MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD IN DARWEN TOWN HALL ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH,  2019

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

1.Welcome and introduction:  

2.Apologies:  Couns. Hollings, Entwistle and, Rothwell.

3.Declarations of Interest:  Couns. Slater on RBL , Coun. East on Darwen Heritage Centre and Coun Taylor on AOB..

4 Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising

These were agreed, with the name correction in the public forum of Mark Atkinson and not Atkins (Blackburn Rovers footballer 1986- 2004)

5 Public forum

Ms Janet Pearce of Keep Tidy Darwen said she had reported to the organiser,  food festival banners which had been left after the event on railings and had not even received an acknowledgment and so had removed herself. Coun. East thanked Ms Pearce for her help and apologised for the lack of communication.

Mr Mark Atkinson said he had nearly finished emptying Hollinsgreave Church, but had been upset to find some of the groups who had used it, had left unused items which had probably been bought with grants. Mr Atkinson was concerned over the wastage and the attitude of organisations, charities and schools in Darwen, who were offered the items and would not make the effort to pick up. He said most of the items had gone to groups in Blackburn.

Mr Atkinson also asked whether there was to be a Christmas market. Coun. Connor said there was no available date due to the market square already being allocated for events throughout the festive period. Coun. East said discussions are underway to ensure there are events run by the town council in 2020.

6  Mayor’s report

Coun. Salton had attended the food festival, a dance afternoon, jobs fair and half term activities for children. She had also met Darwen’s engagement officer Laura Low to find out her role in the town. Coun. Salton had also met with representatives of St James’s Church in Over Darwen. The church is in need of repair and is looking at how it can move forward. Officials are looking for ideas as to how to resolve problems and it was agreed they could talk to councillors at the next meeting in a bid to find solutions.

7 Deputy leader’s report

Coun. East said he had attended the food festival. The Mayors of Darwen and  Blackburn had also attended. The bonfire had been a huge success and raised £2,650 for the Save Darwen Tower Fund. The event had been organised by the cricket club and they had asked for help paying for the security on the night. Coun. Browne said he was horrified by the amount spent by the council on the fireworks and said the club should pay for the security as they had made money on refreshments. It was agreed 4 to 3, with one councillor abstaining to pay towards the security as a one off and Coun. East will meet the cricket club representatives to discuss arrangements for next year.

Coun. East and Coun, Brookfield are trying to get the area around the planter at Earcroft tidied up to allow the autumn/winter planting.

Coun. East is organising the transfer of the town council website administration and social media to a new firm. He is also working with the borough council town partnership board to advertise town council events on their website.

Remembrance Day events and information was shared with councillors.

8. Request for funding from Darwen Heritage Centre

A business plan had been circulated by the centre officials to councillors asking for assistance with finances. Coun. Connor asked if other streams of funding could be found to make the centre self sustainable. Mr Tony Foster from the centre said groups hire the rooms for meetings and events, which brings in a regular income, but grants are not available to cover running costs, only specific projects. Coun. Tayor proposed that a grant of £3,250 be given for the next 3 years and in 2021, the finances could be relooked at. This was agreed by members with Coun. East abstaining due to a declaration of interest.

9 Finance

Paid in: £850 – food festival. There are outstanding stall payments, which the organiser Samantha Taylor is dealing with.

£2,650 – proceeds of the annual bonfire collection towards The Mayor’s charity, which this year is Save Darwen Tower.

Authorised payments:

£663.25 – Rebecca Hay, salary and expenses for clerk.

£80.83 – LCC – clerk’s pension contribution.

£3,250 – Darwen Heritage Centre – donation.

£2,650 – Rotary Club of Darwen for the Save Darwen Tower fund.

£250 – Darwen Cricket Club, half share of security for bonfire.

£45 – Audio Tech – repair of PA.

£1,920 – Bright Sparks for fireworks display.

£981 – Titanium Security for food festival.

£200 – Higab Ramsay for food festival entertainment.

£300 – BWD – hire of generator for food festival.

£294.56 – BWD – hire of waste bins for food festival.

£5,465 – Four Seasons Garden Centre for autumn/winter planting.

£25 – Poppy Appeal donation.

£144 – Darwen Heritage Centre for heritage open days.

.

10 Correspondence

Clerk’s Direct passed to Coun. Connor. A national highways and transport assessment survey forwarded to all councillors.

11  Updates

Coun. East the town crier was now receiving bookings and his services advertised on social media. Leaflets are also to be distributed to raise his profile.

12 Any other business

Coun. Salton discussed nominations for a civic award. Coun. Taylor declared an interest.

13 Part 2 – public and press excluded.

Two items discussed.

December 3rd^, 7 p.m. Agenda items to be with the clerk by November 25th please..

14  Date of next meeting.