Minutes 137th Meeting on 19th July 2016
Littleborough Canalside Development Group
Minutes of the 137th Meeting held the 19th July 2016 at Hare Hill House Littleborough at 7.30pm
Present:-
John F Kay (in the Chair), Nicky Clark, Keith Hallam, Brian Holden, Barry Horner, Julian Farnell, Bob Furnell, Cllr Ann Stott JP, Bob Weatherley,
Apologies. Ian Jackson
- The Minutes of the meeting on 21st June 2016 were approved.
- John Kay updated the meeting on work being done by Littleborough Civic Trust
- John Kay reminded the meeting that the LCDG was the action group within Littleborough Neighbourhood Forum for matters relating to the Rochdale Canal. There will be a Public Meeting to consider the future of the Neighbourhood Forum on Tuesday 20th September 2016 at Hare Hill House starting at 7.30pm
- LCDG continues to press for the creation of a Marina at Durn Littleborough. Mark Prestwich who had been dealing with this matter in the Council had left to return to Oldham Council and Nigel MacDonald now had responsibility for this area. He informed us that there had been on expressions of interest in the Council’s land by 30th May 2016 but that subsequently the developer at the Frankfort Mill Site had made enquiries.
Nigel MacDonald is now awaiting further instructions from the Council Disposal group. He will keep us informed
5. Bob Furnell was then asked to update us on the Tour Boat Scheme and the Canalside Café Project. Julian Farnell and his girlfriend Nicky Clarke explained that they represented a number of other people who were concerned about the lack of transparency in the plans for a Canalside Café. Julian had a business in the Mill owned by Boyes and a number of his customers had been asked to donate by Bob Furnell.
6. Bob Furnell explained that there was a bank account with a balance of £385 towards the project. Discussions were ongoing with Boyes about a lease of the site and with the Council about the need for a planning application.
7. It was agreed with Bob Furnell that he should address three issues which were causing concern
7.1 He needs a Licence to authorise him to collect money for this project. He said he had already applied for a licence but he will again visit the Licencing Office about this.
7.2 He needs to prepare and make public an income and expenditure statement so that everyone who had donated money can see how it has been used
7.3 He will discuss with Andrea Cottrill (Scott) whether the Business Plan which she has prepared can be made public
There may be some matters which are commercially sensitive. There was a request for a separate meeting to discuss this project alone.
It was agreed that at this stage Bob Furnell would look into these matters so that he could report fully at the meeting on 16th August 2016
8. There was discussion about the Canal Boat. It was suggested that if the canal boat was fitted out to provide a catering facility for Tea and Coffee and cakes etc., without public access onto the boat, and with tables and chairs on the tow path, then this might be an easier way ahead that leasing land for a Canalside café. If there are volunteers interesting in this idea then they need to produce a business plan
9. Bob Weatherly has been successful in obtaining a cover for the boat
10. There has been no progress on the Akzo Nobel Site
11. There has been changes in the various Canal Volunteer groups and some of the people with whom we dealt are no longer there. It was agreed that we should encourage Jon Stopp to attend the meeting on the 16th August 2016 in order to bring us up to date about the present volunteer groups.
12. The dates of the next meetings are
Tuesday 16th August 2016 and Tuesday 20th September 2016 www.lcdg4you.co.uk