Councillor Andy Doig declared a non-financial interest in respect of item 7 of the agenda as he was a member of The Wallace Society. Councillor Doig indicated that it was his intention to remain in the meeting during consideration of this item. 

Councillor Hughes declared a non-financial interest in respect of items 8, 9 and 10 of the agenda as she was Chair of the Board of Renfrewshire Leisure Limited. Councillor Hughes indicated that as she had a general dispensation from the Standards Commission which allowed her to take part and to vote in relation to such matters it was her intention to remain in the meeting during consideration of these items.

There was submitted a joint revenue budget monitoring report by the Chief Executive, Director of Finance & Resources and the Chief Finance Officer, Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership,  summarising the financial position for services reporting to this Board for the period to 4 January 2019, and in respect of which there was a breakeven position.

DECIDED: That the budget position be noted.

There was submitted a capital budget monitoring report by the Director of Finance & Resources detailing capital expenditure to 4 January 2019 for those services reporting to this Board, and in respect of which there was a breakeven position.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

Under reference to item 8 of the meeting of the Board held on 25 April 2018, there was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the work to develop a Strategic Business Case (SBC) for the Glasgow Airport Investment Area South (GAIA South) Project.

The report intimated that previous reports to the Board in February and April 2018 had noted the changing context of the Glasgow Airport Investment Area (GAIA) City Deal project and that the potential for the GAIA site had been altered following the Scottish Government’s announcement in December 2017 that the new National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) would be located on the key GAIA site as the anchor for the new Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS).  The report set out the changing context arising from GAIA/AMIDS, other developments taking place in and around Paisley Town Centre and in relation to key sites in north Paisley now provided the opportunity to adopt an integrated and holistic approach to promoting development in the Cart Corridor and the area to the north of Paisley. Such an approach had the potential to bring together these developments to deliver positive change through increasing economic activity and linking residents to the job opportunities that would arise through AMIDS and would assist in delivering inclusive growth.  The report noted that the SBC had reaffirmed the case for such a complementary project and sought the Board's agreement to further develop the proposals for the project in an Outline Business Case (OBC).

DECIDED:

(a) That the further work that had been undertaken on developing proposals for the North Paisley/White Cart corridor area, as set out in the GAIA South Strategic Business Case and the wider benefits that could be delivered from an integrated approach to a development strategy that would link several ongoing initiatives be noted;

(b) That the Strategic Business Case for the GAIA South project be approved;

(c) That the progression of further work to develop the proposals in an Outline Business Case be approved; and

(d) That it be noted that further work would be undertaken through the Outline Business Case development to identify potential funding sources to take forward the proposals.

Under reference to item 6 of the Minute of the meeting of the Board held on 5 December 2018 there was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the Brexit negotiation process, and an overview of key areas of preparation being progressed by officers.  The report intimated that since the previous report a significant amount of further uncertainty had arisen, with the proposed UK/EU withdrawal agreement being rejected by the House of Commons on a number of occasions; the UK did not leave the EU as initially intended on 29 March 2019 and a final extension to the withdrawal date to 31 October 2019 was agreed by the EU. Whilst the focus of current negotiations was to ensure that the UK left the EU with a withdrawal agreement being reached by 31 October 2019, the possibility remained that the UK could leave the EU without a deal being in place.

The report outlined the work that continued to be progressed in relation to understanding and planning for the medium to longer term impacts of EU withdrawal. It was noted that an internal Strategic Brexit Officer Group would be established, which would be chaired by the Director of Finance & Resources. This senior officer group would review developments and emerging information on an ongoing basis and ensure Council services responded to longer term impacts effectively.  In addition, the Regional Returning Officer for the Electoral Region of Scotland had given notice that an election would be held for six members of the European Parliament. The Chief Executive, as Local Returning Officer for Renfrewshire, had subsequently ensured that all required preparations were being made to hold European Parliament elections in Renfrewshire on 23rd May 2019.

DECIDED:

(a) That the updated information within the report be noted;

(b) That the activities undertaken by Council officers to prepare appropriately for a no deal Brexit scenario be noted;

(c) That the establishment of a Strategic Brexit Group for senior officers to maintain corporate oversight of the impact of EU withdrawal be noted; and

(d) That the preparations being made by officers to hold European Parliamentary Elections on 23 May 2019 be noted.

Under reference to item 9 of the Minute of the meeting of the Board held on 20 June 2018, there was submitted a report by the Chief Executive providing an update on the future of Thomas Coats Memorial Church (TCMC), Paisley. The report summarised the activity of the Thomas Coats Preservation Trust and their collaborative efforts alongside the Council and other partners to secure a sustainable future for the building.

The report intimated that on 1 February 2019 the Thomas Coats Preservation Trust launched a 100-day crowdfunding campaign to repurpose TCMC as a multi-purpose entertainment venue. The crowdfunding campaign sought to raise £1.5 million and was due to conclude on 11 May 2019. To date, according to the website set up for crowdfunding purposes, the campaign had raised about £120,000. The website made it clear that should the funding target not be reached by the Preservation Trust, any donations received would be used for essential repairs for the Church building in discussion with the existing Coats Trustees.   The report highlighted that the “100 Days to Save Coats Memorial” campaign had proved to be a successful platform to raise awareness of the building and the Trust’s plans for its future use and recommended a contribution of £50,000 from the Paisley Common Good Fund to the Thomas Coats Preservation Trust.

Councillor Nicolson, seconded by Councillor Paterson, moved that the progress made to date for the future of Thomas Coats Memorial Church be noted; and that the offer of a contribution of £50,000 from the Paisley Common Good Fund be made to the Thomas Coats Preservation Trust towards their current fundraising campaign, subject to their demonstrating a robust and funded business case for their proposed reuse of the Church.

Councillor McIntyre, seconded by Councillor J MacLaren, moved as an amendment that recommendation 2.1 (ii) of the report be replaced with:

"The Council will make a commitment that whatever money is raised by the public in the "100 days to save Thomas Coats Memorial Church Campaign" will be matched by the Council.

The commitment is subject to Thomas Coats Preservation Trust demonstrating a robust and funded business case for their proposed reuse of the church."

On the roll being called the following members voted for the amendment: Councillors Bibby, Devine, Kennedy, J MacLaren and McIntyre.

The following members voted for the motion: Councillors J Cameron, Hughes, McEwan, McGurk, McNaughtan, Nicolson, Paterson and Shaw.

The following member abstained: Councillor Andy Doig.

5 members having voted for the amendment, 8 members having voted for the motion and one member having abstained, the motion was accordingly declared carried.

DECIDED:

(a) That the progress made to date for the future of Thomas Coats Memorial Church be noted; and

(b)  That the offer of a contribution of £50,000 from the Paisley Common Good Fund be made to the Thomas Coats Preservation Trust towards their current fundraising campaign, subject to their demonstrating a robust and funded business case for their proposed reuse of the Church.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to progress with equalities and the Council's duties to report this progress publicly and in an accessible manner. The report provided information on the actions to deliver each of the agreed equality outcomes, along with information on what activities had been delivered in the
reporting period from 2017-2019. The report also detailed a range of information that the Council was required to publish by the end of April 2019, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

DECIDED:

(a) That the Progressing Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Equality Report be approved for final publication on the Council's website;

(b) That the progress made in mainstreaming equalities and pursuing Renfrewshire Council's Equality Outcomes be noted; and

(c) That it be noted that the report had been made available in draft form on the Council's website to meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.

Under reference to item 20 of the Minute of the meeting of the Council held on 27 September 2019, there was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to progress on actions to maximise the visitor potential of the Wallace Monument and William Wallace story in Renfrewshire.  The Wallace Memorial, which dated from 1912, marked the birthplace of William Wallace and visitor experience was focused on the physical monument.  The report set out activity to support key stakeholders, including Johnstone Business Consortium, Elderslie Community Council and the society of William Wallace to raise the national profile of the visitor asset through destination marketing channels.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to Renfrewshire Leisure's Strategic Business Plan (SBP) 2019/20.  The report intimated that under the terms of the Service Agreement, Renfrewshire Leisure was required to submit an annual Business Plan to the Council with set out priorities for the year and outlined how it would deliver the services specified in the Service Agreement.  The SBP, which was appended to the report, set out the strategic priorities and main actions that would be undertaken in 2019/20.  Operational action plans were also being developed to implement the strategic priorities and wider strategies in place to deliver sport and cultural services.  The SBP had been scrutinised by the Head of Policy & Commissioning who acted as the "Renfrewshire Leisure Monitoring Officer".  Overall, the SBP met the conditions of the service agreement and implementation of the SBP would be monitored on a quarterly basis with an update to this Board on a six-monthly basis. 

DECIDED:

(a) That Renfrewshire Leisure's Business Plan for 2019/20, which meets the terms of the service agreement, be agreed; 

(b) That the monitoring arrangements in place by the Head of Policy & Commissioning (the Renfrewshire Leisure monitoring officer) to undertake quarterly performance monitoring meetings with Renfrewshire Leisure and provide six-monthly progress reports to the Leadership Board be noted; and

(c) That the summary Strategic Business Plan for 2019/20, appended to the report, be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Communities, Housing & Planning Services relative to the proposed award of grants from the tenth round of Culture, Heritage and Events Fund (CHEF) applications. The report intimated that CHEF, which was administered by Renfrewshire Leisure on behalf of the Council, had been established to develop cultural and heritage activity as part of the Paisley's UK City of Culture bid and continued to support the development and delivery of cultural and heritage projects and events across Renfrewshire. The deadline for submissions to this round was 1 March 2019 and 13 applications had been received of which five were recommended for award, totalling £50,101, leaving a balance of £94,132 for projects until 2021.  It was noted that one further round was scheduled for 2019 the deadline for applications to which was 24 July 2019.

DECIDED:

(a) That the level of interest generated in this round of the Culture Heritage and Events Fund be noted; and that it be further noted that it coincided with the first round of the Cultural Organisation Development Fund, which was the subject of a separate report to the Board and is detailed at item 10 of this Minute; 

(b) That the recommended grant awards, as detailed in Section 4 of the report, to a total value of £50,101, be approved; and

(c) That it be noted that the committed funds to date were £1,045,868, which left £94,132 available from the fund approved by the Council for projects up to 2021.

Under reference to item 5 of the Minute of the meeting of the Board held on 19 September 2018, there was submitted a report by the Director of Communities, Housing & Planning Services relative to the award of grants from the first round of Cultural Organisations Development Fund applications.

The report intimated that the Board at its meeting held on 19 September 2018 had agreed to establish a fund to strengthen and build the capacity of local cultural and creative organisations, and to provide core funding to organisations to allow them to be better sustained, more resilient and capable of expanding and/or improving the quality of their operations and programmes.  The management and administration of the fund was undertaken by Renfrewshire Leisure on behalf of the Council with decisions on funding being made by this Board.  The current funding round was launched in November 2018 with the deadline for submissions being 1 March 2019. A total of nine applications with a total value of £539,312 were received, of which five were recommended for grant award in this round totalling £302,381, leaving a balance of £57,682 for activity until 2021.  Further funding rounds were scheduled for 2019 and 2020 with the next deadline for applications being 1 October 2019.

DECIDED:

(a) That the high level of interest generated in the first round of the Cultural Organisations Development Fund and the total funds available for all rounds of £360,000 be noted;

(b) That the recommended grant awards, as detailed in Section 5 of the report to the total value of £302,318 be approved; and

(c) That it be noted that approval of the recommended grants would leave £57,682 available from the fund for activity up to 2021.