LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of a Finance Committee Meeting
held on 21st Feb 2022 at 7.30pm, LCC Club Room

Present
Alan Cadman, Maureen Shouksmith, Paul Armstrong, Martin Bottwood, Liz Schofield, Sue Armstrong, Rob Clark (part time).

LCC Roof Replacement & Funding
Rob had kindly volunteered to do some research work into possible grant providers to assist with the proposed roof replacement/enhancement project, but he was keen to better understand the background drivers and requirements up to this point. Alan provided background on the roof problems, and the scoping of the project to provide a stronger roof that could support solar panels so as to take maximum advantage of available grant support.
(By chance, a tile had fallen off the roof in the recent storms, and we were all able to observe its fragile/flaky state).
Rob asked what surveys had been done ahead of the tender invitations. Alan indicated that two surveys had been undertaken. Rob noted that these would be important as part of any grant applications.
Rob had had a preliminary chat with Angela Haymonds from Enovert (previously Cory) about current grant criteria. It would appear that solar powered heating projects are not particularly in favour at the moment. The recent installation of air-source heating in the LCC might also count against us in any grant application for solar panels. Nonetheless, Rob felt that Enovert may still be worth pursuing.
Awards For All may be another funding route, but will typically only provide funding up to about £10k.
In order to consider grant options more fully, Rob was keen to review a much fuller set of project documentation, including the full specification, survey results, and all tender submissions (including non-respondees). It was agreed to try and supply these to Rob. Action AC/SA
Moving forwards, Rob wondered whether a partially in-house project management solution (eg. for scaffolding hire) might offer significant cost savings over a fully outsourced approach. Alan was nervous about the risks of such an approach.
There was some unresolved discussion about whether or not solar panels were likely to offer a positive cost-benefit analysis within the scope of the re-roofing project. Further investigation will be required at some point, but no specific actions were assigned at the moment. It makes sense to wait and see what new grant schemes become available in the new financial year.

Matters Arising from Finance Meeting on 29th Nov 2021
Install flytipping warning sign on the wall behind the LCC rubbish skip: Discharged
Submit completed 2021/21 accounts to Charity Commission website: Discharged
Purchase new tables to replace missing ones: Latest position is that we are only one table short. Agreed that Sue should purchase a replacement table. Ongoing SA
Proceed with replacement of village cinema sound-mixing desk: This is less urgent now, after some technical support from the company that originally sold us the equipment; but probably still makes sense because a small investment of approx. £200 will improve our cinema sound and provide equipment redundancy. It was agreed to defer this non-essential expenditure for the moment. Discharged
Check public liability cover of our smaller contractors and decide how to proceed: Sue has liaised with all of our regular contractors. They all now have £5m public liability in place. Discharged
Put Shop’s request for a modified Lease side-letter to all Trustees for their approval: Discharged


Chairman’s Report
Alan reported that our insurers are now flagging a need for £5m public liability insurance to be in place for individual events. Our insurance broker is suggesting that event insurance may soon have to be declared by the LCC (somewhat analogously to individual TENS notifications for licensed events). Sue noted that the Langham Hand Made Fair event is already booked (and paid) for their 12th March event, with a further event in November. Previously, individual stallholders have held £2m PLI for this event, with no overall event insurance in place. Angel’s MBS events operate on a similar basis, so will also need to be addressed.
Alan will chase our broker for a quote for the March Hand Made Fair. Action AC

Treasurer’s Report
Closing balances today were £3594.16 current account; £76,157.39 saver account.
These figures include the latest CIF grant. So far in February, an operating profit of £480 has been made.
The current 3-year fixed price electricity contract will expire in late April. A big upwards price shock is inevitable, whoever we renew with. This will affect the Shop directly as well, since they re-imburse us for their electricity usage. Maureen will explore renewal options for presentation to the 31st March Trustee Meeting. Action MS
The annual RCCE subscription renewal (£66) and annual ICO registration renewal (£40) have recently been paid.

Marketing Manager’s Report
Our largest commercial hirer Cygnet are hiring at less than 50% of their pre-COVID levels.
Recent new hirers include a Sing & Sign toddler group and a Dungeons & Dragons group.
The Essex Cricket Club held their AGM at the LCC and they liked the facility.
We got away quite lightly from the recent storms, with one broken roof tile and one section of broken guttering. Sue will contact Terry to see if he can deal with these. Action SA
The fire alarm was triggered last Saturday afternoon (by a footballer smoking in the changing rooms), whilst volunteers were setting up for the village cinema evening. An unsuccessful attempt was made to turn off/disable the alarm. The learning point is never to try and disable the alarm, but simply to evacuate and wait for the alarm to turn itself off.
LCC Risk Assessment & Maintenance Plan review
We briefly reviewed Sue’s updated Risk Assessment document. It was agreed that this should be shared with Trustees and put on the agenda for discussion at the next full Trustee Meeting on 31st March. The Maintenance Schedule should also be shared with all Trustees for information. Action PA
We also reviewed and made some small edits to Sue’s latest version of the LCC Building Maintenance Schedule. Leaving aside the building roof issues, maintenance is in good shape, with no urgent replacements required, except perhaps for a new fridge unit. None of our existing fridge units are very good, so it was agreed that Sue should investigate getting one good quality new fridge unit to support the bar facilities in the Club Room. Action SA

Hearing Loop Quote from Marks Tey Radio
The hearing loop installation quote was much higher than expected. Further competitive quotes will now be sought. We may also need to de-scope the project to concentrate on the Main Hall and defer the Club Room until some S106 monies are available. Any de-scoping would need to be notified to the CIF grant provider. Action PA

LCC Broadband & Phone Service
The free broadband line that has been offered by County Broadband is a residential service, unsuitable for secure applications such as fixed POS payment terminals are used by Alan for bars, and by the Shop. It was agreed that Sue should approach County to see if we can upgrade to a business service by paying an incremental supplement. Action SA
If this upgrade is not possible, then we should still accept the free residential service, but will need to maintain a secure business service as well. We are beyond minimum contract term from XLN, so can shop around to hopefully find a better value deal.

LCC Secretary Stepping Down at next AGM
Paul indicated his intention to step down from his Interim Secretary role at the next AGM, due to his increasing workload with the Parish Council.

Any Other Business
None.

Date of Next Meetings
Next Trustee Meeting: Thursday 31st March, 7.30pm, Langham Community Centre
Next Finance Committee Meeting: Monday 11th April, 7.30pm, Langham Community Centre