Three crucial meetings later & we still don't know! The Cheese & Grain AGM happened on Tues 7th December and before this the Town Council's Policy & Finance committee met on 1st December & the Full Council meeting happened on 24th November. At all meetings the Town Council was described as 'holding a gun to the heads' of the Cheese & Grain Trustees. Now there is to be a final 'Extraordinary Meeting' of the Town Council at Rook Lane Chapel on 22nd December (yes, 22nd December) to get the resolution passed by them. So if you want them to know your opinion of what should be done (see below for what the Town Council are 'minded to decide'), then CALL OR EMAIL YOUR LOCAL COUNCILLOR & tell them. A full list is here.

Tow Council meeting minutes are available here & the agenda for the final meeting is here.

The Town Council (P&F) have looked at four options for the C&G and are recommending that option 1 is agreed (by Full Council) on 22nd Dec. They are;

1. Not to renew the Service Level Agreement with the Trustees of the C&G (ie.  the agreement that the Charity continue to run the C&G), and for the Town Council to take over running the venue.

2. That they renew the SLA and the £35,000 annual grant

3. That they do nothing - no grant but don't take over

4. Some sort of partnership approach (unspecified)

Some key points which emerged from the meetings are;

1. The Town Council plan 'improvements' to the venue and are considering buying the freehold & some of the car park from the District Council, but have not issued any sort of business plan.

2. Staff would have to be taken on by the Council under union rules (TUPE)

3. There has been no stated reason for the Town Council to take over.

At the P&F meeting it was acknowledged that there were misunderstandings about the need for confidentiality in discussions - the Town Council thought the C&G wanted them to be in private, which was not the case. The TC felt that the C&G had become dependant on the grant so offered them financial assistance in the form of funding for a consultant to advise. The C&G refused the offer. One Councillor, Karen Harvey, said "Our job is to make decisions. We are not getting enough back for funding a small minority as a music venue & it is not a fantastic music venue" & added "I know how you operate".

The C&G AGM meeting was well reported by Caroline Wood of the Somerset Standard, and you can download the chairs report here. Phil Moakes, former Town Councillor said he was "completely and totally dismayed at the lack of corporate responsibility and the betrayal of an immense vision." The Town Council decided not to send a representative but David Oakenson, the Deputy Mayor, did attend and said that the trustees had been bullied and described it as an act of "cultural and community vandalism".

The Town Council have now created a new C&G website page and revised their proposal.  You can dowload their 'discussion paper', written by Councillor Karen Harvey, here, where they comment that "FTC notes the Cheese and Grain’s Business Plan but it should be improved

and enhanced" and that they "offers to provide a monthly grant of £2917" for up to a year "on the condition that the Cheese and Grain agrees to work co-operatively with FTC to maintain services and develop a Business Plan for the future."

They also state that "there has been little material improvement to the building and the “offer” it makes to the community" and that they consider that the Business Plan is "unimaginative and unambitious", and that "FTC is of the view that the trustees and staff have, however, reached a point where they can no longer grow the business and require external help to source funds, for example, to do this."

They say "It is hoped that the concert hall could be renovated in order to attract a broader range of performances, the café expanded, toilet facilities improved, community rooms and offices made available, conference rooms and the markets continued and enhanced. Sustainable power generation will be investigated."

The C&G response: Whilst we take issue with several aspects of the background statement we have ourselves asked for more time to be given before a final decision has to be made and welcome the inclusion of this in the proposal. We will comment further at the meeting.

The C&G have responded in detail to all the comments from the Town Council & you can download these here.

Some of the comments from the C&G in the document include;

"The Cheese and Grain charity has received a total of £280,000 in grant from the council over the past eight years. This sum has enabled the building to provide affordable hall hire to local groups and residents over the eight year period at a total cost of about £10 per head of the population of Frome. The balance of this expenditure is the repayments on loans taken out by the council to improve its asset, before the charity was set up. These repayments are an ongoing legal liability for the council regardless of how the building is run."

They confirm that "Trustees have repeatedly sought the opportunity for a full discussion." & that "Trustees have made the council’s Interim Chief Executive aware of their concerns about the council’s failure to follow the terms of the current Service Level Agreement, including the failure to conduct the agreed annual reviews."

Make sure you attend the meeting at Rook Lane Chapel on 22nd December.

pictures by Chris Coyier