Agenda and minutes

Dan Harper

Apologies were received from Alex Clegg, Matt Bowker, Councillor Abi Moore, Councillor Wendy Cain, John Healey MP, Colin Buxton and PS Paul Aston.

Dan Harper

Dan Harper advised that only one nomination for chair was received. The board was asked to endorse Matthew Stephens for chair.

Decision: Matthew Stephens has been elected by voting members.

Dan harper advised that there were no nominations for vice chair and therefore requested for nominations so this could be discussed at the October board meeting.

Action: add Vice Chair to October agenda.

Chair

Matthew Stephens welcomed the new members to the town board – Tim Coleman, Stacey Chaplin, and Stephanie Peacock MP. Also extends a welcome to the new project managers, Wendy Hepple and Josh Clough.

Rachael Allington

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 06/07/2023 were accepted as a true record.

Actions from previous meetings and matters arising:

Becca Gamble confirmed that the discussion regarding Boundary change has been followed up with the Boundary Commission. The changes will not take effect until after the next election and so it has been confirmed with John Healey’s office that he will continue to attend until then, and Stephanie Peacock has been invited as a non-voting member as she is the MP on the current area affected by the changes.

Town Plan Update

Key decisions / items for escalation to board

Project D: Escalation: The SYMCA business case has been approved in principle by SYMCA, there are a number of funding streams available, and the actual pot has yet to be determined.

Project D: Housing

Action: Julie to arrange Housing Needs Assessment appointments as part of the acquisitions process, Berneslai Homes to also attend the appointments.

Update - Looking to start making appointments in August 2023.

Project H: Heart of Goldthorpe

Action: Teresa to provide Matthew Stephens with updated information for circulation via the Chamber of Commerce.

Update: Matthew Stephens has been provided the business grant information – he will circulate it to his contacts.

Action: Teresa to update elected members re: theft of diesel on Heart of Goldthorpe site and its implications.

Update: Members have been updated.

Communications

Action: FAQs to be reviewed by PMs and updates provided to Mike.  Becca to meet Mike next week to discuss how to feed back to board. 

Update: The website and FAQs linked to it are now up to date. Mike will show this to board and invite them to feedback any questions which need adding to the FAQ.

Any Other Business

Action:  Conduct of board members is to be added to agenda for August board.

Update: Item 7 has been updated to Governance and Project Sponsorship.

Action: Becca to link with principal Towns regarding engaging Colin Buxton and the newsagent near him being engaged.

Update - discussed with Rachel Harban, Becca visited Colin on 09/08/2023.

Chair

Claire Dawson - Embankment

Rachael Allington/Project Leads

A presentation was shared for board members only which summarised the scope of each individual Goldthorpe Towns Fund project. Questions raised and points of clarification are noted below.

Project D:

Action: James to share papers with board re: Feasibility Design Plans for the Goldthorpe Housing Project along with a request that feedback is received by 23/08/2023

Matthew Stephens requested clarification regarding what ‘Homezone’ is. Alison clarified for board members.

Alison provided updates re: strategic acquisitions and property valuations.

Project F:

Question from Stacey Chaplin: Queried the connections to energy network as there are various feasibility studies for heat network, have these been explored?

Response from Helen Kramer: No these haven’t at this stage.

Action: Stacey and Land Trust to have a meeting to discuss.

Project G:

Question from Cllr Dorothy Coates: Are replacement of the blue gates to side of the Dearne Playhouse being considered as part of the project?

Response from Rachael: Options will be considered as part of stage 3 of project, will give updates when this stage commences.

Project H:

Question from Claire Dawson: requested details of the organisations consulted regarding the selfie boards trail.

Response from Teresa: Extensive consultation has taken place with representatives from the Playhouse, Phoenix Park, the Renaissance centre, Scouts and Rainbows, and the salvation army amongst others.

Action: Teresa and Claire to have a meeting next week to pick this discussion up.

Matthew Stephens requested clarification of the timescales to deliver the Towns Funds Projects.

Response from Dan: Dan Harper Confirmed that the delivery deadline for the Towns Fund projects is March 2025.

Question from Claire Dawson: what happens if any project underspends? Can it be reallocated to another project?

Response from Rachael Allington: Confirmed that the overall budgets are fairly balanced at the minute, however the DLUHC project adjustment process allows variances between 20-30% within the overall £23M allowance, anything above the % tolerance will need to go through appraisal again.

Question from Andy Lock: The announcement by Michael Gove suggests greater flexibility, how does this translate to practice to help support the officers?

Response from Justin Homer: As mentioned by Rachael, if projects are being delivered within the scope, you don’t have to go back to DLUHC if delivering within the 30% tolerance of spend or outputs. Hopefully this means there won’t be constant need to go back to DLUHC to prevent delays to delivery, this will also allow flexibility when going through different financial years.

Question from Matthew Stephens: Does this help with cost increases?

Response from Justin: It does, but does not increase the overall £23M allocation, there is no money funding from DLUHC to allow for cost increases, you would have to adjust internally.

Question from Chris Mcginley: Regarding road infrastructure, there was a mention of improvements in the presentation, but this doesn’t seem to extend further than new ES10 access roundabout. How will the road infrastructure sustain additional volume of traffic that will come from these projects. Already problems with areas such as the nearby bypass  ...  view the full minutes text for item 405.

Becca Gamble

Becca Gamble shared a presentation for board attendees only discussing Governance and project sponsorship.

Once all full sets of paperwork have been received from board members, a high-level summary to be published on the website.

Additional DLUHC guidance has been shared.

Stressed the importance of declaring of interests so mitigation actions can be taken.

Stressed importance of confidentiality of certain items discussed in board meetings.

Matthew Stephens wished to nominate Matt Bowker (gave apologies to this meeting) as a project sponsor for Housing due to his architectural background.

Action: Becca to extend the project invite to Matt Bowker following the meeting.

Question from Claire Dawson: Could newly elected council members have a dedicated briefing regarding the purpose of the Goldthorpe Town Board?

Cllr Coates: wishes to second the suggestion.

Response from Becca Gamble: Later agenda item for feedback from board for any questions that they may have/requests for greater involvement. This will be discussed under Any Other Business.

Question from Andy Lock: Is it worth introducing an induction process for any new board members to take them through the programme `need to knows' and governance arrangements?

Action: Becca Gamble to follow this up

Rachael Allington/Josh Jordan Clough

Project G Community & Cultural Hub Deep Dive – Rachael Allington

Rachael Allington and Josh Clough shared a presentation for board members only to provide a deep dive into the Community and Cultural Hub Project.

Question from Andy Lock: How do you want to manage our involvement in the future, is it worth setting up quick catch-up meetings?

Action: Josh to arrange meeting between Project G managers and sponsors.

Questions from Matthew Stephens: Is there any other means of funding such as national lottery as match funding?

Response from Rachael: Not as the moment other than section 106 previous funding bids prior to towns fund were unsuccessful., Jo Boardman is supporting the trustees with updating governance arrangements and business planning along with submitting a Heritage Lottery fund.

Andy Lock wishes to remind that CRT have contributed 5K to heart of wood project.

Question from Matthew Stephens: There are no solar panels on roof, are there opportunities to implement sustainability strategies?

Response from Rachael Allington: This was not factored into the roof replacement due to costs, which would have severely impacted on the internal refurbishment works.

Question from Matthew Stephens: What does the 1300 people footfall on the output slide relate to?

Response from Rachael Allington: This is the funding output of additional annual visitors to the welfare park area, not internal shows in the playhouse.

Question from Cllr Coates: Advised that there is an EDF funding pot available from South Yorkshire funding.

Also wished to support the Playhouse Board with extra governance support – is there a way to encourage wider participation in the Dearne?

Response from Rachael Allington: To ensure that the governance of the Playhouse board supported fully, the Towns fund grant agreement will be prepared and will include having one or more BMBC representatives on board, hopefully intime for the May 2024. 

Question from Tony Jamasb: With regards to the Welfare Park, there was a lot of talk about green space, are there any attempts to repair the paths/ roads in this area, and should these be included in the current plan?

Response from Rachael Allington: ThePlayhouse and Welfare Park have separate owners, Welfare Park sits on its own area so it is the same project but with different plans, these will be updated to reflect improvements to the roads and paths.

Mike Cotton

Mike Cotton provided an update on the FAQ updates on the website and how these are now organised.

Question from Matthew Stephens: Do we track interactions and do we still promote via social media such as LinkedIn?

Response from Mike Cotton: We do still do this at appropriate key milestones.

Justin Homer

Justin Homer shared an update with the new Comms/branding guidance for the team to be aware of.

Rebecca Slack

Question from Matthew Stephens: What has SYMCA allocated to the Housing projects?

Response from Sarah Cartwright: there is a £2.5 million pound ask, £360,000 has been allocated through brownfields funding which is being worked on now, SYMCA are looking at private rented sector and the new asks around retrofit, gone to chief execs and leaders to give green light. Probably will be consultation in sept/oct.

Question from Matthew Stephens What other initiatives are relevant point for SYMCA to feedback to the board?

Rachael/Rebecca Slack: Investment zone opportunity, Rebecca to feedback from SYMCA what the opportunity is.

Action: Rebecca slack to bring this to the next meeting.

Andy Lock suggested that a high-level presentation from SYMCA outlining the opportunities that might benefit the Dearne would be helpful for a future board meeting.

Action: SYMCA presentation to be added to the Forward Plan.

Rachael Allington

·       Dan Harper requested nominations for a vice chair, to be ratified at the next meeting.

·       Becca advised that she has discussed with Highstreet representative Colin Buxton regarding whether moving the time of the face-to-face meetings would assist business engagement with the Town Board. we were informed that his preference is on Teams. Becca confirmed to him that most are on Teams now so he advised he will still be able to attend ones that are on Teams.

Decision – Board agreed to keep the October one as face to face and the time to remain as 2pm.

·       Board development – It would be helpful to get Board input into what they would like to move forward, for example the induction for new members suggested. BMBC will write out for suggestions so that this can be an item next time.

Action – Write out to Board members for feedback and Add Board Development to October agenda.

Date of next meeting – Thursday 12th October 2023 14:00-16:00(Face to FaceVenue TBC)