CPC September 2021 Minutes
MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY PAVILION SUB-COMMITTEE HELD ON SEPTEMBER 30TH 2021
Venue: home of Trevor & Carole Batten
Present: Cllr Trevor Batten, Cllr Carole Batten, Cllr Mike Pears, Cllr Shane Chapman. All members of the committee were present.
The meeting commenced at 7.00 p.m.
1. Election of Chairman.
Cllr Pears proposed Cllr Trevor Batten as Chairman of this sub-committee. Cllr Chapman seconded. Approved unanimously.
2. Current state of the project.
Cllr Trevor Batten gave an update on the current finances of the project. No funding had been obtained so far as all the organisations he had contacted had indicated that they were currently only providing funds for Covid related projects. He also informed the committee that he did not know the current price of completing the project as building prices had risen considerably since the Covid shutdown – possibly as much as 40% higher. It was agreed that the cost was now likely to be around £160,000 or more – a rise of around 40% on the initial costing of£118,000. The Committee agreed that it was now urgent that we obtain an accurate quotation for the cost of the project under present circumstances.
It was pointed out that having “Charitable Status” for the scheme might give the council the opportunity of adding an extra 25% “gift aid” to any donations. The Chairman pointed out that he had discovered that the previous Pavilion Committee had not obtained such status despite trying to do so and it was unlikely therefore that this would be possible now.
Cllr Pears then expressed an opinion that it now seemed very unlikely that this scheme would be able to proceed in its present form for the foreseeable future due to high cost and lack of funding. It was pointed out that when the public had voted in the Parish Survey they had done so on the basis that the maximum they would be asked to fund, and pay extra for, would be a £95,000 loan at an approximate rise in the precept of £13 per household. This therefore implied that on our estimated building cost we had to raise at least another £50,000 in donated funding for the project to remain viable and at the present time this seemed unlikely. We currently have approx, £15,000 in previously raised funds.
Cllr Pears then gave details of a “Plan B” for the scheme that came with the high probability of some donated funding. He reminded the committee that the Parish Council had previously had discussions with a local Charitable Trust that had indicated that they might be willing to donate approximately £70,000 to the scheme. However, in order to do so, they had several mandatory design requirements for the scheme – the main one being a reduced size of about 70% of the original plans. At that time the Council felt that these changes were unacceptable and they voted to proceed with the original scheme in the hope of obtaining the necessary extra funding and the project was eventually approved for Planning Permission. It was understood that the £70,000 funding would not be made available and it would go to other deserving causes.
Due to his concern about the rapidly rising cost of the current design, and the apparent lack of donated funding, Cllr Pears went back to the Charitable Trust to enquire whether the £70,000 funding might still be available. It is. However, it still requires the previous changes in design. It was pointed out that the main changes that would be needed would be the reduction in size (as before) and the removal of showers from the design. Cllr Pears advocated that the sub-committee should seriously look at changing to accommodate these modifications in order to get the donated funding; he expressed a view that he didn’t think that the project in it’s present form was likely to progress and that the proposed donation was something that could not be ignored or rejected – whatever the cost in modifications.
A lively discussion then took place over a considerable time with differing views about making changes. Several members of the sub-committee expressed their view that they could not understand the reasoning behind the limitations being placed on the design by the Trust as it didn’t make any sense to them and they couldn’t understand why the funding was not available for the larger building. It was agreed that we should seek further clarification about this. The principal objection to making changes was about showers. The Chairman and Cllr Chapman were very strongly of the opinion that we had to have showers installed in the building to enable adult teams to perhaps use the facility in the future. They also pointed out that showers were a pre-requisite for obtaining any funding from Sports Organisations. Cllr Pears took the view that we shouldn’t be risking losing the opportunity of receiving £70,000 for the sake of trying to satisfy any possible future users who are currently non-existent. Cllr Carole Batten expressed her views, being sympathetic to both sides of the argument but agreeing that we should not be ultimately losing the opportunity of obtaining the money on offer. Cllr Pears pointed out that we couldn’t “sit on the fence” over this funding as it was clearly going to go elsewhere soon if we did nothing about getting it.
Eventually it was agreed to adopt a set of actions and put these as a recommendation for approval by the full P.C. Committee at the next meeting:
1. The Chairman will seek to quickly obtain a new costing for the existing building plan that has planning approval. This figure to be known before the P.C. meeting on October 11th 2021.
2. The Chairman and Cllr Chapman will make every effort to quickly obtain external funding for the existing building.
3. Cllr Pears will have further discussions with the Charitable Trust to obtain more details of it and to seek more clarification about the restrictions being requested on the design. He will try to get approval for showers being installed within the smaller plan. It was agreed that to comply with “Money Laundering Regulations” we need to have, in writing, more information about the source of this money.
4. It was agreed that if showers could be added to the smaller plan (3 on each side in one area) the Sub Committee would be minded to “agree in principle” to the changes required subject to further discussions about minor modifications.
5. We need to obtain an accurate detailed costing of the smaller plan. Our Architect apparently has the plan for this so this would be pursued.
6. Cllr Chapman was keen to pursue the possibility of doing Crowd Funding and he will investigate this further with “GoFundMe” etc.
7. We need to check whether we need to have separate designated toilets for Males and Females.
8. It was agreed that we do not want to waste people’s time by prevaricating over these schemes for a long time. We are conscious of the need to establish a deadline for progress but are also aware of the delays being caused by Covid with regard to obtaining funding. Cllr Pears will try to negotiate an extended period for the Trust’s offer while attempts continue to obtain funding for the existing larger scheme. However the sub-committee are mindful of the fact that at some point in the coming months a decision may have to be made by the full Parish Council committee about whether they wish to make the amendments necessary in order to receive the Trust’s £70,000 donation.”
The next meeting of the Sub Committee was set for Thursday November 4th at 7.00 p.m. at the same venue. The meeting closed at 10.20 p.m.