Worksop Town Fund Board - May 2024 Minutes

Worksop Town Board

Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 14^th May 2024 at Middletons Yard, Potter Street, Worksop S80 2FT

Present in person:

Andria Birch (Chair, AB), Cllr Julie Leigh (JL), Cllr Keith Girling (KG), Laurie Griffin (LG), David Skepper (SK), Phil Jackson (PJ), Karen Whitlam (KW), Michael Hirst (MH), George Jones (GJ), Heather Frecklington (HF)

Non-voting Officers:

Craig Taylor (BDC), Natalie Cockrell (BDC), Emma Illingworth (BDC), Joelle Davies (NCC)

Apologies for absence were received from:

Stephen Marwood, Scott Knowles, Tracey Mace-Akroyd, Sean Mcginly, Sally Gilborn, Brendan Clarke-Smith

The meeting opened at 14:00 and the Microsoft Teams recording was started

A PowerPoint presentation was displayed.

1. Welcome and Introductions

Each member of the Board introduced themselves

2. Matters Arising

Quorum – Suggested as 8 by the BDC legal team, the Board agreed to lower this to 7 to ensure that enough voting members are present during meetings

Boundary for Long Term Plan for Towns – In the March meeting the Board requested BDC to produce a new boundary to focus on Worksop Town Centre and key heritage sites (The Old Abbey School House and The Priory Gatehouse), after conversations with DLUHC BDC were informed that a reduction in size of the boundary would be rejected. Therefore the decision to progress with the original boundary (Built-Up Area, ONS) was made.

Secretariat Scope – Produced by NC, and to be charged at Grade 6 - £27.16 an hour

• Facilitate the operations of the Worksop Town Board by providing and organising necessary information, tracking actions and coordinated work where appropriate. Specifically:
• Coordination of meetings and room bookings, processing invoices for these
• Prepare Worksop Town Board Agendas 5 working days in advance depending on input from the chairs.
• Take minutes at Worksop Town Board meeting. The meetings will be recorded, so minutes can be done after the fact if need be.
• Draft minutes to be published online within 10 working days of the Board Meeting taking place
• Finalised minutes to be published online within 20 working days of the Board meeting taking place
• Track action items and report status at meetings
• Maintain the Worksop Town Board information published on BDC’s website in line with the government guidance
• Provide communication conduit between Worksop Town Board and BDC Officers where appropriate

The Board decided to accept the offer of support from BDC with secretariat and communications until 1st August, once the 10-year vision and 3 year investment strategy have been produced it will be clearer what support will be required, and the Board will take a separate decision based on these documents. 

3. Revenue Funding 24/25

NC confirmed that the next tranche of £200k capacity funding has been received by BDC, and suggested the items below which the Board might wish to consider using the funding for;

• Secretary support for the Board – As above.
• Share Point – BDC ICT department can support with this at a cost of £3 per Board member, plus a cost to store the information. A full costing is being drawn up and will be presented to the board for decision-making.
• Room hire/Refreshments
• Project Management support - BDC can provide at Grade 9 £35.53 per hour
• Website

4. Action Log Review

Outstanding Actions;

• All Board Members to sign and return Terms of Reference, Code of Conduct and Declaration of Interest
• All Board Members to continue to distribute the consultation survey

5. Review Funding Streams in Worksop being delivered by BDC

• Levelling Up Fund 2 – Currently in the process of appointing a main contractor and entering legal contracts
• Levelling Up Partnership Projects
  1. Health Check for Town Centres – Consultants have been appointed, and Worksop work is underway, it will be ready to inform the Board’s decision at the same time as the 10-year vision and 3 year investment strategy
  2. Thriving Neighbourhoods

• Health and Wellbeing Centre at the Priory

1. Street scaping – Shop front grant scheme is now live and interest has been high, although no applications received.
2. Creative Village
3. Family Hub (bring delivered with NCC)
   
   

 

6. Consultation and Engagement Update – Focus

To date there have been 387 responses to the residents survey, 14 to the business survey and 27 stakeholder meetings. Face to face events have been attended;

• Continental Markets, 26th April
• Summer Fayre @ The Crossing Church, 11th May
• Drop-In Day @ Worksop Library / Aurora Centre, 15th May
• Cirque du North Notts, 18th May

Emerging headlines from the resident’s survey;

Characteristics

• Most town centre users are individual service users (doctors, post office etc.) or shoppers.
• Two-thirds drive to Worksop.
• Visitors to other towns do so for more choice for shopping/retail and eating/drinking.
• Characterised by commuting elsewhere with little retention.

Challenges 

• Transport and Connectivity: extended bus timetables, roads, better facilities.
• Highstreets, Heritage and Connectivity: converting underutilised spaces to leisure areas, community facilities, shops, market traders, food and drink outlets, and more events.
• Safety and Security: evening ASB, more police presence.

Priorities 

1. Supporting/attracting businesses
2. Improving the evening offer
3. More green space and improved public realm
4. Timeline and Programme

• Consultation closes on 24^th May
• From 1 April 2024 to 1 August 2024:
• Town Boards submit their Long-Term Plans (comprising their 10-year vision and 3-year investment plan) from 1 April and before 1 August. The Plan will set out how funding will be allocated and spent.
• The earlier the Town Board is established, and Plan submitted, the quicker funding can be unlocked by DLUHC.
• DLUHC assess plans as they come in, and release 2024 to 2025 capital and revenue funding once plans are approved.

8. AOB

No AOB was raised.

The meeting closed at 15:35.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Last Updated on Tuesday, June 18, 2024