Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Stewart, and apologies for lateness from Val Paley and Nigel Willmott.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with at items 15 and 22 below)

There were no items of urgent business.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no questions, deputations or petitions.

i.              To confirm the unrestricted minutes of the Alexandra Palace and Park Board held on 23 May 2013 as an accurate record of the proceedings. (Pages XX)

ii.            To confirm the unrestricted minutes of the special Alexandra Palace and Park Board held on 13 June 2013 as an accurate record of the proceedings. (Pages)

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 23 May 2013 and the special meeting of the Board held on 13 June 2013 be approved and signed by the Chair.

To update the Board on recent developments and activities, in particular:

·        Learning and Community Update, Open House and First World War commemoration programme

·        Summary of progress with the regeneration programme and the HLF bid

·        Progress with the fabric repair programme

·        Patrons

·        A commercial fireworks proposal, for outline approval

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive, introduced the report as circulated. The following additional comments and points arose from the discussion with the Board:

Learning Update

·        The bid for £67k of HLF funding under the “Our Heritage” programme had been submitted on the 16 July. The bid was to support the exhibition and learning and community programme marking the role of Alexandra Palace as a refugee, internee and prisoner of war camp during WW1.

Archives

·        The Board discussed the longstanding policy not to hold an archive at Alexandra Palace. Duncan Wilson reported that the Palace had recently acquired some of the more popular images, as this was more cost-efficient than obtaining copies of material held at Bruce Castle. It was agreed that the best way forward would be to reach an agreement with Bruce Castle regarding access to information held about Alexandra Palace.

Open House

·        The television studios would not be open for Open House visitors, due to the potential risks associated with large groups of people accessing these areas.

·        The Board emphasised the importance of the Friends of the Theatre and the Alexandra Palace Television Group being involved in producing the script for the Open House event.

Volunteering

·        It was suggested that an alternative terminology, such as ‘Friends of…’ might foster a greater feeling of involvement and inclusivity than volunteers and that this was something that could be considered.

Regeneration

·        It was confirmed that there would be a separate Regeneration report to the next meeting of the Board.

·        The response to the soft market testing by Knight Frank appeared to be encouraging on the basis of initial feedback, but more would be known once the final report was produced which was anticipated in mid-July. Work around this area would continue over the next few months, and the Board would be advised when it was felt appropriate to test the market for real, which could happen during 2014.

·        Following the useful regeneration strategic group workshop held in May 2013, it was envisaged that these workshops would be embedded in the way of working for the regeneration programme, alongside the work of the Regeneration Working Group.

·        The Board asked about the ‘further work’ referred to in paragraph 7.7 of the report on Masterplanning. Duncan Wilson advised that any further design work could only be undertaken once the main HLF design team was in place and that it was important to reach a point where the major design elements of the HLF programme had been determined before addressing other areas. It was emphasised that it was important to keep options open with regard to the plans for currently unused spaces, particularly in the South East wing, before approaches were made to commercial investors.

·        With regard to specialist areas such as the exhibition in the TV studios, these would be the subject of separate pieces of work with the input of the expert and special interest groups. This work would be undertaken before the main design team were in place and would feed into the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 296.

To update the Board on recent developments and activities, in particular:

·        Commercial activity update

·        The events calendar

Emma Dagnes, Commercial Director, APTL, introduced the report as circulated. The following additional comments and points arose from the discussion with the Board:

·        The Board remarked that the tables at the Bar and Kitchen had made a positive difference.

·        Subsequent to the report being written, the Red Bull event had taken place; this had been an excellent, well-delivered event with a positive, family-friendly atmosphere. Events of this nature demonstrated the quality of event that Alexandra Palace was capable of delivering.

RESOLVED

That the content of the report be noted.

To update the Board regarding Dog Control Orders.

Mark Evison, Park Manager, introduced the report as circulated. The following additional comments arose from the discussion with the Board:

·        The Board asked what the chances of success were likely to be were the Palace to pursue a new Dog Control Order (DCO) to enact the three proposed dog-on-lead areas within the Park, and it was reported that this could not be accurately predicted.

·        It was suggested that there may be a number of other parks dissatisfied with the generic Borough-wide DCO, and there may therefore be a benefit in waiting for the Borough to undertake a wider review of DCOs, and seek to implement any changes at this time. Concern was expressed, however, that there was no indicated date as to when such a review might be carried out.

·        It was suggested that the Board should write to the Council to formally state its disappointment that the previous proposal had not been taken on board, and indicate that it wished for the previous proposal made in respect of dog-on-lead areas within Alexandra Park to be looked into within the next 12 months, either as part of a wider review or on a stand-alone basis.

·        It was noted that the rose garden was looking very good; Mark Evison advised that this was a legacy project for the 150^th anniversary of the park, and that an interpretation sign would be produced later in the year.

RESOLVED

i)             That the Board note the current situation in relation to Dog Control Orders; and

ii)            That the Board write to the Council to indicate that it wished for the previous proposal made in respect of dog-on-lead areas within Alexandra Park to be looked into within the next 12 months, either as part of a wider review or on a stand-alone basis.

To advise the Board of the results for the Trust for the two months ended 30 May 2013.

Nigel Watts, Finance and Resource Director, Alexandra Palace, introduced the report as set out.

RESOLVED

That the Board note the performance of the Trust for the two months ended 30 May 2013.

Item 11 is likely to be subject of a motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting as it contains exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972; Para 3 - information relating to the business or financial affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of agenda item 7 as it contains exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972; Para 3 – information relating to the business or financial affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding the information).

To approve the accounts for APTL for the year ended 31 March 2013.

The recommendations of the report were agreed as amended.

The Chair invited members of the press and public to re-enter the meeting.

To approve the accounts for APPCT for the year ended 31 March 2013.

Nigel Watts, Director of Finance and Resources, Alexandra Palace, introduced the report as set out, and circulated an updated version of the wording for the Annual Review, which had been amended in line with comments provided by the auditors subsequent to the circulation of papers for the meeting. Indicative artwork for the annual report was also circulated to the Board for information. It was intended that copies of the final document would be provided to potential commercial investors and the document therefore aimed to present a holistic view in its narrative.

·        With regard to the amendments tabled, the Board was invited in particular to note the amended description of the support provided by the Borough on page 14 of the Annual Review, ‘As it has done in previous years, our trustee provided financial support to enable us to bridge the gap between our income and expenditure, to finance increases in working capital and to meet our loan repayments. It is the Borough’s current policy to continue providing this support until such time as it is no longer required’.

·        In response to a question from the Board regarding the summary of income and expenditure as set out on page 15 of the report, Nigel Watts advised that funding from the Council was not depicted as income in this chart, as this funding was viewed as a loan rather than a grant.

·        The Board congratulated Nigel Watts, Duncan Wilson, Claire Pendleton and everyone who had worked on the annual report, and recognised that this was the clearest set of accounts produced by the Palace to date. The importance of producing a high quality document was particularly recognised at this stage in the regeneration programme.

·        In noting the content of the annual report, the Board recognised its duty as trustees to do everything it could to ensure that the Trust’s financial performance was as good as it possibly could be. The report was a public benchmark, and it was hoped that the Trust would be able to demonstrate the progress it was making year on year.

·        The document had been designed for circulation both as a printed copy and as a PDF document. It was report that up to 500 print copies would be produced but the document would largely be circulated electronically and would also be available on the website.

·        In response to a question regarding the ongoing deficit, it was reported that this was not a matter that could be addressed in these accounts. It was noted that the Council had given its assurance that it would continue to provide support to the Trust. It was noted that the historic debt matter would need to be addressed separately.

·        In response to a question regarding the trading costs as set out in the waterfall chart on page 15 of the Annual Review, it was reported that this figure read £6.65m, or 18%.

RESOLVED

i)          That authority to approve the final accounts for APPCT for the year ended 31 March 2013 be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 303.

To summarise Alexandra Palace’s response to the internal audit report on the governance arrangements for the Regeneration Programme, as reported to the FRAC on 9 July.

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive, Alexandra Palace, introduced the report as set out. Subsequent to the report having been circulated, Duncan Wilson had met with Nick Walkley, Chief Executive, London Borough of Haringey, and it had been agreed that Duncan Wilson would be accountable to the Board for the delivery of the regeneration programme, with Nick Walkley being accountable to the Cabinet for the role of the Palace’s Regeneration Programme within the wider Borough regeneration work. It was noted that the Project Initiation Document was being rewritten, and would be reported back to the next meeting of the Board.

·        In response to a question from the Board regarding the involvement of wider stakeholders in the process, it was reported that this had been a piece of audit work around internal procedures and wider involvement was not therefore felt to be appropriate. It was noted that, were there another Gateway Review such as the one undertaken last year, such work would involve the views of the wider stakeholder group.

·        Julie Parker, Director of Corporate Resources, London Borough of Haringey, advised that the review had been undertaken in order to provide assurance around the processes that were in place to ensure that the regeneration project delivered its objectives.

·        The Board asked about the links between the Regeneration Working Group and the Board and SAC/CC, beyond the twice-yearly strategic workshops. It was reported that there would be more formal regeneration reports to the Board in future, which would have input from the Chair of the Regeneration Working Group, and it was agreed that Duncan Wilson and the Chair of the Board would explore the possibility of providing Board and Committee Members with details on the activity of the Working Group on a more frequent basis.

RESOLVED

That the Board note the progress made by LBH, APPCT and APTL in implementing the recommendations of the report and approve the updated Terms of Reference of the Regeneration Working Group.

There were no new items of unrestricted urgent business.

29 October 2013

13 February 2014

The dates of future meetings of the Board were noted as follows:

29 October 2013

13 February 2014

Items 18, 19, 20 and 21 are likely to be subject of a motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting as they contain exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972; Para 1 – information relating to any individual, Para 2 – Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual and  Para 3 - information relating to the business or financial affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

RESOLVED  that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of agenda items 18-22 as they contained exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972; Paragraph 1 – information relating to any individual, Paragraph 2 – information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual and Paragraph 3 – information relating to the business or financial affairs of any particular individual person (including the authority holding that information).

To confirm the exempt minutes of the Alexandra Palace and Park Board held on 23 May and the special Alexandra Palace and Park Board held on 13 June 2013 as an accurate record of the proceedings.

There were no items of exempt urgent business.

The meeting closed at 22:15hrs.