Agenda item

i)          To approve the notes of the Joint SAC/CC meeting held on 31^st May 2011 (attached).

ii)         To note the minutes of the Advisory Committee held on 31^st May 2011 (attached).

iii)        To note the draft minutes of the meeting of the Alexandra Palace and Park Board held on 9^th May, 21^st June and 21^st July 2011 (attached).

iv)        To note the draft minutes of the meeting of the Consultative Committees held on 21^st July (attached) and 6^th September 2011 (to follow).

a.         Joint (Informal) Statutory Advisory Committee and Consultative Committee

The notes of the Joint SAC/CC meeting held on 31^st May 2011 were agreed as a correct record, subject to the minor grammatical amendments proposed by David Liebeck at minute APSC11, bullet point 3.

b.         Alexandra Park and Palace Statutory Advisory Committee (SAC)

The minutes of the Advisory Committee held on 31^st May 2011 were noted.

c.         Alexandra Palace and Park Board

The draft minutes of the meeting of the Alexandra Palace and Park Board held on 9^th May, 21^st June and 21^st July 2011 were noted.

Matters arising

Some members considered the Board’s response to the SAC’s recommendations (specifically the three questions posed in relation to the Firoka Licence on Page 8 of the agenda pack) to be unsatisfactory. Their comments included: 

·        In the table of the Board’s responses to the SAC (pages 10-11 of the SAC agenda pack) the response to question ii was different to the Board’s response recorded in the minutes of 21^st June 2011.  

·        The advice of the Alexandra Palace and Park Charitable Trust Solicitor should not have been obtained in relation to this matter because he had a conflict of interest by having been legal advisor to the Trust during 2007 when the Firoka licence was signed.

·        Mr O'Callaghan went on to say he regretted having to return to this matter and that he would like nothing better than to "move on". However, he said the trustees had to recognize that they had a legal duty to do their utmost to conserve the assets of the trust and to try and obtain the return of the four million pounds loss occasioned by their failure to evict Firoka after the expiry of the lease in August 2007. He did not know whether they had been given advice on this by the trust solicitor; if they had and not followed it, they were in breach of trust; if they had not, the question of negligence needed to be investigated. Mr O’Callaghan also said he would write to the new Chief Executive of Alexandra Palace about his concerns in this matter.

The Interim General Manager reminded members of the investigations and the review of governance of Alexandra Palace already conducted in response to the Firoka dealings.  The Board had conducted many open and private discussions about the history around Firoka and the Committee were urged to appreciate that some matters could not be discussed in open forums for legal reasons.

The Committee was urged by the Chair of the Alexandra Palace Charitable Trust, who recognised that the lessons learnt from the Firoka deal were extremely important, to look forward and concentrate on the future regeneration of Alexandra Palace.  Further reviews of Firoka would be costly and the money could be spent on much needed repairs to the Palace’s structure.  These comments were supported by the Interim General Manager and Councillor Demirci.

AGREED

i.          That the Board be asked again to formally consider and fully respond to the questions previously submitted and obtain independent advice on the Firoka matter.

d          Alexandra Palace and Park Consultative Committee

The draft minutes of the meeting of the Consultative Committee held on 21^st July and the tabled minutes of 6^th September 2011 were noted.