Wotton Town Council Extraordinary Meeting

3rd November 2025

My informal notes and personal comment from the town council meeting on Monday. SDC Cllr Braun and GCC/SDC Cllr Cohen had sent apologies.

Extraordinary Town Council Meeting

Correction Prior to the meeting the mayor told me that my back of a beer mat calculation for the Old Town Toilet utility bill as per my previous report was hopelessly incorrect. Apparently, the costs attributed to the October payment schedule included two six monthly bills from WaterPlus (I assumed they were monthly, as they were tagged September and October D/D). So, a more accurate guesstimate is £10.81 per month over eight years, a mere £1,038. A bargain! I hope that clears up the matter.

Another new councillor, Emma, was welcomed to the Council. Normal meeting formalities, apologies and minutes approved and some interests declared. Although there were four members of the public present there were no questions asked in the public forum.

The council has been asked by Wotton in Bloom to consider increasing their grant by £1,000. They are having problems raising the money and have to enter into contractual arrangements (brackets, baskets, watering etc.) Regulation requires them to ensure they can meet those liabilities. problems raising money. Funds have been impacted by the popular Garden Trail being cancelled which generated appx. £3,500. If council wants it to continue next year they have to fund now.

The council begins to debate. Chair says it's a £1k uplift. Cllr notes that the watering costs are horrendous and the traders should water their own baskets. Wotton in Bloom says that they cannot ask people to do this for all sorts of reasons. Also, it is impractical to hook up an automatic watering system. Garden Trail will probably not continue, so there will be a £3.5k deficit going forward. All to do with Health and Safety and insurance problems. A Cllr confirms that the H&S issues were a nightmare over in North Nibley. Another Cllr says that maybe WiB should reduce scale. 2026 is probably being scaled back anyway. Mayor says that traders pay for flowers.

A Cllr realised that because he participates in the WiB scheme they have an interest, therefore leaves the room. The Mayor says that another traders should leave the room also but the Cllr says he doesn't participate in the scheme so does not have to. The Mayor insists that because the baskets attract people to the town they benefit and should leave the room. The Cllr decides that it for them to work out if they have an interest or not, they decided to ignore the Mayor and participated in the debate, ultimately voting against it.

Cllr asks where the money will come from. Apparently there is a 'flowers and planters reserve' hasn't been used for a decade or more. The £2k already granted comes out of the Regeneration budget. Cllr says all this should be discussed at the up coming finance meeting along with a new policy for receiving grants. Cllr says that money in reserves anyway so no problems to do. Approved.

External audit for the financial year ending 31st March 2025 has been completed with no comments from the Audition. Yasmin (who is leaving the council next month) has done an excellent job! £250,000 has been received from SDC re the precept. The Mayor says that the council receives the full amount regardless of how much SDC actually collects.

Next big item is to discuss approve the Cemetery Regulations (Wortley Road). Again Yasmin has done an excellent job pulling the document together. The deputy mayor wants to forbid etched photos on the gravestones. A resolution had been passed long ago to this effect. Mayor implies that these etched photos are a monumental problem nationally. Cllr asks what the objection really is. They turn cemetery into picture gallery retorts the Mayor. The Clerk interjects to say that there are existing etched images in place at the cemetery. The Mayor wants them removed. Cllrs are concerned, this is a place of comfort, esp. if children. If taken away that relatives may try and compensate with more memorial artefacts in the grave area. A new Cllr says not to councillors to dictate these things, it's very personal thing and emotive. Mayor says the document must lay out the rules clearly. Again implies the issue of photos is of biblical proportions on a national scale. A Cllr with experience of these matters thinks it was a fad, it's rarely done nowadays, however it is a challenge to get these rules right. The deputy mayors disagrees vehemently with the sentiment of the debate. A Cllr proposes the the photo prohibition should not be included, 8 in favour - against three. The vote to adopt the document itself passes, just 3 against.

Next to approve the Public Works Loan. A Cllr declares an interest and leaves the room. The Mayor offers a brief history of this project, now in its sixth year. The contractor has extended their tender prices locked in until end December to accommodate the delay in applying for this loan. They didn't have too. The council wants a loan of £300k following a series of three consultations. 90% of residents agreed that they should take the loan out. The existing scaffolding including the inspection is costing £9-10k per year. The Mayor says SDC may serve notice on the council if the work is not undertaken. The Council has already decided to apply for the loan. In front of Cllrs now is the application form along with evidence of the consultation. The actual figures are confidential and care is taken not to reveal them. Cllr asks about some differences and the Mayor says VAT is not included and there are some optional things that have since been added. Contractor has said the existing scaffolding is not safe and has to be taken down, with new being put back up. Council is still waiting to hear back from HMRC about how much VAT can be claimed back. Money for the project is in reserves and they don't have to draw down the whole amount. Pay back over over 25 years. Cllr asks how it is paid back. It is included in precept over the next 25 years, if whole £300k is drawn down that works out to about £11 per family. 6-8 weeks for loan processing. Cllr. says the headline figure doesn't seem to include fees. Clerk agrees. A discussion ensues about the purposes of loan is to highlight ear marked reserves (not sure I heard properly or understood that!)

Mayor says Council hasn't put aside maintenance in the past. The report Cllrs have is a ten year maintenance program. This contract is for the first two years. More will need to be done in a few years time. They need to increase maintenance budgets for Town Hall and Chipping Hall. Mayor thinks £7-8k for the Town Hall and £3-4 for the Chipping Hall. Cllr asks about setting aside funds, can they apply for other funding? Mayor says very difficult to find grants but building deteriorates all the time. Comparing to St Mary's Church, they have a 10 year programme there too. Lottery fund is used, mayor says National Heritage Lottery Fund is no go. Clerk says otherwise but don't underestimate the work and expertise required. Cllr says there is money out there. Cllr. says St Mary's is Grade 1 listed TH and CG are Grade 2 so different. Cllr says that wrong materials used in the past when maintaining contributing to deterioration. Will contractors be using hardwood this time for example?

Approved.

The Independent Renumeration Panel Report was deferred as Cllrs were only e-mailed the front page, not the entire report. The Telephone Kiosk at the War Memorial has now had the phone removed and the adoption has been completed TC now own it. There are already lots of ideas for its use. Another project to progress.

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