Agenda and minutes

To record the names of apologies given

Apologies for the meeting were noted as above.

To receive any disclosure of interests from Members and Officers in matters to be discussed.

Note: Councillors are reminded of their obligations to declare disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and/or prejudicial interests in accordance with legislation and the Council’s Code of Conduct.

If you require advice, please contact the appropriate Democratic Services Officer, prior to the meeting.

Councillors Hiscock and Tod each declared a non-pecuniary interest concerning agenda items that may be related to their role as a County Councillor.

That the minutes of the meeting be signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on the 24 November 2020 be approved and adopted.

The Chairperson clarified that a statement made at a recent full council meeting may have indicated that the Town Forum was an unelected body. She wished to record that all members of the forum were elected councillors.

To receive and note the questions asked and statements made from members of the public on issues relating to the responsibility of this Forum.

Members of the public and visiting councillors may speak at the Forum, provided they have registered to speak three working days in advance. Please contact Democratic Services by 5pm on 22 January 2021 via democracy@winchester.gov.uk or (01962) 848 264 to register to speak and for further details.

Two members of the public addressed the forum regarding the report “North Walls and King George V (KGV) Sports Pavilions Update Report”, ref WTF295 and their comments are summarised under the agenda item below.

The Strategic Planning Manager provided the forum with a presentation regarding the “Strategic Issues and Priorities Consultation” which had been circulated to members before the meeting and was available on the council's website. The presentation described key relevant issues such as; the new local plan website; the local plan process and gave some detail of the consultation including engagement plans and the “call for sites” exercise.

Members asked several questions and comments were raised which were responded to by officers accordingly. Finally, it was confirmed that the deadline for the response to the consultation was the 12^th April 2021 and members of the forum were encouraged to both take part and to encourage others to also do so.

(Report reference WTF293)

Report ref WTF293

Councillor Porter, Cabinet Member for Built Environment and Wellbeing introduced the report which asked the forum to consider Handbook 3 of the Vision and recommended that the suite of documents (Handbooks, 1, 2 and 3) be adopted as the new Vision for Winchester for the next ten years.

Members welcomed the report and the wider Vision work and looked forward to seeing the next steps taken, including how the Vision could be used within the development of the local plan. Several questions and comments were raised which were responded to by officers accordingly.

RESOLVED:

That the Winchester Town Forum adopts the suite of documents (Handbook, 1, 2 and 3) as the ‘Vision for Winchester’

(Report reference WTF295)

Report ref WTF295

Mr Higgs addressed the forum on behalf of Winchester City Flyers, an all-women’s football club based at King George V (KGV) playing fields and also on behalf of the Hampshire Girls Youth Football League (HGYFL). Mr Higgs made several points; he was pleased to see that the issue of a replacement Pavilion at KGV had been included in the report and he was encouraged by the initial plans provided. He believed that the growth in women’s football would continue and he asked if an indicative timetable for delivery of a new pavilion could be provided.

Mr Caldwell, a Trustee of The Pavilion Project addressed the forum. He advised that the Pavilion Project welcomed the report and the opportunity that the report provided to re-examine the construction costs to enable the project to be delivered within budget. Mr Caldwell welcomed the establishment of a project board as described in the report. Finally, he drew to the forum’s attention, what he believed was a miscalculation in the report in paragraph 12.2 regarding the size of the pavilion "footprint" and associated costings.

The Chairperson thanked Mr Higgs and Mr Caldwell for their contributions.

Mr Botham, Strategic Director Services introduced the report and gave the forum a resume of the key stages of the project which included the report to the January 2020 meeting of the Town Forum, ref WTF 278 and the work undertaken as a result. Mr Botham set out the current position as below:

North Walls Pavilion - The report updated the forum on the progress of the returned tender evaluation and that the lowest return exceeded the approved budget by £150,000. It updated on the “value engineering” work undertaken by the appointed external architect and the Council’s Estates Team. Finally, the report set out options for the delivery of a new pavilion, including amending existing designs or considering a full redesign of the proposals.

King George V Pavilion - The report identified the work undertaken by officers and consultants, it outlined the scope of the proposed works and detailed the estimated cost of £1.4m. It also identified the next steps to progress to the submission of a planning application for the demolition of two pavilions and the formation of a single, larger pavilion and made recommendations for funding the project.

Mr Todd, Corporate Property Surveyor responded to the points raised by Mr Caldwell regarding paragraph 12.2 of the report.

Councillor Learney, Cabinet Member for Housing and Asset Management addressed the forum and following this, members debated the issues at length and raised several questions and comments which were responded to by officers accordingly.  Members indicated general support for the report. The Chairperson put the following recommendations to the forum which were agreed.

RECOMMENDED (TO CABINET):

That Cabinet gives authority to incur expenditure of pre-construction costs of up to £30,000 in accordance with Financial Procedure Rule 7.4, financed by the Open Space monies in recommendation 6 and that this work proceeds at financial risk to the Town Forum.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

(Report Reference: WTF292)

Report ref WTF292

The Finance Manager (Strategic Finance) introduced the report which updated Members regarding the current financial projections for the Town Account for the period 2020/21 to 2026/27. The Finance Manager (Strategic Finance) advised that the Town Accounts Informal Group had met three times as part of this process and that the conclusions of those meetings were contained within the report. Member’s attention was drawn to the recommendations within the report and paragraphs 11.8 through to 11.14 which gave an overview of the forum’s budget.   Finally, members were informed that a further report regarding grant allocations would be brought to a future meeting of the forum.

The forum asked questions and raised comments which were addressed by officers accordingly. The forum agreed to the following for the reasons set out above and outlined in the report.

RESOLVED:

That the Town Forum;

1.                  Recommends that the Council Tax precept for the Town area be increased by 3% for 2021/22;

2.                  Recommends to Cabinet the budget for the Town area for 2021/22 be set in accordance with Appendix A of the report.

3.                  Approves an initial £10,000 budget, funded from the Town Community Infrastructure Levy, towards the Highcliffe Community Forum for Action to commence stage one of creating a living street environment. Also, to commit a further £26,412 from CIL, subject to a successful feasibility and identifying funding to complete the project;

Councillor Mather wished to record that she abstained on the first resolution above.

Optional: The Chairs of any of the informal groups may briefly update the Forum on any recent developments from their group.

Councillor Hutchison - High Street Informal Group.

Updated the forum regarding the latest work undertaken at St Maurices Covert and that a future meeting of the High Street Informal Group would be discussing the High Street lighting.

The Chairperson advised of the following changes to informal groups:

• Councillor Hutchison to leave the KGV Informal Group
• Councillor Hutchison to join the North Walls Informal Group

To note the current version of the Work Programme for 2020/21

RESOLVED:

                              i.    That the March meeting receive a verbal update regarding the Pavilions project and wider KGV consultation work.

                            ii.    The current version of the work plan was noted