Scottish Borders Council

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Via MS Teams

Contact: Louise McGeoch Tel: 01835 826504  Email:  lmcgeoch@scotborders.gov.uk

Link: Link to Live Stream

Items
No. Item

1.

Minute pdf icon PDF 113 KB

Note Minute of Meeting held on 31 July 2019.  (Copy attached.)

Minutes:

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the meeting held on 31 July 2019.

 

DECISION

AGREED to approve the Minute for signature by the Chairman.

 

2.

Monitoring Report for 12 Months to 31 March 2021 and Proposed Budget for Financial Year 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 260 KB

Consider report by Director of Finance and Corporate Governance.  (Copy attached.)

Minutes:

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Director, Finance and Corporate Governance providing the details of the income and expenditure for the Melrose Common Good Fund for the year 2020/21 including balance sheet values as at 31 March 2021 and proposed budget for 2021/22.  Appendix 1 to the report provided the actual income and expenditure for 2020/21 and showed a surplus of £434 for the year, which was better than the projected budget, due to an improvement in the return on the Aegon Investment Fund.  Appendix 2 to the report provided an actual balance sheet value as at 31 March 2021 and showed a decrease in the reserves of £1,252, partly due to the annual release from Revaluation Reserve off-set by unrealised gain on the Aegon Asset Management Fund.  Appendix 3 to the report provided a breakdown of the property portfolio and Appendix 4 showed the value of the Aegon Asset Management Investment Fund to 31 March 2021.  Members discussed the use of funds in the future when the level built up to a higher amount.  Mrs MacLeod advised that combining the fund with the William Hill Trust in a way that disposed of the Common Good fund was not an option and granting the money from the Common Good Fund to the Trust also raised difficulties as they covered slightly different geographic areas.  It was noted that the Scout Hall was maintained by the tenants but there might be a future need to spend money on the building so it was prudent to retain the funds at present.

 

DECISION

AGREED:-

 

(a)       to note the actual income and expenditure for 2020/21 in Appendix 1 to the report;

 

(b)       the proposed budget for 2021/22 as shown in Appendix 1 to the report;

 

(c)       to note the final balance sheet value as at 31 March 2020 and projected balance sheet value as at 31 March 2022 as shown in Appendix 2 to the report;

 

(d)     to note the summary of the property portfolio as shown in Appendix 3 to the report; and

 

(e)     to note the current position of the Aegon Asset Management Investment Fund as shown in Appendix 4 to the report.

 

3.

Consultation on Heritable and Moveable Asset Registers for the former Burgh of Melrose pdf icon PDF 169 KB

Consider report by Principal Solicitor.  (Copy attached.)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Principal Solicitor seeking approval of the draft Common Good Registers for the former Burgh of Melrose and to advise on the next steps in the process for consultation and publication under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.  The report explained that under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 the Council was required to establish and maintain a register of property which was held by the authority as part of the Common Good (“a Common Good Register”). Before establishing a Common Good Register, the Act required the Council to publish a list of property that it proposed to include in the Register and consult the public on this list.  Council approved the process for compliance with the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 on 31 January 2019, and since that date work had been ongoing in consolidating all information held in respect of heritable and moveable Common Good assets. From the work carried out, a draft list of assets considered to be a complete list of heritable and moveable assets held by the Melrose Common Good had been prepared, and was appended to the report.  In response to a suggestion by Councillor Linehan about using the “Melrose In Time” Facebook page for consultation, Mrs MacLeod explained how the consultation would be carried out.  Councillor Parker commented on the Silver Bowl currently held at Paton Street, Galashiels and requested a photograph be provided to allow consideration of having it displayed in Melrose.  Members also discussed the painting of Leaderfoot which was too big to be housed in Melrose and suggested that selling it might raise much needed funds to allow the Common Good Fund to make grants.  It was noted that a public consultation would require to be carried out before any sale could take place.  It was agreed to revisit this suggestion once the public consultation had been carried out.

 

DECISION

AGREED to:-

 

(a)       approvethe contents of the draft list of heritable and moveable property assets held by the Council within the former Burgh of Melrose;

 

(b)       approve the publishing of the draft list to be made available for public consultation for a period of at least twelve weeks;

 

(c)     note that following the period of consultation all comments would be brought to the Common Good Fund Sub-Committee for their consideration.

 

 

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