Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Commitee Room M72, Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London, E14 2BG
Contact: Zoe Folley, Democratic Services Tel: 020 7364 4877, E-mail: zoe.folley@towerhamlets.gov.uk
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Councillor Ohid Ahmed, Deputy Mayor took the Chair. |
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Mayor Rahman and Councillors Rabina Kahn, Oliur Rahman and Rofique Ahmed.
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST PDF 48 KB To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992. See attached note from the Chief Executive.
Minutes: No Declarations of personal or prejudicial interest were made.
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UNRESTRICTED MINUTES PDF 56 KB To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 20th July 2011. Minutes: The minutes were presented for approval. Members considered the minutes and asked for the following information:
It was agreed that a report would be presented by officers on the above matters at the next meeting
RESOLVED
That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 20th of July 2011 be deferred.
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REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION |
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At the request of Councillor Rania Kahn, the Chair agreed to vary the order of business. Accordingly, agenda item 4.2 “King George’s Fields Charitable Trust Powers and Duties” was considered as the first business item. Following this, the agenda order was resumed.
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King George's Fields Charitable Trust Annual Accounts, 2010/2011(KGFCB 003/1112) PDF 92 KB To approve the annual accounts of the King George’s Field Mile End and King George’s Field Tredegar Square charities for the 2010/2011 financial year prior to submission to the Charity Commissioners. Additional documents:
Minutes: The item was considered as the second business item. Stephen Adams, Finance and Resources Manager presented the report circulated at agenda item 4.1 which set out the annual financial accounts for the King George's Fields Charities of Mile End and Tredegar Square. Appendix 1 set out how monies had been spent, governance arrangements, and objectives.
In response to questions from the Board of the following information was provided:
o Regarding what monies were presently available, Councillor Asad was informed that the books were balanced. All income generated was spent on the Charity’s parks.
o Concerning expenditure for salaries, the Finance and Resources Manager Resources confirmed that no single employee had earned more than £60,000 in the financial year. The sum indicated in the reconciliation was a total figure.
o Concerning why the boundaries of the charity had been extended from the original area in Stepney Green to Mile End Park. He was informed that part of the understanding when the park had been built was that money generated would be used for the park.
o Concerning why income generated at Mile End was not used for the Stepney Green Tredegar Square, he was informed that both were administered as separate charities. The charity for Tredegar Square did not generate its own income. The Council provided one quarter of the funds to maintain Mile End site and all of the monies for the maintenance of Tredegar Square (Stepney Green).
Councillor Asad noted that there was greater need of monies at the Tredegar Square site and suggested a review of funding be undertaken. He also proposed that the charities be combined and was advised that this would require an application to the Charity Commissioners. There would also be legal fees that need to be paid by the Trust. The Board was advised that monies that monies spent for Trust purposes would need to be taken from the Trust’s funds. Councillor Asad asked Legal Services to research theproposal to combine the Mile End and Tredegar Square charities and report back.
Action Jill Bell, Head of Legal Services – Environment
o The Chair requested details of sums in the ‘other incomes and other services categories’ and of the ‘£365,000 public realm’ contribution. He was advised that shop closures because of the recession had impacted negatively on the budget; these had now been mostly completed and it was expected that there would be more settled leases (going forward). In turn, this would mean that less support was necessary from the Council. Additionally, as the new rentals tended to be corporate chains the shop units were expected to generate a more steady income.
o The Chair requested a discussion paper be brought to the next meeting around a proposal to merge the Mile End and Tredegar Square charities.
Action Jill Bell, Head of Legal Services – Environment
o Concerning details of ... view the full minutes text for item 4.1 |
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King George's Fields Charitable Trust Powers and Duties (KGFCB 004/1112) PDF 112 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: The Finance and Resources Manager presented the report circulated at agenda item 4.2. This informed the Board of the composition of the charitable Trust, its history, the current governance arrangements, the specific powers of the Council as a trustee of the charity, and the properties managed by the trustees.
In discussion the Board members raised the following matters:
· Square footage measurements of the each of the shop premises was missing from the report. It was agreed that a breakdown of the measurements of each shop unit would be provided.
Action Stephen Adams, Finance and Resources Manager
· Whether rents were market tested; and whether there was a break clause in the lease. The Board was informed that to ensure that the Council's best negotiating hand lease rates were reviewed after five years. Commercial agents were appointed to carry out rent reviews and different companies were used for different premises. The Finance and Resources Manager confirmed that a mezzanine was included as part of the rentable area. Councillor Shahed Ali noted that where there a building had potential for a mezzanine floor it would affect the rateable value therefore he requested that details of the square footage of each shop unit in shell form be provided and confirmation whether storage and waste facilities were included in the rateable value and lease.
Action Stephen Adams, Finance and Resources Manager
The Board was informed that different rent review processes were used for different types of premises.
· Councillor Shahed Ali also made the following enquires:
o Concerning the company which held the lease at 389 Mile End Road, Councillor Ali asked on what date the company had gone into administration. The Board was advised that this occurred 18 months ago. After it had gone into administration, the assets were realised and the lease was assigned to another party. Councillor Ali asked if this affected the lease for the property that was to have been reviewed and was informed that this would be investigated and a written answer provided to the Board.
Action – Jill Bell, Head of Legal Services – Environment
o He enquired when the rent review for premises No 389 would be re-instated and was advised that there had been negotiation with a new firm of surveyors and a lease review agreement was now with this new firm.
o He enquired about the date at which the rent review at 554 Mile End Road had started and was advised that the review could not be started before the rent review date (14th of July 2012) however it could be started after this time and would be backdated to the review date.
o He requested the rental history of all the leases to investigate consistency of patterns of rentals achieved. The information was required to enable comparisons of each of the premises.
Action Stephen Adams, Finance and Resources Manager
o Councillor Ali asked Officers to clarify the arrangements for letting of the vacant premises at 558 Mile End Road, the Head of ... view the full minutes text for item 4.2 |
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ANY OTHER NON RESTRICTED BUSINESS WHICH THE CHAIR CONSIDERS TO BE URGENT Minutes: Nil items.
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EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC In view of the contents of the remaining items on the agenda the Committee is recommended to adopt the following motion:
“That, under the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting for the consideration of the Section Two business on the grounds that it contains information defined as Exempt in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972.”
EXEMPT SECTION (Pink Papers)
The exempt committee papers in the agenda will contain information, which is commercially, legally or personally sensitive and should not be divulged to third parties. If you do not wish to retain these papers after the meeting, please hand them to the Committee Officer present. Minutes: RESOLVED
That press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the exempt minutes and agenda item "558, mile end road arrears", since the report contained information falling within paragraphs 1 and 2 and 3 of scheduled 12 A of the Local Government Act 1972. The categories defined were "one, information relating to an individual", "two, information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual" and " three, information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority handling the information)".
The public interest in favouring public access to local authority meetings is reflected in the provisions of part V A of the LGA 1972. However the reports contained information relating an individual and to the financial or business affairs of a tenant and the Trust in a commercial transaction still to be completed. The Board considered that in order to discharge its duty the items should only be considered in private.
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EXEMPT MINUTES To confirm as an accurate record of the proceedings the exempt minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 20th July 2011. Minutes: RESOLVED
That the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2011 be deferred.
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RESTRICTED REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION |
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558 Mile End Road arrear (KGFCB 005/1112) (To follow) Minutes: This item was considered in closed session.
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ANY OTHER RESTRICTED BUSINESS WHICH THE CHAIR CONSIDERS TO BE URGENT Minutes: Nil items.
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