Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: County Hall, Worcester

Contact: Simon Lewis  Committee Officer

Items
No. Item

Available papers

The members had before them:

 

A.    The Agenda papers (previously circulated); and

 

B.    The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2014 (previously circulated).

 

A copy of document A will be attached to the signed Minutes.

211.

Named Substitutes (Agenda item 1)

To receive details of any member nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the Committee.

Minutes:

None.

212.

Apologies/ Declarations of Interest (Agenda item 2)

To invite any member to declare any interest in any items on the Agenda.

Minutes:

None.

213.

Confirmation of Minutes (Agenda item 3)

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2014 (previously circulated – pink pages)

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2014 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

214.

Hartlebury Management Agreement (Agenda item 4) pdf icon PDF 99 KB

Minutes:

The Joint Committee considered arrangements for a management agreement with the Hartlebury Castle Preservation Trust for the future operation of the wider site at Hartlebury Castle and the County Museum.

 

In November 2014, this Committee received a report that the Trust had been awarded a grant of £4.97 million by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) following the development phase. The grant would enable the Trust to acquire the freehold of Hartlebury Castle with its surrounding 43 acres of parkland and embark on programmes for conservation and activities.

 

The realisation of these goals required a new business model for the site as a whole in order to satisfy the requirements of HLF. The principles of such an arrangement were as follows:

 

a)    The Trust would become the freehold owner of the whole estate (and therefore the new landlord of the County Council) including that portion of land and buildings leased to the County Council for occupation by Museums Worcestershire;

 

b)    The location and care of all collections including both the County's and the Trust was governed by collections and loan agreements setting out appropriate standards and operational responsibilities;

 

c)    Museums Worcestershire would continue to employ the current team to contribute to the operation of Hartlebury and in due course would be joined by new appointments to the Trust team, funded by HLF, and a significant uplift in volunteering. The Trust would employ a Manager in due course to help coordinate the project and work with Museums Worcestershire to ensure the visitor experience is a seamless one;

 

d)    Advice and support at a managerial level would be provided by Museums Worcestershire across functions such as collections management, marketing and learning;

 

e)    A new trading company wholly owned by the Trust had been established to develop, collect and then allocate all income streams to the site, including revenue from admissions. The loss of income to Museums Worcestershire would be offset by savings on property and running costs made possible by changes in management and leasing. The Trust would work to establish new events and venue hire arrangements to support their new responsibilities in relation to the property; and

 

f)     A separate funding agreement between the County Council and the Trust would be developed to provide clarity of funding support in the early years of the project.

 

In order to facilitate all of the above, a management agreement was required to set out the respective responsibilities of the County Council and the Trust and define the parameters of the joint working arrangement. Authority to enter into such an agreement in principle was required to give confidence to the County Council, the Trust and HLF that the project could deliver the benefits set out in the grant application to the HLF.

 

The Museums General Manager introduced the report and commented that the Trust had primary responsibility for the site and would be in receipt of the lottery funds from the HLF. A management agreement is required to clarify the relationship between the shared service and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 214.