following the close of the Planning Committee meeting which is due to commence at 7.30pm) A G E N D A 1. Apologies for absence. 2. Declarations of Interest. 3. To receive and confirm the Minutes of the Committee meeting held on 30th October 2017. 4. To receive and consider the Minutes of: a. Elgiva Board of Management meeting of the 23rd October 2017. b. Impress the Chess meeting of the 2nd November. c. Environmental Group meeting of the 23rd November 2017. 5. Chesham Moor Gym and Swim Centre Update. 6. Weedkilling Policy and Procedure in Chesham. 7. Lowndes Park Green Flag Competition. 8. Revised Estimates 2017/18 and Estimates 2018/19 . 9. Proposed Fees and Charges 2018/19. Yours sincerely, Bill Richards Town Clerk Chesham Town Council, Town Hall, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1DS Twinned with Friedrichsdorf Germany; Houilles France; Archena Spain Chesham Town Council continued . Councillor Circulation Councillor Emily Culverhouse Councillor Peter Hudson (Vice Chairman) Councillor Jane MacBean (Chairman) Councillor Tony Franks Councillor Diana Varley Councillor Qaser Chaudhry Councillor Mohammad Fayyaz Councillor Mohammad Bhatti Councillor Peter Yerrell - 2 - MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE ELGIVA BOARD OF MANAGEMENT at 10.30am on Monday 23rd October 2017 at Chesham Town Hall Present: Trevor Pilling (Chairman) Patricia Cherrill Cllr. Peter Yerrell (Minute Secretary) Cllr. Jane MacBean Fiona Kear Steve Cherry Mick Carling Mimi Harker Yvonne Plester Officers: Bill Richards (Town Clerk) Mark Barnes (Elgiva Theatre) Moira Little (Elgiva Theatre) Emma Peters (Marketing Manager) – item 1 only Steve Pearson (CTC Finance Manager) – item 3 only Apologies: Lee Bright Minutes of the previous meeting were noted. 1. Marketing Support and Website Update Emma Peters (EP), Town Council Marketing Manager, introduced herself and advised the following, backed up with a slide presentation. The Elgiva was in a strong positon with the local community positive. The whole community is being targeted with some emphasis on younger families. A 3 point plan for the Elgiva was outlined; 1) Strengthen Identity of the Elgiva. 2) Digital Marketing. 3) Building a Brand Identity A local theatre can provide a lot of variety and entertainment for the community. There is a need to push the variety. Several options were shown for improvement of the Elgiva Logo. MB suggested “Theatre, Cinema, & More” as a suitable Strap line, but it was decided that further thought be given to this after consultation with customers. Colour of Logo to be looked at together with a larger crown. EP considered the Website is doing a good job but more photographs are needed and some photo ideas were presented. The website will have a clearer layout and icons will be used to navigate. Needs to be more mobile phone friendly and online booking requires upgrading. EP has set up a Facebook advert and from around 5,000 hits, there has been a good 2% click through response, which is better than the 1% you would normally expect. Other thoughts were, to have a competition for two free cinema tickets, posting to other sites, and building up relationships with businesses. Gift vouchers are currently available most of which are sold at Christmas. EP advised that a Marketing Plan is being developed. MB & EP visited a website workshop at South Bucks with Be Seen, the website developer, a lot of which was found to be useful. Arising from this a need to look at a Membership Package and linking up with restaurants to offer pre-show deals now the night-time economy was developing. The Elgiva previously had a discount deal with Chesham Tandoori. The Chairman thanked EP for her excellent presentation. EP left Meeting at 11.05 2. Manager’s Update 40 Holes have been repaired in the roof, and the rest of the roof is in good shape. Electronic survey detected some very small holes, probably due to birds pecking at growth on the roof. Steve Pearson (SP) has advised that is permissible to levy a general Booking Fee after getting suitable legal advice. MB has decided a Booking Fee of £1.00 will be applied to all transactions whether cash or card rather than fee for card use only which will become illegal in January. Panto doing well. Probable outcome much the same as last year. Schools appear to be harder to attract. Lost one school last year. This may be due to health and safety and/or travel costs but the general perception is that the attraction of pantomime is falling off generally for young people. A brief discussion took place on, perhaps, consider reducing Panto to two weeks, to allow room for other shows once Rare has finished its 3 year contract in 2018. General consensus was it might be wise to consider moving to a more modern format using appropriate technology. New Senior Technician doing very well having picked up the necessary skills very quickly. Rubbish recycling is not being carried out and therefore there is a need to establish a way whereby we deliver or have collected. BR to investigate further with ML and Parks and Premises Manager. New “What's On” available. MB appealed for ideas for the daily events and evening show to be held on 8th November 2018 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Elgiva, on this site. 3. Financial Update The Chairman presented his monthly figures for September 2017 which shows we still ahead, with Income at £102,645 to date compared with £91,644 last year. Also average monthly income now at £1700 on up to date figures. The Theatre is progressing very well with all credit due to the Elgiva Staff. There have been many sell-outs but others not so good. SP gave half yearly financial update. The Elgiva has an overall budget target for year set at £90k; split as Operational Costs at £52k and investment (former repairs and renewals budget) at £38k. Operational Costs are showing 6 months improvement of £13k on last year for the same period which should see the outcome come close to the £52k target. General repairs figure of £38k likely to be exceeded due to roofing repairs, lighting and other works. Next year’s overall investment across ALL services is likely to be £136k, the exact allocation to be determined during the budget process over the next couple of months. With this in mind the Elgiva Manager said summer conditions in the Theatre are at times unbearable, usually too hot, therefore an improvement to the Air Conditioning needs to be looked at. SP left Meeting at 11.45 4. Patio/Building Extension Update. Proposals to be presented at Rec and Arts meeting on Monday 30th October. JM advised that CDC’s Senior Planning Officer had stated that, in principle, he cannot see any major problems. Parking used to be a big issue, but now more flexibility is being shown by the Planning Authority. Cost of Proposals yet to be determined. 5. Date of Next Meeting Monday 4th December 2017 CHESHAM TOWN COUNCIL MINUTES of the ‘Impress the Chess’ meeting held on Thursday 2nd November 2017 at 2.30 pm at the Town Hall PRESENT: Jane MacBean Chesham Town Council (Chairing) Ken Austin Chesham Environmental Group Michael Browne Meades Lane Resident Allen Beechey Chilterns Chalk Streams Project Phil Folly Chesham Environmental Group Kathryn Graves Chesham Town Council Paul Jennings River Chess Association 1. APOLOGIES AND WELCOME Apologies were received from Tony Molesworth (Chesham Society), Euan Russell (Chiltern Society) and David Stowe (Chiltern District Council). 2. MINUTES OF 21st SEPTEMBER 2017 AND MATTERS ARISING (i) Solar House Site The trees have been removed from the river bank. Chesham Environmental Group is willing to be involved in work to help naturalise the river bank this coming Spring. We will need to agree a date for this work. It will cost approximately £45 for a heritage plaque. Jane will email the developers to say that we would like to place a plaque on the building and ask if it would be possible for the name of the building to reflect its historical name of Canada Mill. Action: Jane (ii) Littering at Meades Water Gardens The policing patrols have been altered to incorporate Meades Water Gardens. Jane will make contact with the new sergeant to find out the outcomes of the altered patrols. Action: Jane (iii) Vale Brook Flytipping The area of Vale Brook at Townsend Road has been cleared by Chesham Environmental Group and Chiltern District Council took away the waste. Wickes donated bags for clearing the green waste and the Parks team of the town council removed the larger items of waste. The volunteers identified Japanese Knotweed on the river bank, and Kathryn will contact the landowner to make him aware of the implications of this. Action: Kathryn Paul will share with the town council the details of the Japanese Knotweed training he is organising. Action: Paul Impress the Chess – 2 November 2017 1 (iv) Thames Water at Latimer Road and Holloway Lane Thames Water will be removing the laurel hedge that runs alongside the edge of the sewage treatment works on Latimer Road. Ian Crump is going to set up a site visit with Paul and Allen to look at the tree work along Holloway Lane and the potential community use for the old sewage works site.