LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of a Trustee Meeting held on 30th May 2024
at Langham Community Centre.
Present
Alan Cadman, Martin Bottwood, Carol Grime, Bob Schofield, Liz Winter, Rob Clark, David Druitt, Charlotte Parker, Stuart Rudge, Maureen Shouksmith, Elizabeth Schofield, Cath Hine, Raynor Sumner, Colin Parker and Emma Stevens.
Apologies for Absence
Denise Hobday, Sallie West.
Alan welcomed everyone, especially the new faces.
Item 4 on the Agenda was taken first.
Matters arising from the AGM:
a) Co-option of Trustees
Five volunteers were standing for co-option:
Liz Schofield – had been asked to stand again for her useful local knowledge.
Maureen Shouksmith – to continue as Bank signatory until Carol Grime is on the mandate.
Raynor Sumner )
Cath Hine ) volunteers
Colin Parker )
David Druitt proposed and Martin Bottwood seconded that all five should be co-opted. All were in favour.
b) New Commercial and Marketing Manager
Alan welcomed Emma Stevens to her first Trustee meeting and confirmed that he would email her contract to begin on 1st June.
To approve the Minutes of the Trustee Meeting held on 28th March 2024.
The minutes had already been circulated and agreed by Trustees. A minor amendment to the date of the recent Pylon meeting was made and Alan signed the minutes.
Matters Arising
These had been dealt with at the Finance Committee meeting on 13th May, minutes of which had recently been circulated to all Trustees.
Developer Contributions – Section 106 and Unilateral Undertakings
For the benefit of new Trustees, Martin repeated that S106 payments are not collectible from the Springfield Farm project as, under the latest government legislation, “Prior Approval” applications for farm building conversions in the countryside which deliver five or fewer properties, will be exempt. Martin is pressing Colchester City Council on the matter but they too are concerned about where this will lead, bearing in mind the number of derelict farm buildings in and around the village.
Charlotte raised the subject of the extension of the Pre-School outdoor area, having expected representatives of the Pre-School to be present. Alan said that Maria had changed her plans and he and Martin agreed that they need to see a plan of the final proposed layout to work out whose land and how large an area it would occupy.
Stuart asked what was happening with regard to a further tennis court or multi-use games area (MUGA). Martin explained that the plans for the MUGA had been put on hold whilst an evaluation of cricket returning to the Recreation Ground was considered. This was necessary due to the potential impact of cricket safety fencing on the tennis courts and MUGA. It has now been decided that cricket is not viable, following a ball striking survey undertaken which recommended a13-metre-high safety fence around parts of the field. However, the next Recreation Ground meeting will pursue the provision of the MUGA.
Any Other Business
i) Removal of Finance Minutes from LCC website: These are not generally made public and the Trustees agreed that they should no longer be displayed on the website. The Secretary would ask Paul Armstrong, who currently updates the site for us, to remove them.
ii) Carol Lloyd has not unblocked the LCC phone nor given us access codes and passwords for SAGE. Emma will see if she can gain access and, in any case, would wish to alter our email address so that emails cannot be read by Carol Lloyd. Alan may have to speak to Carol since she is not co-operating.
Date of next meetings
The next Finance Meeting will be held on Monday 24th June 2024 in the Club Room at 7.30pm.
The next Trustee Meeting will be held on Thursday 18th July 2024 in the Club Room at 7.30pm.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.50 pm.
N.B. For the information of new Trustees I attach the terms of reference of the Finance Committee, adopted at a Trustee meeting on 19th January 2017 as amended at a Trustee meeting on 20th July 2017.
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