Agenda and minutes

Apologies for lateness were received from Cllr Peacock.

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 10 & 18 below)

There were no items of urgent business.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no such items.

i.              To confirm the unrestricted minutes of the Alexandra Palace and Park Board held on 6 November 2012 as an accurate record of the proceedings.

ii.            To receive the minutes of the Alexandra Park and  Palace Advisory  Committee held on 16 October 2012 and to consider any recommendations from that Committee.

iii.           To receive and consider the minutes of the informal joint Alexandra Palace and Park Consultative Committee, and Alexandra Park and  Palace Advisory  Committee held on 16 October 2012.

The Board thanked the Advisory Committee for its endorsement of the Trust’s bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the Chairmen of both the Statutory Advisory Committee and Consultative Committee for having written to the HLF in support of the bid.

RESOLVED

i)             That the unrestricted minutes of the Alexandra Palace and Park Board held on 6 November 2012 be approved as a correct record.

ii)            That the minutes of the Alexandra Park and Palace Advisory Committee held on 16 October 2012 be noted.

iii)           That the minutes of the informal joint Alexandra Palace and Park Consultative Committee and Alexandra Park and Palace Advisory Committee held on 16 October 2012 be noted.

To receive the report of the Chief Executive, Alexandra Palace, detailing:

·               Events calendar and update

·               Outdoor events paper

·               English Heritage capital repairs project

·               Measures post GLA elections update

Duncan Wilson – Chief Executive – introduced the report as set out:

Events update

·        The importance of new business was emphasised; performance with regards to bringing in new business was positive, but it was noted that new business performance was a challenge to maintain.

Draft Outdoor Events Strategy

·        It was suggested that, once complete, the strategy should be made available online to give potential event organisers and members of the public a better understanding of the basis on which events in the park would be considered.

·        Alternative wording was proposed for the second paragraph of the document by Colin Marr as follows: “The overall management of the Park is the responsibility of the executive of the Trust on behalf of the Trustees”. It was agreed that this amendment be made to the draft.

·        The Chair agreed to allow Gordon Hutchinson, Friends of Alexandra Park, to speak, at the request of the Board, and standing orders were suspended accordingly. Mr Hutchinson suggested that the strategy should explicitly acknowledge the particular challenges posed by the topography of the park, as well as the ecological and heritage assets which needed to be protected. The discussions regarding the draft strategy to date were felt to have been valuable.

·        There was a discussion regarding the need to balance the wish to establish prescriptive criteria for events, such as a specific maximum number of events of a certain size or nature per year, against the need to retain as much flexibility as possible. It was felt that there could be further discussion around this once the advice of the independent events consultant had been received.

·        It was suggested that the strategy should make it clear that event organisers would be required to comply with the ecological standards that had been set out by the Trust, on the basis of the expert advice the Trust had received.

·        It was confirmed that the income targets set out under section 8 represented realistic but challenging expectations.

·        It was agreed that the last sentence under section 10 (*The Park would be limited…) be omitted until the advice of the independent consultant was received.

·        It was agreed that information for Kenwood and Trent Park be incorporated into the comparison table.

·        The strategy would be promoted via direct contact with relevant promoters.

Fabric Repair Project

·        Work was scheduled to commence on site from the 18^th February; the focus of repairs would be the SW colonnades and the roofing of the derelict pavilion at the SE corner of the ice rink foyer. It was noted that confirmation of the grant from English Heritage had taken longer than anticipated.

·        An application for Listed Building Consent had been submitted for a number of fabric repair works.

Actions taken following GLA election count

·        The Board noted the response on this matter as set out in the report.

RESOLVED

i)             That the content of the report be noted.

ii)            That the advice of the Advisory and Consultative Committees, particularly with regard to the outdoor events  ...  view the full minutes text for item 269.

To receive the report of the Chief Executive, Alexandra Palace, detailing:

·               An update of regeneration activities including the property advisor tender process, recruitment and communications strategy

·               Fundraising

·               HLF grant submissions update

·               Procurement Plan

The Chair gave an update on the meeting held in the week prior to the Board meeting, attended by Cllr Cooke, Chair of the Board, Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Alexandra Palace, Cllr Kober, Leader of Haringey Council, and Nick Walkley, Chief Executive of Haringey Council, as well representatives from the HLF. The meeting was reported to have been positive, and had provided some valuable guidance in terms of further information that may be requested as the bid progressed. The demonstration of strong cross-party support for the bid, and the support from the Leader and Chief Executive of the Council as illustrated by their participation in the meeting, were felt to have been favourably received by the HLF. It was emphasised that Alexandra Palace should play a key role in any cultural strategy produced by the Council.

Duncan Wilson – Chief Executive – introduced the report as set out.

Property Advisor tender

·        There would be an update on the work undertaken by Knight Frank at the next meeting of the Board. A regeneration strategy workshop was planned in advance of the next Board meeting.

Recruitment

·        There had been a good response to the recruitment advert for the post of Director Regeneration and Property. Advertisement for this post had been undertaken by MacDonald and Company.

Fundraising

·        An early draft of the fundraising strategy would be circulated in due course.

HLF Update

·        The report outlined the smaller Your Heritage Grant pre-application, for education and learning, which would include work to improve learning facilities in the Transmitter Hall. In response to a question from the Board, it was confirmed that it was intended to retain the Transmitter Hall name.

The Board thanked Duncan Wilson and his team for the progress that had been made.

NOTED

To receive the report of the Director of Finance and Resources, Alexandra Palace, detailing:

·               Trust Management Accounts to December 2012

Nigel Watts – Director of Finance and Resources, Alexandra Palace – introduced the report as set out.

·        Next year’s financial reporting would give a more detailed breakdown of income and expenditure; the current report gave a breakdown into the main areas of activity.

·        It was noted that the £152k regeneration underspend was largely due to the nature of the work and the associated pattern of expenditure having changed, subsequent to the budget being set. It was hoped that this underspend could be carried over to the next financial year.

·        The overall forecast for the year was for a reduction in the net deficit; after Gift Aid, there was confidence that the performance would exceed the original budget.

The Board congratulated the Director of Finance and Resources and his team on the clarity of the report, and also on the work undertaken to implement the new financial system. The format of the report was agreed to represent a significant improvement.

NOTED

To receive the report of the Parks Manager, Alexandra Palace, detailing:

·               150^th Anniversary celebrations

·               Dog Control Orders

·               Campsbourne update

·               Cricket club drainage scheme

·               Gate closures

Duncan Wilson presented the report as set out, on behalf of the Park Manager.

150^th Anniversary of Alexandra Park

·        The programme of events was being developed. There had been offers of support from the local community, particularly from local musical groups. Celebrations for the event on 21^st July, 11am-4pm, were likely to include a “village fair” in the Grove, with live music from local bands and groups, pop-up food stalls and a farmers’ market. The cricket club were proposing to hold an event, and other proposals included archery and a street party, with tables extending along the terrace. Wet-weather alternatives were also being planned.

·        It was noted that the anniversary events were an opportunity to raise awareness of the regeneration work.

·        A logo had been developed for the publicity of the anniversary events, and it was reported that a volunteering programme was also going to be launched.

·        The Board made a number of suggestions for the Chief Executive to feed back to the events team.

·        It was noted that Gardeners’ Question Time was being held at the Palace on 5 March 2013; Board members were invited to contact Duncan Wilson with ideas relating to the Park that the Panel should be made aware of.

Dog Control Orders

·        An explanation had been sought as to why the detailed work undertaken by the Park Manager with regard to dog control orders had not been reflected in the DCOs issued by the Council. A further opportunity to feed into the policy would be sought.

·        The Board expressed its strong sense of disappointment that this useful piece of work had not been taken into account by the Council, and requested that its views on this matter be formally made known to the Council following this discussion.

Closure of entrances

·        The overnight closures of two gates had commenced for a trial period. There had been a small number of complaints, and this would be monitored.

·        It was suggested that alternative routes be indicated on the closed gates. Although it was felt that, given the location of the gates concerned, it was unlikely that these would be used by people unfamiliar with the area, this would be discussed further with the Park Manager.

Campsbourne Play Centre

·        Discussions had progressed with the Council, and a proposal was being developed for the transfer of the centre over to the Palace. A business case assessment would be produced and shared with the Board for consideration, with any proposal being considered on its merits.

NOTED

There were no items of urgent business.

The dates of future meetings will be confirmed following the Annual Council meeting in May.

Dates for the 2013/14 municipal year had not yet been established and would be circulated as soon as possible.

Items 13-18 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 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 13 – 18 as they contain exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972; Paragraph 2 – Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual, Paragraph 3 – information relating to the business or financial affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and Paragraph 5 – information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

SUMMARY OF EXEMPT ITEMS

APBO276      MINUTES

RESOLVED that the restricted minutes of the Alexandra Palace and Park Board held on 6 November 2012 be approved as a correct record.

APBO277      REPORT OF THE PARKS MANAGER – CONTRACT EXTENSION

                        The recommendations of the report were agreed.

APBO278      HLF LEARNING AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMME BID

                        The recommendations of the report were agreed.

APBO279      TRUST AND TRADING MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS AND RISK REGISTER

                        The recommendations of the report were agreed.

APBO280      BOARD ADVISORY APPOINTMENT

                        The recommendations of the report were agreed.

APBO281      ANY OTHER EXEMPT BUSINESS THE CHAIR CONSIDERS TO BE URGENT

The Board acknowledged Cllr Peacock’s last meeting. The Board recognised Cllr Peacock’s dedication to the Board over a number of years and expressed its thanks for her work.

The meeting concluded at 21:50hrs.