Agenda and draft minutes

To elect a Chair for the remainder of the municipal year 2024/25.

Proposed by Cllr Sarah Williams and seconded by Cllr Janet Hewitt.

Decision: That Cllr Molly Rennie be elected as Chair.

To elect a Vice-Chair for the remainder of the municipal year 2024/25.

Proposed by Cllr Janet Hewitt and seconded by Cllr Stella Jones.

Decision: That Cllr Sarah Williams be elected as Vice-Chair.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence was received from Cllr Dave Bolwell.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 31 January 2024.

The minutes of the last meeting held on 31 January 2024 were confirmed and signed.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or personal interest as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct.  In making their decision councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made at the meeting.

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work, or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit either 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting. The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  Further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council

All submissions must be emailed in full to Joshua.kennedy@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 08:00am Friday 5 July 2024.

When submitting your question(s) and/or statement(s) please note that:

·       You can submit 1 question or 1 statement.

·       A question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.

·       It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted.

·       Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to 3 minutes to present your question.

·       When submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g., the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder). 

·       Include your name, address, and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting.

·       Questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda. 

·       All questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.   

There were no public questions or statements.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items raised at the meeting.

To receive an update on the Fairfield Road project from the Principal Transport Planner.

A verbal update on the progress of the Fairfield Road project was provided by the Principal Transport Planner. A summary of the works that had been completed to date was provided and the Principal Transport Planner discussed the aims of the improvement works, which were hoping to be started once full funding had been secured for the works.

In response to questions from members, the Principal Transport Planner assured the panel that the planting would be low maintenance and that archaeological surveys would be completed, if digging was required for the works.

To consider a report from the Dorchester Town Council, Town Clerk.

The Dorchester Town Council Town Clerk provided a brief verbal update on the status of the Dorchester Artisan Market, that had taken place on a monthly basis since April and had been successful. There was a plan in place to gradually increase the number of traders at the market due to its success.

To update on the fund and to agree the appointments to the Panel responsible for allocating funds in 2024/25.

Proposals were made by Cllrs Stella Jones and Sarah Williams to nominate Cllr Janet Hewitt from Dorchester Town Council and Cllr Sally Holland from Dorset Council to the Car Boot Grants Panel.

Decision: That Cllrs Molly Rennie, Sarah Williams, Janet Hewitt and Sally Holland make up the Car Boot Grants Panel.

To receive a verbal update from the Head of Community & Public Protection.

The Head of Community and Public Protection provided a verbal update on the status of the panel regarding the future operator of the Fairfield Market. The current contract with Ensors was set to run out in 2026 and the process was underway for establishing a new operator of the market to take over after the contract ends. Members were informed of the two options available to them, the first being Dorchester Town Council taking over operation of the market and the other being to seek open market procurement for a third party to operate the market.

Following previous meetings of the Panel where this issue had been discussed and members had expressed a preference for Dorchester Town Council operating the market, officers had been exploring the necessary route for this option.

The panel established a working group made up of the Chair, Vice-Chair and one member from each respective Council, to be decided following the meeting, to work with officers during this process.

To receive a report from the Senior Accountant.

The Senior Accountant presented the report for the budget outturn figures for 2023-24. It was explained that there was an overspend against the expenditure budget, due to higher than expected utility costs. There was also lower than expected income, due to shortfalls from the market and Sunday car boot. Income from Ensors was higher than the previous year, but still came in under budget. Members were informed that the reserve sums remained at a healthy level.

The panel approved of the budget outturn figures for 2023-24.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph x of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended). The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.

There are no exempt items scheduled for this meeting.

There was no exempt business.