July 6th 2021 Meeting Minutes

July 6th 2021 Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD IN DARWEN HERITAGE CENTRE, ON TUESDAY, JULY 6TH, 2021

Present: Couns. J East, K Connor, L Salton, P. Browne, D. Smith, J. Hamer, E. Entwistle, S. Brookfield and B. Taylor.

1.Welcome and introduction: Coun Salton welcomed councillors to the meeting. Sadly, Coun Roy Davies is unwell. Coun Salton and Coun East to send flowers and a card to his family.

2. Apologies

Couns. M and R Davies and A Walker.

3.Declaration of interests :

Coun Taylor on updates (parks application by Friends of Sunnyhurst Woods). Couns East and Salton on finance (Rotary Club application).

4 Minutes of the last meeting:

These were agreed.

4.1 Hollins Grove Mural

Coun. East said it was believed an offer has been put in for the church, but no progress planning wise, but Coun Smith would keep the council updated.

4.2 Darwen Deal

Coun East said there had been no update re the deal status. Representations had been made to Jake Berry MP and it was expected that Darwen will be the last town to get a decision. There was an accelerated pot of funding of £750,000 and work has started on Darwen Tower and AFC Darwen, with the skate park work yet to start.

4.3 Darwen Day

The day had been dampened by the weather. Couns. Taylor and Browne expressed concern over whether the event had given value for the amount spent. It was agreed lessons could be learnt going forward for future events, but as this had been the first event in the Covid recovery, it was felt overall the council had tried to re start as best as possible. Coun. East had spoken to one trader who had expressed concerns through the local Press. The newly formed events committee will address all concerns and evaluate the event ready for future ones.

5. Public forum

No questions from the public.

6 Mayor’s update

Coun Salton had judged online school paintings, attended Darwen Day with the town crier. She praised the work during the pandemic of the youth club which is based in Meeting Places and said the service had been invaluable to many youngsters through this difficult time. Coun. Salton had also attended the Armed Forces Day flag unveiling. Coun. Smith circulated a newspaper clipping featuring Coun. Salton opening a new boutique and highlighting the good local shops in the town.

7. Deputy leader’s report Dealt with earlier in the meeting.

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8 Finance

Payments:

£40 – J Barritt, PAYE, auditor.
£749 R Hay for salary and expenses
£107.32 – R Hay pension.
£1,817.76 – Life Education programme.
£300 – R Hay, purchase of new council computer.
£2.66 – HMRC, PAYE.
£7,845 – Laura Johnston, Darwen Day.
£3,000 – BWD, external repairs and painting of windows in Darwen Library. £175 – Darwen Rotary Club for community bulb planting.

A quote for the summer planting of £7,406 was agreed. It was agreed Coun East would discuss an ongoing rolling programme of funding with the current supplier to avoid any future delays in planting. Also Coun. Brookfield asked if planting scheme could be implemented in the market square to brighten it up and Coun. East will also discuss this.

It was agreed to continue paying to rent town council and health centre storage units for another year.

Coun. East gave details of the community bulb planting scheme run by the Rotary and which will be carried out by local school children.

Author: Rebecca Hay