Minutes of a meeting of The Finance and General Purposes Committee held on Wednesday 22nd January 2020 in the Selina Cooper Hall, Unity Well Being Centre, 62 Vernon Street, Nelson
Commenced: 6.30pm - Concluded:7.05pm
Councillors Present: Kamran Latif [Chair], Zafar Ali, Mashuq Hussain, Mohammad Sakib and Ikram Ul- Haq
Absent Councillors: Husnan Arshad, Wayne Blackburn and Nazeem Hayat
Non-Councillor (without voting rights): None
Observing Councillors (not a member of the committee): None
Officers: Nick Harbour – Assistant Town Clerk [minute taker]
Members of the Public: None
2019/066 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE (FGP) To receive and approve apologies for absence and reasons given to the Assistant Town Clerk prior to the meeting.
No apologies received.
2019/067 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST (FGP) To receive disclosures of personal and prejudicial interests from members on matters to be considered at the meeting. Officers are required to make a formal declaration about council contracts where the employee has a financial interest.
None declared.
2019/068 ADJOURNMENT FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (FGP) To adjourn the meeting for 15 minutes to allow members of the public to make representation on the business of the agenda for the meeting. No resolutions can be under public participation.
No members of the public were present at the meeting.
2019/069 MINUTES (FGP) To approve the draft minutes of the Finance and General Purposes committee meeting held on 23 October 2019
Proposed by Councillor Ali and Seconded by Councillor Hussain, and RESOLVED: That the draft minutes of the Finance and General Purposes committee meeting
1 Signed Chair: ……………………………………. Dated: ………………………………… held on the 23 October 2019 be confirmed as a true record and be signed by the Chair.
2019/070 VICTORIA PARK PAVILION – SMALL GRANT APPLICATION (FGP) To note the minute reference requested from the Victoria Park Pavilion Group at the last Finance and General Purposes meeting.
Paperwork had been circulated by the Assistant Town Clerk as requested to show the minute reference from the Victoria Park Pavilion Group in order to release the funds they applied for.
Members noted the update.
2019/071 ALLEYGATING AT BRADLEY VIEW – WARD INIVIATIVE FUNDING (FGP) To note a Ward Initiative funding bid for the sum of £1,000 to assist with providing alleygating at Bradley View.
Paperwork had been circulated by the Assistant Town Clerk giving details of a recently submitted Ward Initiative funding bid received for the Bradley area for new alley gates at Bradley View.
Members noted the update.
2019/072 CCTV (FGP) To receive an update in relation to CCTV camera installation at Reedyford/Regent street junction.
The Assistant Town Clerk noted that the office had received a quote from Peter Wareing, Manager of the CCTV Hub in Blackburn for the installation of a CCTV camera on Regent Street. The figure was £13,383.17.
Proposed by Councillor Latif and Seconded by Councillor Ali, and RESOLVED: That a decision be deferred whilst the Assistant Town Clerk seeks quotes from the company who installed the cameras last year at the Nelson and Colne College site.
Action: The Assistant Town Clerk to seek a quote from the last company who installed CCTV on behalf of the Town Council.
2019/073 ENERGY SUPPLIERS (FGP) To note the new energy suppliers – Total Gas & Power.
The Chairman notified Members that a company called Total Gas & Power now deal with the energy supplies at the Unity Wellbeing Centre.
Members noted the update.
2019/074 SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY – PENDLE BUSINESS AWARDS (FGP) To consider sponsorship of a category at the upcoming Pendle Business Awards.
Proposed by Councillor Ali and Seconded by Councillor Sakib, and RESOLVED: That the Council supports the Pendle Business Awards and seeks to sponsor the Pendle Innovation Award.
Action: Members interact with local businesses and encourage them to nominate themselves for any of the various categories available which they feel they may be eligible for.
2019/075 TOWN COUNCIL CREDIT CARD (FGP) To appoint a signatory to either visit or ring the bank to request a new credit card be sent to the office.
Proposed by Councillor Latif and Seconded by Councillor Ali, and 2 Signed Chair: ……………………………………. Dated: ………………………………… RESOLVED: That Councillor George Adam be appointed to contact the bank with the Assistant Town Clerk to get a new credit card ordered for the office.
2019/076 BUDGET FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2020/21 (FGP) To discuss progress around the setting of the Town Council budget for 2020/21.
Members from the recently appointed Budget Working Group have met with Susan Guinness (Chief Financial Officer at Pendle Borough Council) to discuss the setting of the Town Council budget for 2020/21.
Members echoed the comments from the Town Council Chairman – “That it is important for the Town Council to invest in Nelson, and that the town has been let down in recent times in terms of local government funding. It’s the responsibility of this Town Council to ensure that where gaps have been created because of central government cuts, that the Town Council takes the lead to make sure the gap in funding is covered by the Town Council”.
Members of the Budget Working Group are to meet again with Susan Guinness before calling a Full Council meeting to agree the draft budget currently being prepared. This is likely to be held on Thursday 06th February 2020.
Members noted the update.
2019/077 PARKS AND MUGA COSTINGS (FGP) To review the recently submitted charges received from Pendle Borough Council for Parks and MUGA maintenance.
Proposed by Councillor Ali and Seconded by Councillor Latif, and RESOLVED: That the Assistant Town Clerk gets confirmation from Pendle Borough Council that the invoice in question relates to this financial year. If this be the case, signatories will sign off the cheque if it has not already been paid.
Action: The Assistant Town Clerk to contact Pendle Borough Council to confirm that the 2019/20 payment has not already been made.
2019/078 ANY ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION FOR A FUTURE AGENDA (FGP) To notify the Clerk of any matters for inclusion on the agenda of the next meeting.
• Potential sponsorship of football tournaments by the Town Council (to be taken to the Events committee then costings reported back to Finance committee).
2019/079 DATE OF THE NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING (FGP) To note the date of the next committee meeting scheduled to take place on Wednesday 26th February 2020 at 6.30pm, Unity Wellbeing Centre.
Members noted the next meeting date.
The meeting was closed by the Chair at 7.05pm.
3 Signed Chair: ……………………………………. Dated: …………………………………