Phone: 07741 284132
Email: LanghamCC@gmail.com
LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of a Finance Committee Meeting
held on 16th Aug 2021 at 7.30pm, LCC Club Room

Present
Alan Cadman, Maureen Shouksmith, Paul Armstrong, Liz Schofield, Martin Bottwood, Sue Armstrong. No Apologies.

Matters Arising from Finance Meeting on 14th Jun 2021
Send Asbestos Report to Hoggarth & Cooke: Discharged SA
Attend on-site Car Park meeting with risk assessor: Discharged AC
Circulate new P&L layout format for comment: Discharged MS
Meet George Pearce to review 2019/20 P&L discrepancies: Discharged MS/PA
Arrange for repair of Referee’s shower: Discharged SA
Circulate CIF Pre-Application Form for eligibility checking: Discharged PA
Obtain details of Youth Activities funding project from Lewis Barber: Discharged MB

Chairman’s Report
Alan has requested a second opinion from another car park risk assessor. The assessor is currently very busy, but will hopefully be able to attend site sometime during September. The new assessor will probably still call for pedestrian walkways to be marked up, but may specify less onerous overall requirements than our first assessor.
Paul had recently spoken to Trustees at two other locations with shared-use car park facilities, at Stutton and Bentley. They were unable to offer any experience-based advice on safety and insurance, beyond the suggestion of looking to change our insurer.
We discussed the scope of Hoggarth & Cooke’s project management activities for the roof replacement work. Alan’s understanding is that they will provide full project management. Liz recommended that this be kept under close review to avoid any downstream surprises.
We discussed the status of the latest printed versions of the Shop and Pre-School Leases received from FJG for signature. After some discussion about the exact CO4 5PA/CO4 5PB boundary line, it was agreed that this ambiguity should not stop us moving forward with contract signature. For the Shop lease, Alan explained that FJG had provided legal advice against amending the base rent in the main contract, but in favour of using a side-letter for this purpose. We should therefore proceed on that basis and communicate this to the Shop.
Paul will liaise with the Shop and Pre-School and circulate the hard-copy documents to obtain all the necessary signatures. Action PA

Treasurer’s Report
Closing bank balances today were: current a/c £3682.93; deposit a/c £73,135.50.
So far in August, receipts have exceeded outgoings (£2565.97 versus £2106.78) which is heading in the right direction.
In July, Patchwork Pals kindly made a donation of £140.04, presumably their residual bank balance following the closure of the group. Paul has written a letter of thanks.
July figures show income of £4680 (including shop electricity of £749.37) but payments out of £7251 which included the pre-roofing survey charge of £1620; work by Future Electrical of £1212; Car Park drains clearance and repair work to the fire hatch.
Rates for the Hall & Pre-School amounted to £372.43 which covers Aug 21 to Mar 22.
The 20/21 accounts have been delivered to George Pearce ready for his review/audit work. George has been asked to review some potential discrepancies in the 19/20 accounts as well as looking at the 20/21 accounts.
Maureen proposed that we organize a nice bottle of red & white wine as a thank you for his volunteered services, once his review is complete. Action PA
It has recently come to light that our floor cleaning machine requires repair to a fraying cord. ICE have quoted £155 to include a call out charge, which seems excessive. It was agreed that Sue should haggle to try to add in a general service whilst they attend. Action SA

Marketing Manager’s Report
Sue’s written report had been circulated prior to the meeting. Some regular hirers are now getting going again, others are still unconfirmed as yet. A new holiday firm is hiring the first Wednesday of the month from September to December. Standard pre-COVID booking forms are now being issued to new hirers, following the decision by Trustees last month.
Sue demonstrated the single new floor-standing £85 industrial fan that has been purchased to improve ventilation and airflow through the building for hirers that wish to take advantage of this. The idea for this was partly triggered by the CEROC dancing group, who used their own fans in some of the building doorways when hiring the hall recently. It was agreed that Sue should proceed to purchase a second unit to increase coverage options for the hall. All units will be PATS tested. This additional facility will be advertised to hirers. Action SA
The learning curve for the new air conditioning system has continued. Sue has tweaked the max/min control settings to give hirers sufficient range of temperature control under a range of ambient conditions.
The cinema committee recently met and will be re-starting monthly film screenings from Saturday 18th September.


CIF 2021 Update
Paul reported that our pre-application for hearing loop facilities for the hall had been approved. A full application form now needs to be completed by 17th September, should we wish to proceed. Martin updated us on the latest S106 position, which also includes provision for hearing loop facilities. The timing and flexibility of S106 funding delivery is still highly uncertain, so after some discussion it was agreed that we should proceed with a CIF application now. CIF projects stipulate that a contribution must be made by the project beneficiary. We therefore agreed to offer a 10% contribution from LCC funds. If our CIF application is successful, it will hopefully be possible to re-direct the unused S106 funding allocation to another project of benefit to the Langham community.
We discussed the relative merits of traditional versus Bluetooth based assistive hearing technology. More research is required to identify the most appropriate solution for the hall. Paul will progress the research and submit an application by the 17th September. Action PA
On the broader issue of progressing S106 funding priorities, Martin asked Alan and Sue to consider whether they wished to coordinate submissions across the LCC, Shop and Pre-School, or leave the Parish Council to liaise directly with these three bodies. Action AC/SA

Fly-tipping in the LCC Car Park
On the evening of 7th August the LCC was a victim of fly-tipping next to our locked rubbish container on our locked car park. Clear CCTV footage has led to identification of the local culprit. It was agreed that a warning letter should be delivered to the culprit, making clear that any future offences will be reported to the appropriate authorities. Action PA
It was also agreed that a clear warning sign should be placed on the wall behind our rubbish container, to try to deter any future would-be fly-tippers. Action SA

Village Survey Findings pertinent to LCC
Maureen explained that the Village Survey Working Group had divided up the task of presenting initial findings to different groups within the village. She has been tasked with briefing the Shop (Charlotte) and the LCC (this meeting). The hall has also been booked for 23rd September to provide an update to village residents who expressed an interest in volunteering to help run future village events.
The main findings for the LCC were:
Hall satisfaction ratings were all in the range 7/10 to 10/10. About 23% of survey respondents used the hall for events, but very few used it regularly.
Suggested ideas for improvement were:
- More classes/talks/clubs, especially in the evenings (eg. history, geography, languages, art, mother & baby, exercise, music, nature group)
- Café/club for older people
- Easier disabled access (eg. electric access door, stairlift to committee room, more disabled parking)
- Resumption of cinema evenings
- Removal of cigarette butts outside
- Better communication of what is available at the hall (suggest list of events on a monthly basis to be included in the centre of the Newsletter as done in the Dedham Newsletter)
- More competitive prices
- Floors not always clean
- Toilet overhaul, disabled access completed
- A couple of additional medium size rooms
- More activities for the youth of the village

Any Other Business
Sue explained the background to her decision to retain the current LCC hiring contract for footballers using the changing rooms, rather than creating a consolidated single LPC/LCC contract as recently proposed by Tony Emms. This could be reviewed again prior to next season if requested with more notice.
Sue indicated that prior hall bookings made a re-start of the Community Café in September impractical. Sue will now propose an October date for the re-start. Action SA

Date of Next Meetings
Next Finance Committee Meeting: Monday 4th October, 7.30pm, Langham Community Centre Next Trustee Meeting: Thursday 28th October, 7.30pm, Langham Community Centre
How To Find Us
Langham Community Centre, School Rd, Langham, Colchester CO4 5PA
Get In Touch
07741 284132
LanghamCC@gmail.com
About Us
The Langham Community Centre was opened in June 1988 and has been serving local village residents and other commercial hirers ever since.

We are based at the heart of Langham Village, with easy access from the A12.
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