Agenda and draft minutes

To elect a Chairman of the Lower Central Gardens Trust Board, until the first meeting of the 2023/24 municipal year.

Councillor Bull took the Chair for this item of business.

Councillor Williams was elected Chairman of the Board until the first meeting of the 2023/24 municipal year. 

Voting: unanimous

To elect a Vice Chairman of the Lower Central Gardens Trust Board, until the first meeting of the 2023/24 municipal year.

Councillor Bull was elected Vice Chairman of the Board until the first meeting of the 2023/24 municipal year. 

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Mike Greene.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

Councillor Bartlett advised that he was a Director of BH Live. 

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meetings held on 20 December 2022 and 12 January 2022.

The minutes of the meetings held on 20 December 2020 and 12 January 2022 were agreed as true and correct records.

Voting: unanimous

The report provides a range of Trust and Service update information to the Lower Gardens Trust Board on specific items as requested by the Board of Trustees.

Items covered include:

·       Governance

·       Finance

·       Events

·       Concessions trading

·       Operational service updates

The report provides information to updates to note whilst also seeking support and approval from the board for confirmation of Terms of Reference and of associated operational delegation of business-as-usual activities. The report furthermore asks for support for the implementation of an Events Policy and for the board to give consideration as to topic items for future reports.

The Joint Service Unit Head – Environmental Services presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report provides a range of Trust and Service update information to the Lower Gardens Trust Board on specific items as requested by the Board of Trustees.

Items covered include:

• Governance
• Finance
• Events
• Concessions trading
• Operational service updates

The report provides information to updates to note whilst also seeking support and approval from the board for confirmation of Terms of Reference and of associated operational delegation of business-as-usual activities. The report furthermore asks for support for the implementation of an Events Policy and for the board to give consideration as to topic items for future reports.

Governance

The Board received a presentation from the Senior Solicitor, which focussed on the role and remit of the Board. 

Following a question, it was advised that the Pavilion did fall within the land under the remit of the Trust.  The Legal Team was undertaking a piece of work to understand exactly what land was included under the remit of the Trust.  The outcome of this review would be reported to the Board when the work was concluded. 

It was discussed that there may be potential conflicts for the Board to consider when evaluating the best needs of the Gardens as a leisure facility, as per the intents of the bequeathment and commercial events.  It was explained that the maintenance of the pavilion was chargeable, which was always included as a cost in the accounts. 

It was further discussed that whilst there were large financial figures involved with the running of the pavilion, but it seemed that the Trust have no input in the running of it.  It was advised that the Trust Board should have input regarding leaseholder arrangements with BH Live. 

It was explained that the Trust Board had various options to consider as to what constituted the best interests of the charity and use of the Gardens, there was discretion.

Finance:

It was advised that the annual accounts needed to be filed with the Charity Commission by 31 January 2023, to sign them off, so a meeting would be held in late January to allow the Board to sign them off.  If there were any changes to the final accounts, from the draft ones which had been circulated, the Board would be notified. 

Delegation to Officers:

The Board was asked to reconfirm the delegation afforded to the Grounds Maintenance Team for general maintenance and planting in the Gardens.  Any major changes would continue to be brought to the Board for agreement.  As there had been membership changes on the Board, it was advised that it was good practice to reaffirm this delegation.

Whilst the reaffirmation of day-to-day changes was accepted, it was felt that there was some vagueness of what constituted issues that needed to come before the Board.  It was suggested that a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

To consider potential dates for future meetings of the Board, in relation to the business needs of the service.

It was advised, as previously discussed that a meeting would be held towards the end of January 2023, to allow for the consideration and sign-off of the annual Trust accounts.  Democratic Services were currently collating responses for the circulated dates for this meeting.

The Trust Board agreed that they would like to meet twice more before the end of the municipal year and it was agreed in principle that a further meeting be held in March 2023.

It was suggested that the delegation of planting matrix be circulated to the Board members outside of the meetings and if possible this be signed off in January 2023.