Frome Town Council to set 2013/14 budget
By Fromereporter | Wednesday, January 30, 2013, 06:00
Frome Town Council meet at the Assembly Rooms (behind the Memorial Theatre) on 30th Jan at 7pm to set the budget for 2013/14.
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frome crest
The Agenda
Leaders report, including negotiations with Mendip DC on the New Homes Bonus & what proportion might come to Frome, meetings with various FTC officers, members & members of the public.
Town Council office improvements, a detailed scheme has been prepared by architects Nugent Vallis Brierley. Costs £150,000, with £210,000 reallocated to town centre improvements.
2012/14 budget, work programme & precept (council tax) setting;
Recommend increase of 2.8% in council tax. Total budget £1,055,550.
Ear marked reserves (funds for planned projects); to cover elections, CCTV, play equipment, market regeneration, sports, vehicle, bins, Iibrary info centre, office refurb.
General reserves to be reduced to £180,000, with over £150,000 set aside for town centre improvements (Market Place & River)
Review of MDC Economic Development Strategy - a recommendation to feed back priorities of Frome & arrange to meet with MDC.
Download the documents here;
Appendix 1 - Action Plan
Appendix 2 - Budget
Appendix 3 - precept notes
Comments
Hi Berty, I don't think you could get more than a glorified shed for £37,500! The Saxonvale Centre cost £440,000 to build. The £150K for the refurb of the Palmer Street office includes major works to make it suitable for better disabled access (lowering the floor in the right hand half) and reinforcing structurally unsound parts of the building, I understand from the meeting.
By LoveFrome at 09:31 on 11/02/13
ReportLove frome wrote.
"The TC have the ability to borrow money at low interest rates, so I can't see anything better than to borrow money to safeguard our childrens training. If you don't know what goes on at the FETE building you can contact them - see http://tinyurl.com/abrldeb"
I agree with part of your comment "love frome"saxonvale center is a worthwhile place for our future generations.
HOWEVER-i know at least 8 poor souls that have been sent their whilst unemployed Via the jobcenter to get "extra training"through PROSPECTS TRAINING from bridgewater who basically teach hardly anything,the tutors can not be bothered sign people in for half an hour then go outside for a "FAG" then they go without learning anything.
THIS IS NOT the fault of saxonvale but the training provider.(at tax payers expense but of course).
ALSO.
If a temporary building is good enough to train adults why not temp buildings for FTC at a quarter of the cost of 150k on new offices!!!
TIMES OF AUSTERITY REMEMBER
(and i have e mailed them about this waste)
By berty876 at 11:23 on 10/02/13
ReportI have been asking Mendip to get on and make some use of redundant toilet blocks it owns, as there has been some interest from local businesses in some of them, and it is not acceptable to just sit on these redundant assets. We need our councils to be proactive and positive about engaging with local businesses and community groups who want to use these areas for something new. Turning the Blue Loos in the Market Yard car park into an art gallery is a good example of an idea from the community that Mendip was asked to say yes to and did, and I have been encouraging the Loop De Loop people to keep at it. I will report back when I know what progress there is on reusing the other loos in Frome soon.
Adam Boyden, Mendip District Councillor, Frome College ward
By aomboyden at 10:15 on 10/02/13
ReportBerty, I'm not sure where you get your information from but you don't appear to have asked any of the Councillors answers to your questions. I'm pretty sure that the Town Council DIDN'T buy the toilets in Merchants Barton car park, as they were in very poor condition and the District Council wanted a lot for the lease. I think also that they don't own the car park at Badcox, but managed to arrange for at least SOME free parking there.
As for the piece of land they DID agree to buy, its the land that was about to be put on the market for anyone to buy as the Homes & Communities Agency (who took it from the Regional Development Agency) wanted to get rid of it. One could argue that land in public ownership (I guess indirectly it belongs to US) should stay in public ownership unless it is to be developed. The reason given (see IfF website http://tinyurl.com/as7peqt) was to SAVE our kids training centre (the HCA wanted to offer 'vacant possession').
The TC have the ability to borrow money at low interest rates, so I can't see anything better than to borrow money to safeguard our childrens training. If you don't know what goes on at the FETE building you can contact them - see http://tinyurl.com/abrldeb
By LoveFrome at 15:01 on 01/02/13
ReportBerty as you show time and time again, it is very easy to criticise but not easy to come up with reasonable and workable alternatives. Go ahead and be vocal but people only start to listen if you have a good idea and you attempt to put it into practice.
Re buying up a piece of land in saxonvale, as I understand it the FTC bought the land so that they could retain some more control over how the site is developed in the future. This appears to be eminently sensible to me when you consider what could be built on the land in the near future.
And by the way Frome is pretty 'wonderful' as small towns go and, no, I do not have my blinkers on. Yes, there are things that need sorting out but you bet your bottom dollar that if there is something that needs doing then there is an action group looking into it or putting pressure on the FTC or Mendip to do something. This is more than can be said for some other towns around where we live.
By ooojamaflip at 14:21 on 01/02/13
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