Agenda and minutes
PDF 124 KBVenue: The John Meikle Room - The Deane House. View directions
Contact: Marcus Prouse Email: m.prouse@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk and Clare Rendell Email: c.rendell@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk
Webcast: View the webcast
| No. | Item | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Apologies
To receive any apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors P Bolton, D Durdan, K Durdan, R Habgood, A Hadley, C Morgan, A Pritchard, P Stone, N Thwaites, T Venner, D Wedderkopp, K Wheatley. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Declarations of Interest
To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.
(The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.) Additional documents: Minutes: Members present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor or Clerk of a County, Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-
Councillor Mark Blaker declared a prejudicial pecuniary interest in respect of the Petition from My Theatre Matters (Brewhouse) as Director of a Café participating at the Brewhouse and declared he would leave the room for that item. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Public Participation - To receive only in relation to the business for which the Extraordinary Meeting has been called any questions, statements or petitions from the public in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 14,15 and 16
The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.
For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue. Additional documents: Minutes: A. Ms Bryony Chetwode (Company Secretary – TravelWatch SouthWest ) had submitted the following statement in relation to Item 9 – Taunton Bus Station;
In response to negotiations for the sale of Taunton Bus Station with the Council as potential purchasers, we would like Councillors to ensure any course of action will enable two key outcomes for passengers:
The Community must be engaged around future bus interchange provision We hope you will engage with TravelWatch SouthWest by working collaboratively to find the optimum solution for the community, not missing this opportunity to support the growth plan, sustainable transport use, and flow of human resources across the Somerset. TWSW is used to working with Local Government, National Government, Operators and Community Groups, Passengers, and NGO’s, which has given us understanding of triggers for use and avoidance of public transport services.
Taunton community needs reassurance that there will be a good Interchange at all times. The facility provided by the bus station is an asset to passengers and the town, although improvements would be welcomed. If an alternative plan is developed there must not be reduced facility for the community Taunton serves in the short, medium, or long term. An alternative plan should enhance the passenger experience and be considered as an opportunity to improve the cost, reliability, quality, interchange, and perceived safety of public transport use.
Beyond the immediate Building The Bus Interchange is important as an appropriate scheme could us station could provide an opportunity to address the community concerns: |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
To receive any communications or announcements from the Chair of the Council
Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair wished everyone present a Happy New Year. The Chair and the Mayor of Taunton, Cllr Francesca Smith had met with PROMISE mentoring, a registered charity which helped mentor young people from early years right up to young adults who are care leavers. If Councillors were interested in becoming mentors the Chair had further information and leaflets to share.
The Chair highlighted the upcoming Taunton Swimathon, of which there was hoped to be a Mayor of Taunton’s team and a request for sponsorship was made.
Councillors were notified of the thanks that had been received from Taunton Foodbank from all the food and monies that was collected at the previous Full Council before Christmas.
The Chair reminded Councillors of the upcoming Holocaust Memorial Service on the 27th January 2020 at St. John’s Church, Taunton, which would also be the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
To receive any communications or announcements from the Leader of the Council
Additional documents: Minutes: The Leader of the Council clarified that in terms of the Taunton Swimathon the Mayor of Taunton had declared that the Leader of the Council would also be submitting a team and would be swimming at the event. Councillors Henley, Booth and Kravis would be joining, and she encouraged other Councillors to come forward for a brilliant cause.
The Leader declared that the Ice Rink which had been installed in Castle Green, Taunton, over the Christmas period had been very successful and was predicted to make a small profit for the District. The Leader was currently in discussions to use that profit to go towards the Council’s climate change agenda, to offset some of the carbon emissions that the rink generated. She commended the work of the Communications team and in particular Officers Georgie Andrews and Craig Stone.
Councillors would have seen in the news in the last week or so of the decision of Somerset County Council to push to become a Unitary Authority. The District Councils in the region were working collaboratively on an alternative suggestion as the Districts believed that services were much better delivered at a local level and were already doing great things there in that regard around partnership working. The Leader promised to keep the Council, and the public up to date as the situation unfolded. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
To receive only in relation to the business for which the Extraordinary Meeting has been called any questions from Councillors in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13
Additional documents: Minutes: No such questions in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13 had been received. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Receipt of Petition on behalf of My Theatre Matters (Brewhouse)
Additional documents: Minutes: Ms Val Hammond (Chair of Trustees of Taunton Theatre Association) presented the petition’s demands on behalf of My Theatre Matters which had been included within the Agenda along with a pro-forma assessing the potential approvals required;
Good evening Councillors I am Val Hammond, Chair of Trustees of Taunton Theatre Association, which as you know is a registered charity and which has successfully revived your capital asset The Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre in Taunton. The petition was originally presented to Council on the 8th October 2019 where it had been signed by over 3000 people. The petition requested an increase in funding to enable Taunton Theatre Association to sustain its high quality and accessible and diverse arts centre in Somerset’s County Town due to the planned redevelopment being put on hold by the Council’s new administration. The great majority of the signatories live in the District but some of them further afield evidencing the venues positive economic impact.
Taunton Theatre Association is the largest provider of arts and culture in the District, providing a rich and diverse programme at our base and increasingly working with others across the region and nationally. We’re a successful organisation, offering over a thousand events each year, six to seven days a week, day and night and with visitors now reaching 72,000 people a year. As you will recall, four years’ work with the previous Council resulted in well researched, realistic and ambitious plans for a Multi-Purpose Venue with a 750 seat theatre, cinema, studio theatre, art gallery, and cultural space. This flexible and sustainable venue would re-invigorate Taunton and benefit the whole region and its people. The project, anticipated for the Brewhouse site, could be re-purposed to provide a spectacular centrepiece for Firepool.
However, rather than repeat the presentation that was made to Council in October I would like to comment on the proposal before you and update on what has happened since then. I must emphasise, that the request for additional funding did not originate from TTA but was made in response to a request from the Council on 1st April 2019 to set out clearly the financial implications of the proposed Brewhouse development not going ahead as planned. On the basis of this TTA brought forward a financial proposal demonstrating the additional costs necessary to sustain its cultural programme if it were to remain in the aged and seat limited Brewhouse facility we showed both best and worst case scenarios. Best case TTA winning grants from elsewhere, worst case based on not winning any grants at all. Something we have not experienced to date, although grants are usually dependent on there also being local Council support.
In the papers before you tonight, the figures showed the worst case for one year, that year has been rounded up and presented as if it was the case for each year. I put it to you that although it is wise to consider the worst case, the way it is presented is misleading ... view the full minutes text for item 100. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Access to Information - Exclusion of the Press and Public
During discussion of the following item(s) it may be necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public having reflected on Article 13 13.02(e) (a presumption in favour of openness) of the Constitution. This decision may be required because consideration of this matter in public may disclose information falling within one of the descriptions of exempt information in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The Executive will need to decide whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption, outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
Recommend that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 respectively of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED that the press and the public be excluded from the meeting for the items numbered 9 and 10 on the Agenda as the items contained exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and the public interest in withholding the information outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information to the public. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Taunton Bus Station
This matter is the responsibility of Councillor Marcus Kravis Portfolio Holder for Asset Management and Economic Development and Councillor Ross Henley Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources. Minutes: Councillor Marcus Kravis (Portfolio Holder for Asset Management and Economic Development) introduced the report and proposed the recommendations as written in the confidential report.
During the course of the debate and discussion in confidential session an amendment was proposed by Councillor Blaker and seconded by Councillor Aldridge as follows;
i. This Council expresses concern that changes to Bus Services might negatively impact on residents across the District, and will seek to engage with both Somerset County Council and First Bus to understand and scrutinise the proposals.
The amendment to the motion was discussed and thus put to the vote where it was lost.
RESOLVED that the Council approved the recommendations as written in the confidential report.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Firepool
This matter is the responsibility of Councillor Marcus Kravis Portfolio Holder for Asset Management and Economic Development. Minutes:
Councillor Marcus Kravis (Portfolio Holder for Asset Management and Economic Development) introduced the item and moved the recommendations as written in the report. Tim Bacon, the Council’s Specialist Officer then gave Councillors a brief presentation.
Council RESOLVED:
1. Business Case development continues as set out in the confidential report including further external advice on the scheme as a whole, sought on the business case work prepared and the outcome is reported back to Council this includes the costs of design development for an LDO, detailed design on Blocks 1 and 2, business case development for the venue and on delivery options including the possibility of developing the site through a Special Purpose Vehicle and project team costs.
2. The Council allocated a confidential budget amount for the next phase of the development work for the site, to be spent across the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years.
3. The budget to be funded by a confidential budget amount from the Economic Growth and Prosperity Fund underwritten by the Business Rates Smoothing Reserve and a confidential amount from the Town Centre Regeneration existing budget allocated within the Growth Programme.
4. Continued negotiations with the current prospective occupiers in consultation with the S151 Officer and Asset Management.
5. That a Local Development Order is started as soon as possible together with the other planning development work as set out in the confidential report.
Councillor Lisgo declared a wish that her vote of abstention was recorded in the minutes. |
Related pages