Phone: 07741 284132
Email: LanghamCC@gmail.com
LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of a Finance Committee Meeting
held on 7th December 2020 at 7.30pm on Zoom

Present
Alan Cadman, Maureen Shouksmith, Paul Armstrong, Liz Schofield, Peter Dawson, Sue Armstrong.

Matters Arising from Finance Meeting on 26th Oct 2020
Flooring quotes & carpet specs
Agreed and approved by Trustee Meeting 19th Nov. Carpets & hard flooring being installed this week. Cold weather had led to a frantic call for mobile heaters to help cure the surface ‘screed’ prior to carpet laying. The work will hopefully still be completed by end of Thursday. All hirers have been briefed and can proceed with minimum disruption.
New water heaters maintenance schedule
In hand with Alan’s employee (Paul) who will liaise with Pre-School on exact timing. The Pre-school have 2 units plus an additional “instant flow” device. The Shop and LCC have one unit each.
Safe storage of manuals for water heating appliances
Maria is looking to see if the Pre-school retained a copy of the manual, but Hayley (currently on furlough) is most likely to know the current storage location. Paul agreed to check with Charlotte whether the Shop had retained a copy. Failing that, we can probably find manuals to download from online for reference storage in the old boiler room. More generally, Alan Maureen and Paul may all have older LCC boxfile archives that could usefully be stored there to free up domestic space. PA/AC/MS
Trustee review of Shop & Pre-School rent proposals
Discharged and agreed at the 19th Nov Trustee Meeting. Alan will send out the new contracts from our solicitors.
Trustee review of COVID hiring protocol proposals
Discharged and agreed at the 19th Nov Trustee Meeting.
Unexplained digging up of the LCC car park
Paul had phoned Anglian Water to seek information, and at the third attempt secured a formal call back reference from their networks team. Callback now awaited. Alan noted that he had not yet received a water meter reading this month – usually it arrives like clockwork around the 2nd of the month. Maureen will keep an eye out for the next water bill. PA/MS
Walking website ‘advertising’ of free parking
Paul’s googling has not identified any blatant mis-advertising of free parking in the LCC car park. He had found one Essex Life article promoting a circular walk from the LCC, but with no explicit mention of free parking.
Christmas Market
Following on from the Autumn Market, the Christmas Market on Sun 6th Dec had been a big success, well-attended and enjoyed by many villagers. Sue had advised Charlotte that there was no need to pay another contribution to the LCC, but Charlotte had insisted, so a further donation of £90 from stallholder fees will be passed on to us, in addition to the £100 from the Autumn Market. Peter was thanked for arranging car parking on the recreation field. All agreed that the Secretary should write a formal letter of thanks to Charlotte for organising these events and donating to LCC funds. PA
New Community Noticeboard
Peter was still in favour of a location under the security light between the two side windows of the shop. Maureen had looked at this location and now agreed with it too. There was some discussion about whether a Booker cage trolley might impede access and visibility there, but this is probably no longer an issue since the Shop now manages its own collections from Booker and the cage trolley is likely to be removed (or may already have been taken away).
Use of Zoom for Nov Trustee Meeting
This had worked successfully, thanks to Peter’s kind offer of his premium Zoom account. However, this may not be available for the Jan Trustee Meeting, as Peter has been called for jury service, so a fallback option needs to be put in place. PA

Future Electrical Quotation for Electrical Works
Sue ran through the elements and options from the quote. For the main hall lighting, the bulbs can be fixed or changeable. Changeable bulbs are heading towards obsolescence, but fixed bulbs run the risk of creating too bright an ambience for some events. Dimmable bulbs are probably not compatible with our old wiring. Peter suggested the idea of Perspex covers with changeable colour filters, which Sue agreed to investigate further, prior to agreement by email.
The new kitchen lighting quotation seemed very reasonable and was agreed for progression.
The repair of the two damaged CCTV units, together with ‘caging’ of all accessible units, was also agreed.
For the proposed new rear external floodlights, Chris Mackay had strongly advised against solar units as being not man enough for the job. He had proposed 2 PIR floodlights with a remote wifi controlled management app – to allow the floods to be disabled for parties/events/caravans etc. The units can be suitably tilted downwards to avoid causing glare to neighbours across the field. Liz and Alan proposed proceeding with this and the CCTV caging as demonstrable new security precautions to report to our insurers. All agreed.

Insurance Renewal Updated T&Cs
Alan had recently acquired an electronic version of the full new 40+ page T&Cs, and these have now been circulated to the Finance Group. Maureen and Paul had both managed a first quick read through, but a more thorough reading is still required. In particular, Paul will check for any specific alarm requirements ahead of the Alarm servicing visit on 14th Dec. PA/MS

County Broadband Rollout Delay
Sue reported the feedback she had received from County Broadband regarding “local authority” hold-ups, which sounded evasive. Meanwhile Gigaclear seem to be digging up lots of local roads. We will just have to wait and see how things pan out. In the meantime, Sue will check the status of our current broadband contract, which she thinks is just a rolling one month notice. SA

Chairman’s Report
Alan is still fighting to secure payment of our most recent £2.6k insurance claim, but our insurers seem very reluctant to pay out for the roof damage.
Our insurance renewal includes an RPI type adjustment to buildings & content values, which Maureen should carry forward into the financial accounts. MS

Treasurer’s Report
Maureen had circulated the November accounts in advance of the meeting and there were no specific questions on them. Excluding the one-off flooring costs, the November deficit was £979.78. Maureen is monitoring electricity usage since our switch from oil to electric heating. There has been no significant electricity usage uplift so far, but that may simply be down to the reduced hall usage during COVID.
Maureen reported that she had recently completed and submitted an application form for another potential COVID relief grant. If successful, this would be much smaller than the previous grant. Probably c. £2k. All thanked her for her work on this.

Marketing Manager’s Report
All had received and read Sue’s brief report. Unfortunately the recent electrical supply interruptions appear to have triggered the demise of the kitchen fire shutter battery, which cost £300 when last replaced in Feb 2019, and will probably be similar again.

Caravan Rallies Easter 2021 & 2022
East Essex Caravan Club would like to hold a sizeable long Easter weekend rally. Sue indicated the likely revenues of £1k for the LCC and £1k for the Parish Council, with additional benefits for the village shop and pub. The Parish Council have recently written to the Club declining to approve the booking. Peter explained that one of the main concerns was around the risk of excess sewage and potential blocking of the drains, with the large number (potentially 60) of caravans involved.
In response to a question from Liz, Peter confirmed that the 20/21 Parish Council budget includes a budgeted amount of £4.5k to install an Elsan unit that would provide improved drainage and washing facilities for future caravan rallies. However, in light of the pandemic, and the adverse impact on potential bookings, Peter felt it was hard to make the business case for the expenditure this year.
Maureen asked how long it would take to install the Elsan, if a decision to install it was approved. Peter thought less than a month. Paul asked what payback period the Parish Council would look for in order to approve the Elsan. Peter suggested maybe 3 years.
Peter reminded everyone that the Parish Council needed to be cautious when spending public money. Liz agreed, but felt this needed to be balanced against serving local community needs. She felt the caravan rally would be a lucrative opportunity for the village community.
Peter indicated that the Parish Council still needed to undertake further research to assess the legalities and regulations applicable to use of Parish Council land for large scale caravanning activities eg. licensing? access to water?
Sue asked how much longer this review might take, given the dependence on various Parish Council sub-committees meeting, and noting that the Parish Council had first been approached about this caravan rally back in mid September. Peter noted that any further review by the Parish Council would need to be considered by the Recreation Ground committee, the Finance committee and full Council.

Any Other Business
Alan asked what the prospects were for footballers to start returning to play matches on the recreation ground. Peter indicated that there was some potential interest from new teams, but he was also concerned about the risks of too much football annoying some of the local neighbours.

Date of Next Meetings
Next Finance Committee Meeting: TBC, but not required until sometime after the next full Trustee Meeting.
Next Trustee Meeting: Thursday 28th Jan 2021
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 9.25pm.
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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