December 3rd 2019 Meeting Minutes

December 3rd 2019 Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD IN DARWEN TOWN HALL ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3RD,  2019

Present: Couns Salton, East, Connor, Perkins, Entwistle, Davies, Browne, Smith and Taylor.

1.Welcome and introduction:  

2.Apologies:  Couns. Hollings, Brookfield, Slater and Rothwell.

3.Declarations of Interest:  None..

4 Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising

These were agreed.

4.1 Hollins Grove Church

Mr Mark Atkinson gave an update on Hollins Grove Church and said the church is now cleared. Mr Tony Foster from Darwen Heritage Centre said they were working with a mosaic firm in the Midlands to try to save the art piece.

4.2 St Jamess Church, Over Darwen

Coun. Salton to invite Mr Reid from the church to the February meeting to discuss plans to save the church.

5 Public forum

Mr Tony Foster from the Darwen Heritage Centre said the centre’s website will have a strapline saying “supported by DTC’’ on it. Calendars are on sale to boost funds. He asked where a plaque marking the 1941 spitfire was and Coun, Browne said it used to be in the foyer of Darwen Town Hall.

Mr Stephen Lomax from Sandringham Road gave details of work he has been undertaking in the area to tidy the back alleys up. He has received support from several local firms and hopes to arrange an artistic history of Crown Paints in the area and set up a Men’s Shed. Councillors congratulated Mr Lomax on his community spirit.

Mr Mark Atkinson said the alley gate system in Darwen is not working. Also he expressed concern that residents are flagging their house pathways and driving over footpaths to park their cars instead of paying for dropped kerbs. He said BWD council then come to mend the broken flags and he questioned the useage of council tax money.

Ms Janet Pearce raised disappointment from residents over the lack of a Christmas market this year. Councillors said this was down to the logistics of organising the event and in previous years, only two market traders had expressed interest in helping run the event. Ms Pearce said the council’s website and social media was also poor and not regularly updated. Coun. East said this was being dealt with following the resignation of the administrator.

6  Mayors report

Coun. Salton had attended a meeting of the CHAT group, Darwen Vale, Remembrance Day events, Bold Venture Park event, St Peter’s Church service, Over Darwen event, Cancer Research event, WEC awards, school choir, Christmas lights switch on and opening of Santa’s Grotto.

7 Deputy leaders report

Couns. East, Smith and Connor had met with Darren James re Darwen Live and agreed a rigid budget. Mr James had come up with some cost cutting and a further meeting is to be held in February to finalise. Coun Smith said the event is the biggest free outdoor music festival in the country.

Coun. East said the Darwen Tower Appeal is awaiting the results of the application sent to the lottery heritage awards.

He is working with the Royal British Legion over next year’s anniversary connected with the start and end of WWI1 and two wrought iron benches are to be bought. Mr Foster said the benches need to recognise all the Armed Forces and the survivours, as well as the war dead.

8. Traffic and parking outside schools

Coun. Smith said every school in Darwen has a problem with parking and heavy traffic at peak times. It was agreed that the council would fund at least two child friendly warning cones per school and nurseries if required. Ward councillors to contact their own schools and nurseries to see if they are interested in having them. Coun. Brookfield to source price.

9 Finance

Paid in: £50 – food festival.

Authorised payments:

£683.25 – Rebecca Hay, salary and expenses for clerk.

£80.83 – LCC – clerk’s pension contribution.

£412.50 – EPL – electrics for food festival.

£45 – Very Vivid for heritage leaflet design.

£96 – SG Animal Feeds, food festival.

£4,000 – Life Education, annual donation.

£600 – Forbes solicitors, legal advice.

£187.50 – The Pancake Band, replacement cheque minus £12.50 cancellation charge.

Coun. Connor gave details of the budget and said the bank balance is healthy and this year has been in budget. He suggested events such as St George’s Day and the 1940s Day be looked at and may be instead have a day celebrating what is good about Darwen. It was agreed the flags are not needed if the events are not held.

He said community groups should be encouraged to hold events and the council could try and help financially if acceptable.

Coun Connor  said grants should be more transparent and groups awarded give reports back on what work has been achieved with the money.

It was agreed to keep the precept at £122,000.

.

10 Correspondence

None.

11  Updates

The town crier has been to many events representing Darwen.

12 Any other business

Coun. Taylor said Darwen Health Centre had won two national awards for its nursing team and GP team at a ceremony in London last week. The clerk to send a letter of congratulations from the council.

13 Part 2 public and press excluded.

None.

14  Date of next meeting.

February 4th7 p.m. Agenda items to be with the clerk by January 27th please..

Author: Room Filler