February 4th 2020 Meeting Minutes
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD IN DARWEN TOWN HALL ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH, 2020
Present: Couns Salton, East, Connor, Perkins, Entwistle, Davies, Browne, Smith Hollings, Brookfield, Slater and Taylor.
1.Welcome and introduction:
2.Apologies: Coun. Rothwell.
3.Declarations of Interest: Coun, Slater, RBL and Coun. J East, Darwen Heritage Centre.
4 Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising
These were agreed.
5. Darwen Development as part of BWD bid
Mr M Kelly, BWD’s Director of Growth and Development gave details of the project. 101 towns in the UK have been identified by the Government as needing investment with a possible investment of £25. Each chosen town has been asked to set up a town deal board and this has been done in Darwen with representatives covering a wide aspect of business and community. The first meeting is to be held on February 28th, where if necessary more people will be invited to join.
Coun. Hollings said it was important that the public were given a say in the ideas for how the money would be spent and that feedback is given by the board. Coun. East confirmed this would be done. Couns. Connor and Salton asked for representatives of all faiths and from heritage organisations to be included. Coun. Smith said any ideas had to be sustainable in the future.
6. St James’s Church, Over Darwen
Mr Alan Reid and Rev Tim Horobin of the church outlined the church’s vision for the future following the discovery of dry rot in the roof. The church officials want to use the opportunity to transform the church and bring in the community and work with the borough and town council and food banks etc. They asked for the council’s support in the principle of the project and this was agreed.
7. Public forum
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, but the price was between £30 and 60,000, efforts are now being centred on finding another solution.
Ms Janet Pearce gave details of Keep Darwen Tidy’s second birthday and said a scheme where children are encouraged to take litter pickers home for the weekend and keep a diary of their work, is to be introduced. She asked for funding for the pickers and after a vote, was advised to apply to Crown Awards for funding, with one member abstaining from the voting.
Mr Simon Charnley of the Royal British Legion gave details of the planned VE Day events in the town square on May 8th. The branch wish to hold a fun event for the town and invite 10 children from each school in the town to a VE party, which will also be attended by veterans etc and will be centred on what life was like. A request for £1,000 funding was forwarded to the Crown Awards and permission was given to use the town council marquee if needed. Coun. East said the Accrington Pipe Band were preparing a special song to mark the anniversary.
6 Mayor’s report
Coun. Salton said she understood people’s frustration over the lack of a Christmas market, but there had been many events on, including a Father Christmas event organised by the Rotary Club in aid of the Darwen Tower Appeal, which now stands at over £75,000. The town crier had also been busy.
She gave details of a busy two months attending carol concerts and Christmas events as well as the Holocaust anniversary service. A card of congratulations on behalf of the town council had been sent to Turncroft Nursery for their excellent OFSTED report and a card of condolence to Coun. Jim Shorrock following a family bereavement.
7 Deputy leader’s report
Coun East said an unmarked grave of a soldier buried in Darwen Cemetry has now been officially recognised as a commonwealth grave and now there are 100 such graves in the cemetery.
Coun East gave details of the heritage event from September 11th to 20th based on hidden nature and an exhibition on Darwen’s invention of the football. He said plans are in hand for a remembrance bench as part of the town council’s heritage bench and said a granite bench is to be provided in Darwen Cemetery by supporters.
9 Finance
Authorised payments: January:
£677.45 – Rebecca Hay, salary and expenses for clerk.
£80.83 – LCC – clerk’s pension contribution.
£61 – Post Office Counters, postage.
£40 – J. Barritt, PAYE.
February:
£676.35 – Rebecca Hay, salary and expenses for clerk.
£80.83 – LCC – clerk’s pension contribution.
£100 – Poppy Appeal for poppy wreaths.
£187.20 – Tristar Printers for food festival banners.
.
10 Correspondence
Clerk’s Direct was passed to Coun. Connor. A full report on the activities of Darwen Cricket Club using last year’s grant, were circulated.
It was agreed to support the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England’s manifesto on green spaces which has been launched in light of the new People’s Government and to lobby the town’s MP..
Details of Darwen’s election wards were received. The clerk to write back to ask what the costs will be for the council, bearing in mind, there are other elections on too, the names of the wards and who decided on them and the town council asks that the proposed Darwen South Rural is re named Whitehall.
11 Updates
None.
12 Any other business
None.
.
14 Date of next meeting.
March 3rd, 7 p.m. Agenda items to be with the clerk by February 24th please..
