Agenda and minutes

To sign as a correct record the minutes of the following meetings:

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meetings held on:

• 8 June 2022
• 17 August 2022

AGREED:

That the minutes be signed as a correct record.

Where a Councillor has a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest the Councillor must declare the interest to the meeting and leave the room without participating in any discussion or making a statement on the item, except where a Councillor is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of dispensation.

There were none.

To consider the Spalding Special Expenses 2022/23 Quarter 1 Forecast Outturn (report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development (S151) enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Development) and S151 which considered the Spalding Special Expenses Outturn for 2021-22 and Quarter 1 Forecast for 2022-23.

The Chairman expressed concern around the terminology used within the report and requested that future reports included further commentary to explain the function of each area of the Spalding Special Expenses budget.

The Assistant Director – Finance attended the meeting and confirmed that further narrative would be given under each budget heading within the next report to explain the functions they performed. The following points were noted within the report:

• The outturn presented was for the financial year ending on 31^st March 2022 and included a £26,000 contribution towards Spalding Cemetery improvements.
• The Q1 position for the current financial year was relatively unchanged from the set budget as work was ongoing to assess the impact of the inflationary cost of living on future budgets.
• Commentary included within future reports would contain any assumptions that had been made over cost pressures.

Members raised the following points:

• The Christmas decorations budget was of concern as to whether it was sufficient and where additional funds could be accessed if required.
  • Officers responded to confirm that the Spalding Special Recreation budget line included an £800 Chairman’s contingency budget which could be transferred to the decorations budget if needed.
  • A written response would be requested of the manager responsible for the Christmas decorations budget to clarify the budget setting and maintenance for Christmas decorations.

• What did the unused £6,000 agency budget within Ayscoughfee Leisure refer to and did this money get carried over into the 2022/23 budget?
  • Officers confirmed that the £6,000 referred to a budget provision that had not been used by 31^st March 2022 and was moved into the Spalding Special Expenses reserves budget line.

• Members agreed with the Chairman’s comments regarding the language used within the report and the need for further commentary to be included in future reports.

• What did the budget lines included within the ‘Subjective Analysis’ column refer to?
  • Officer explained that the terminology used within that column of the report were generic finance terms for classifications of financial expenditure and that further commentary pertaining to this terminology would be included within future reports.

An update on the Town Centre Improvement Plan has been enclosed at this agenda item and the Assistant Director – Strategic Growth and Development will be in attendance to answer the Forum’s questions on the update provided.

The Assistant Director – Strategic Growth and Development gave a brief update on the Town Centre Improvement Plan and highlighted the following key points:

• High Street Business Support Programme had supported businesses with online marketing and improving online presence
• Independent Businesses Promotion would be rolled out again in the lead up to Christmas via videos shared on social media
• Grants support for Businesses had been provided and it was hoped that this would continue in the future with further funding.
• Work had been undertaken with Visit Lincolnshire to assist with attracting visitors to Spalding.
• The recent Pumpkin Festival had been well received along with other events throughout the year and it was hoped that this would be built upon for the upcoming Christmas events.

Some strategic work had also taken place:

• Formed a stronger partnership with businesses and looked at the feasibility of a Business Improvement District.
• National Lottery Heritage funding of £250,000 had been sought to set up a wayfinding trail for visitors and also a Riverside Trail to make use of the River Welland as a town centre asset.
• A relationship had started to build between the Council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund to enable the Council access to larger funds in the future.
• An Arts Council bid had been submitted for Ayscoughfee Hall which would hopefully bring £1m into Spalding over 3 years to deliver cultural activity which in turn would help to increase footfall into the town centre.
• A Levelling Up fund bid of £20m had been submitted for the regeneration of the Castle Sports site with a focus on Health and Wellbeing. The bid was underpinned by the idea that the investment would diversify and strengthen the town’s offer and would also include funds to support cycling and foot connectivity into the town centre.

Members raised the following points:

• There was a degree of frustration among residents that there did not appear to be a great deal of activity on the ground. It was key that residents understood what actions were taking place.

• In regard to Abbey Passage, consideration should be given to whether it would be appropriate to gate the passage overnight as any improvements done could be quickly destroyed.

• It was pleasing that inward investment was occurring in the town centre. Was there any progress in regard to businesses opening at later times and on Sundays?
  • Officers confirmed that the idea had been discussed at the business sub-group. There were more businesses within the town centre that were opening for further hours at the weekend, but other businesses needed to have confidence that they would be able to generate footfall if opening for extra hours.

• Were there any plans to improve the safety of people in the town centre, such as enforcing the TRO?
  • Officers confirmed that a report was scheduled to go to the next meeting of Cabinet to set up a group to look at access issues within the town centre. A lot of background work with the County Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

The Community Safety and Enforcement Manager and the Boston CCTV Manager will be in attendance to give an overview of the new CCTV cameras that have been installed in Spalding and the benefits of the cameras.

The Community Safety and Enforcement Manager and the CCTV Manager attended the meeting to give an overview of the new CCTV cameras that had been installed in Spalding and the benefits of the new cameras, which highlighted the following key points:

• The South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership worked with the Police and Crime Commissioners office to secure funding through round 4 of the Government’s Safer Street Fund which had a primary focus on the protection of women and girls from violence, and feelings of safety.
• The bid came after the PCC Youth Commission engaged with 1000 young people who had identified sexual harassment and street harassment as the biggest threats to their safety.
• Street harassment and stalking were also raised as issues at public engagement events undertaken by the Safer Together team.
• The funding has enabled the creation of ‘Safe Zones’ as routes that had blanket CCTV coverage from nightclubs and public houses to all recognised ranks, bus stops and pick up points.
• The new cameras were in the same or very similar positions as the previous cameras and each location had one roving camera and four static cameras.
• Work was still being completed and signage updated to reflect the new Safe Zones.
• The funding would also provide for the installation of new Artificial Intelligence servers to enable police officers to search footage quickly using details such as clothing descriptions and vehicle type.
• The cameras were still being used in the same manner as the previous cameras until new uses had been approved by the Data Protection Officer.

Members raised the following points:

• The cameras would lead to crime reduction and prevention and while it would be difficult to put figures to this, they would help people to feel safer and also assist with the evening economy.

• Could the cameras be used to assist with traffic enforcement?
  • Officers explained that it was possible to use the new features for that purpose in the long-term.
  • The server could recognise a vehicle number plate, but it was not connected to a Police ANPR database so would not be able to identify the owner of the vehicle. That process would need to be handed over to the Police.

• Did the cameras have communication capabilities?
  • Officers confirmed that this function was not enabled.

• It was disappointing that the communication capability had not been enabled as a CCTV operator would be able to communicate directly with a person at risk
  • Officers responded to say that was a very different role to what the cameras currently performed, and a wider discussion with the Data Protection Officer would need to take place for that capability to be enabled.

• Had the safe spaces for young women been advertised?
  • Officers explained that the installation was an eighteen-month long project across different areas within the Partnership and that Spalding had been the first area of the 3 councils within the S&ELCP where new cameras had been installed.
  • New signage would be installed, in addition to current signage, to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

The Chairman of the Forum will provide an update on the progress of the Spalding Float for the 2023 Spalding Flower Parade.

The Chairman of the Forum provided an update on the Spalding Flower Parade Float which highlighted the following points:

·         The date of the parade had been moved to Saturday 13^th May 2023 due to a clash with His Majesty King Charles III’s coronation to be held on Saturday 6^th May.

·         He had received a quote from Stephen Timewell, the parade organiser, to build a float on Spalding Town Forum’s behalf but the Chairman had gone back to Stephen to confirm a few further details of the quote before this figure could be discussed.

·         A trailer had been offered for use by Councillor Henry Bingham.

·         Following conversations with Stephen Timewell it was envisaged that the Forum would be funding the South Holland Ambassadors float.

·         He asked Councillor Cronin to take a lead on working with Stephen Timewell on moving the project forward financially which Councillor Cronin agreed to do.

Members raised the following points:

•  Was one of the original floats not being used?
  • The Chairman explained that a frame was needed to attach the knitted flowers to, and the float would also use a previous float’s Crown structure to include tributes to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the late Councillor Newton.

The Chairman had two items to discuss with the Forum:

• He had received a lovely email from a representative of the Spalding Lithuanian Community who had asked if they could decorate the town’s Christmas Tree.
  • He had responded to them to say that it was a brilliant idea, and that they were more than welcome to do so with the assistance of the Council’s Communities Team.
• He had also received a call regarding setting up a Community Speed Watch group in Spalding
  • The Chairman explained that as Spalding did not have a town council it would be difficult to set up a Community Speed Watch group due to the Forum not having its own budget to purchase the devices or the ability to store the devices.

• Members enquired as to whether there was the intention to work with the Police to enable a group to be set up in Spalding via a different process.

·         The Chairman explained that the difficulty would relate to who would store the devices once purchased.

·         He added that Members were welcome to look further into the issue and report back to the Forum at their next meeting.