Newton Abbot Town Council

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE AMENITIES COMMITTEE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 23rd JUNE 2010 AT 7.00 P.M. AT THE TOWN HALL, 9 DEVON SQUARE, NEWTON ABBOT

PRESENT Councillors M Hocking (Chairman) Presiding
    C Parker (Vice-Chairman) 
   
Councillors  Mrs J Avery
  Mrs C Bunday (Mayor)
  D Corney-Walker
    C Davieson
    D Howe
    Mrs L Lowes
    A D Vizor
    Mrs D Watts
    
In attendance:  Jane Baker and Fuad Al-Tawil of Transition Newton Abbot
    Prof. Malcolm Toft and Mr Rick Edwards from the Music Mill, Newton Abbot
 
    Samantha Scott – Office Administrator
    Sally Henley – Town Development Manager
    
      

67. ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN OF THE AMENITIES COMMITTEE 2010/11

Nominations were received for the election of the Chairman of the Amenities Committee for the year 2010/2011.

Accordingly it was

RESOLVED that Councillor Mike Hocking be elected as Chairman of the Amenities Committee for the year 2010/11

68. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor H. Cole

69. APPOINTMENT OF VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE AMENITIES COMMITTEE 2010/11

Nominations were received for the appointment of the Vice-Chairman of the Amenities Committee for the year 2010/2011.

 Accordingly it was

RESOLVED that Councillor Colin Parker be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Amenities Committee for the year 2010/2011.

70. MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting of the Amenities Committee held on 28th April 2010 were received and signed as a correct record

71. INTERESTS

None declared. 

   
72. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Jane Baker and Fuad Al-Tawil of Transition Newton Abbot gave a short presentation on the possibility of producing and erecting some sustainable sculptures within Newton Abbot.

Jane explained that Transition Newton Abbot were to erect five (initially) sustainable sculptures based on a design by artist Chris Amey. These were to be constructed from a tree that had recently been felled from a Church in Bovey Tracy.  It was hoped that these sculptures were to become synonymous with the Essential Conservation and Renewable Generation projects that were taking place in around Newton Abbot.

The Committee were handed maps of Newton Abbot and requested to place indicators onto the map as to where they felt would be the most appropriate locations for these sculptures to be situated.

Jane and Fuad explained further that the project had two phases and the second phase involved presenting further sculptures to local schools for them to customise in their own ways.

At the conclusion of the presentation the Committee asked questions on the following:

•   Potential vandalism
•   Cost of replacing sculptures
•   Cost of erecting sculptures
•   The uniformity of the sculptures

The Chairman thanked Jane and Fuad for their interesting and informative presentation and confirmed that a response would be formulated and aimed to be forwarded to Transition Newton Abbot within seven days, once the Committee had had reasonable time to for each site to be considered on its merits.

73. THE MUSIC MILL – NEWTON ABBOT

The Chairman welcomed Professor Malcolm Toft and Rick Edwards (Directors of the Music Mill) to the meeting and invited them to begin their presentation.

Rick and Malcolm thanked the Committee and informed members of the following:

The Music Mill was set-up in 2006 by Professor Malcolm toft and Rick Edwards in Bradley Lane, Newton Abbot.

The Music Mill comprised recording studios which were equipped by state of the art equipment, music based IT facilities to facilitate digital music creation and production, live sound training rooms and small venues, fully equipped radio stations which were used for private radio networks together with dance studios, rehearsal and meeting rooms.

The Music Mill was created using entirely private funding and had evolved into a thriving community of learners, performers and musicians from all walks of life over the past four years.

It had recently developed a partnership with South Devon College and delivered tuition facilities which were utilised to teach a variety of courses ranging from First Diplomas through to Foundation Degrees, as part of South Devon College’s work with Plymouth University.

The Music Mill was fortunate enough to have a very experienced team which comprised the following:

• Prof. Malcolm Toft, who engineered bands such as The Beatles, T-Rex, David Bowie (and many more)
• Richard Digby-smith, who had worked with Led Zeplin, Bob Marley, Traffic and many other artists from Island Records
• Pete Day who was part of the famous Stock, Aitkin and Waterman Hit Factory, who created Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and many other multimillion selling artists of the 80’s and 90’s
• Rick Edwards who had been a radio presenter for over 25 years at stations such as Invicta FM, GWR, Wyvern FM, Hereward FM and now presents Heart Drivetime in Devon
  Mike Harwood who was currently running Vibe FM at SDC and had previously presented radio shows at Orchard FM and Lantern FM
• Lizi Mackey, who brought a wealth of talent and experience as the Head of Performing Arts School. Lizi had been classically trained in ballet, jazz, modern and tap dances and had performed worldwide as a singer and dancer.

The Dance and Performing Arts students were aged four years and up and the Music Mill taught drama and a wide variety of dance and vocal training, including Street Dance, Singing, Tap and Ballet, including the option to take Royal Academy of Dance examinations. A number of the pupils were Junior Associates of The Royal Ballet and others had performed in productions in theatres throughout the South West.

Vibe FM was a radio station operated by the Music Mill on behalf of South Devon College and was available exclusively to students on various SDC sites. The presenters who comprised entirely of students and was recently visited by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who deemed it ‘Better than the BBC!’

The objective of the Music Mill was to create a world renowned facility that is the aspirational learning centre for students to visit from anywhere in the world.

It had made considerable progress in its four years of operation and was to continue to support and nurture the wealth of talent in all areas of the entertainment industry that could be found in and around the South West.

At the conclusion of the presentation members asked questions on the following:

• PR and advertising activities
• Possible links with Seale Hayne
• Possible links with Coombeshead College – (Councillors Bunday and Hocking declared a personal interest and took part in the discussion therein)
• The possibility of a tour
• Working with the Newton Abbot Carnival Committee
• Developing local talent

The Chairman thanked Rick and Malcolm on behalf of members for their enlightening and  fascinating presentation, whereupon they left the meeting.

74. SUB-COMMITTEES/WORKING PARTIES/FORUMS

(i) MUSEUM SUB-COMMITTEE    

Arising from the consideration of the minutes it was

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Museum Sub-Committee meeting held on 2ndJune 2010 be approved and adopted.

The Office Administrator informed the Committee that the Museum had been successful in winning the internationally acclaimed Nautiek Award by The Historical Diving Society. This trophy was awarded to exhibitions, which had done the most to forward the knowledge of diving history to the general public and had been held by museums in Italy, France, America, Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Slovenia, in addition to the UK.

The Museum Curator was to collect the award at a ceremony during November 2010.

The Chairman congratulated the Museum Curator on behalf of members and thanked her and her team of volunteers for their ongoing efforts.

    
(ii)    EVENTS SUB-COMMITTEE 

Arising from the consideration of the minutes it was

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Events Sub-Committee meeting held on 9th June 2010 be approved and adopted.

The Office Administrator asked the Committee to consider the ongoing issue of the payment of the annual Carnival supplement in the Mid Devon Advertiser.

In previous years this had been funded by the Town Council and the Carnival Committee had received less grant funding from the Town Council.
In recent years grant funding to the Carnival Committee had increased considerably and in 2009 the Carnival Committee funded the cost of the supplement.

Following the debate it was

RESOLVED that the Town Council was to fund the cost of the supplement in    2010 and was to be reviewed in 2011 in view of the recent budgetary     restraints imposed buy central Government.

Councillors Hocking, Parker and Ryan declared a personal interest in the above item and refrained from taking part in the debate and voting thereon.

(iii) NEWTON IN BLOOM SUB-COMMITTEE

Arising from the consideration of the minutes it was

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Newton in Bloom Sub-Committee meeting held on 16th June 2010 be approved and adopted.
  

75. NEWTON ABBOT FESTIVAL
 
The Town Development Manager, Mrs Sally Henley provided members with a very brief  review on the success of the 2010 Festival covering the following:

The Festival was estimated to have cost in the region of £22,000 – This included estimates for individual’s time, as well as the costs of performers
All performers were well received, however, it was felt that the focus for future years was to be more on ‘local talent’ than those performers in a professional capacity
It had been decided that a number of ‘key personnel’ were to be take responsibility for the planning of the 2011 Festival. These comprised, Sally Henley (Town Development Manager), Jane Ballantyne (Community Plan Co-ordinator), Felicity Cole (Museum Curator), Councillors Mike Hocking and Colin Parker.

The Town Development Manager was keen to ascertain whether the Town Council were in full support of the 2011 Festival.

The Chairman reminded members of the budgetary constraints that may be imposed on Town and Parish Councils in the future by central Government.

Arising from the debate it was

RESOLVED to agree to support the Festival 2011 in principle, and to make   a final decision once confirmation of the effects of the budgetary cuts from   central Government had been received.

76. BRADLEY LANE LEAT

Members noted that a notice had been placed in the Mid Devon Advertiser on the 4th June 2010 to confirm that the Newton Abbot Town Council had assumed responsibility for the maintenance of two areas of the Leat – from its boundary with the National Trust land at Bradley Manor for a distance of approximately 190 metres east to its disappearance below ground at the culvert to the Launa Windows premises.

77. CYCLING IN NEWTON ABBOT

The general topic of cycling was debated by members of the Committee, with particular focus being placed upon Courtenay Street.

Members commented on a number of incidents that they had witnessed involving cyclists in around the Courtenay Street area and the danger that they were posing to pedestrians.

Arising from the debate it was

RESOLVED that Devon County Council be informed that Newton Abbot Town Council hereby supports a ban on cyclists riding through the pedestrianised area of Courtenay Street.

78. ST LEONARD’S TOWER HEALTH & SAFETY POLICY

 The Committee noted a completed Risk Assessment document for the St  Leonard’s Tower,  (previously circulated) which had been completed by Councillor David Howe.
 The Chairman thanked Councillor Howe for his efforts on behalf of the Committee

79. INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

The Committee received and noted the statement circulated with the Agenda showing income and expenditure between 1st April 2009 and 31st March 2010, together with the income and expenditure between 1st April 2010 to 16th June 2010.

The Office Administrator reported that a request for funding had been received from the Teignbridge Play Network towards the National Play Day Event which was to be held in Courtenay Park on Wednesday 4th August 2010.

Arising from the discussion it was

RESOLVED that the Committee were unable to assist on this occasion, but wished  to invite the Teignbridge Play Network to apply for a grant for 2011’s event to be  considered  at the next Grants Sub-Committee meeting to be held on 20th October  2010.

80. LATE CORRESPONDENCE

Nil

81. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the Amenities Committee would be held on Wednesday 27th October 2010.

Chairman