Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and members and officers introduced themselves.

The Democratic Services Officer will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out on the Agenda.

The Democratic Services Officer drew attention to the Emergency Evacuation Procedure.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Alex Beaumont.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest, (as defined in Part 4.4 Appendix B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

There was no urgent business.

There were no items from the public.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2024 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Sub-Committee having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, in accordance with the provisions of Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, RESOLVED that the public shall be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business and the reporting of the meeting be prevented under Section 100A(5A), because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended.

It was noted that this item had been deferred from the previous meeting pending further information and specialist officers were present to answer specific questions relating to the contract which was detailed in the confidential appendix 1.

The Waste Strategy and Project Delivery Manager confirmed that the Council had alternative options outside of the contract to remove any graffiti that was offensive.  She advised the Sub-Committee to advise members of the public raising concerns about the state of the toilets to alert the Council by contacting the number on the door of the toilets or via the Council Connect service.

The Sub-Committee agreed that continuing with the current contract was the only feasible option, but that the maintenance of the toilets continue to be monitored by the Sub-Committee.

RESOLVED that

(1)  the continuation of services provided as part of the wider contract the Council holds with Healthmatic until 2029 be agreed.

(2)  the ongoing maintenance of the public conveniences be monitored by the Sub-Committee.

RESOLVED that the public be readmitted for the remaining items of business.

The Head of Service – City and Town Centre Management introduced the report and confirmed that the Service Level Agreements had been reviewed and the appendix set out the full cost of services.  She confirmed that last review had been undertaken in 2016/17.  She recommended that the Sub-Committee use a single point of contact to report any issues, the Parks and Greenspaces mailbox so that the process could be managed and coordinated. 

In response to a question about how the sand replacement would be managed going forward, the Parks and Greenspaces Manager recommended that this be continued until the arrangements for replacing equipment were imminent as the process protected the existing play equipment.

In response to questions, it was confirmed:

1.  There were no quality metrics, but this could be considered in the future.

2.  This information was specific for the Alice Park Service Level Agreements, it was not required for other parks as they were Council owned.

3.  There was no uplift in the charges to the Trust.

4.  There was assurance from the Finance Team that the numbers were accurate and reflected the costs to the Council of undertaking the work. 

5.  In relation to comments raised about leaf collection and a crossover between works in Alice Parks and street cleansing works on the highway, the Parks and Greenspaces Manager undertook to look into this in more detail.

6.  The percentage increase from the previous year was mainly due to the triannual sand replacement which was due in 24/25. 

RESOLVED that -

(1)  the review of the Service Level Agreement set out at Appendix 1 be agreed.

(2)  the Parks and Greenspaces mailbox be agreed as a single point of contact into the Council for reporting of issues and/or works required.

(3)  a maintenance and repair scope as set out in the SLA be agreed and inflationary rises in line with other Council-owned parks and based on the annual budget setting process be noted.

(4)  requests for any major improvement works be discussed at the Sub-Committee and funding streams be identified for each stage of the process.

The Council’s Senior Finance Officer advised the Sub-Committee of the requirement to upload the annual report to the Charity Commission website 10 months after the end of the financial year and so in the case of 2022-2023, this would need to be submitted by the end of January 2024.  He confirmed that the accounts had been independently examined by One West. 

RESOLVEDthat

(1)  the financial statements of Alice Park Trust for year ending 31 March 2023 be agreed, signed and submitted to the Charity Commission.

(2)  the annual report for Alice Park Trust year ending 31 March 2023 be agreed, signed and submitted to the Charity Commission.

The Sub-Committee considered a report giving a financial update as at Quarter 3. 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Senior Finance Officer introduced the report which considered a proposal to change the current funding arrangement of the Trust with the aim of achieving the long-term ambition of being financially independent.  The Sub-Committee noted that there were limited opportunities for income generation and that the current arrangement whereby Bath and North East Somerset Council funded the Trust’s deficit inhibited the Sub-Committee in taking decisions as there was no budget envelope.  He also stated that, in terms of accounting, it was important to consider the support of Council Officers to show a true and fair reflection of its expenditure and income and where this support exceeded a baseline, it would be appropriate for the Trust to incur a charge. 

The Chair asked if consideration should also be given to the work undertaken by Members on a voluntary basis, e.g., the work on organising the consultation in relation to the play area.  The Senior Finance Officer advised that, in accountancy terms there was a distinction between volunteer time and officer time and if volunteer time was also included, this would change accountancy requirements to a more complex system of accounting.

The Sub-Committee raised the following comments:

1.  There was no guarantee that the Trust would receive an ongoing grant from the Council or that the level of grant would not decrease in future years.

2.  “Grant” was a misleading term as the money would in effect be an allocation for the maintenance of Alice Park from the Council’s budget.

3.  More information was needed on the level of risk for the Trust before a decision could be taken.

4.  Further detail was required on the charges for officer time before a decision could be made on whether the Trust would pay for additional time over and above the baseline. 

RESOLVED that the report be noted and decisions on the issues of seeking grant funding from Bath and North East Somerset Council and chargeable officer time be deferred pending further information.

To update the Sub-Committee on requests to use Alice Park.

The Sub-Committee considered the following requests to use Alice Park.  It was noted that the Trust could agree the events and take on liability or refer to the Council’s events team to assess the event.

1. Julian House Big Sleep Out.  The Sub-Committee had received a request to run this event in Alice Park on the night of Friday 1 March and this had been agreed in principle via email as it was a charitable event that had taken place in the park on an annual basis over the last few years.  For these reasons it was agreed that it would not need to be submitted to the Council’s Events Team.
2. Alice Park Café Fun Run Fundraiser on Saturday 4 May.  The Sub-Committee was supportive of the request but agreed it should be submitted to the Council’s Events Team in view of the health and safety implications and it was noted there would be a £95 administrative fee for this service chargeable to the applicant.
3. Rogers Funfair.  A request had been received to use the park on the weekend of Saturday 4/ Sunday 5 and Monday 6 May and to pay the daily rate of £556 for the three days.  The Sub-Committee agreed it was important to be consistent and charge the daily rate for each of the days and also that it would not be appropriate to have the funfair on the Saturday due to the proposed fun run.  The Chair undertook to respond accordingly.
4. Police bike marking.  The Chair reported that she had agreed to a request from the police to undertake bike marking at the park during the forthcoming weekend.  Following a request from the Sub-Committee she undertook to also invite the police to attend the Larkhall Festival weekend (4/5/6 May) for a further bike marking event.
5. L&C Corporate Event.  The Chair updated that L&C had agreed the charge of £1k per day to hold a corporate event in June along with sponsoring some events organised by Bath Area Play and she and Cllr Deborah Collins would be meeting with the company to discuss the details. 

To update the Sub-Committee on the Alice Park Play Area Project.

The Chair updated that the Sub-Committee was meeting informally on a monthly basis with a view to taking the project forward.  She confirmed that the latest meeting had discussed working with a company involved in the original design work.  It was agreed that Bryan Johnson and the Chair would meet with the company to discuss next steps including costs. 

To discuss parking/blue badge parking at Alice Park.

The Chair suggested that the issue of parking at Alice Park be a subject for discussion at a future meeting.

The Chair gave an update on progress since the previous meeting:

1.  Bath Urban Treescape

The Chair and Mary LaTrobe Bateman had met with Fiona Bell with a view to taking the project forward.

2.  Additional Tree Planting

The Chair had met with the Council’s Trees and Woodland Manager to confirm plans for using the Lambridge Councillor Empowerment Fund to plant additional trees within Alice Park. 

3.  Contacting schools about participation

The Chair had been in contact with local schools about young people participating in future meetings.

To agree a date for the next meeting.

RESOLVED that the next meeting be held on Thursday 18 April 2024 at 12 noon.