To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ayrton, Holly, Nisa and Winkler.

Members are requested to approve the Minutes of the Rochdale North Township Committee meeting held on Monday 6 March 2023.

Resolved:
That the Minutes of the meeting of Rochdale North Township Committee held on 6 March 2023 be approved as a correct record.

Members are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary, personal or personal and prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests relating to items on this agenda and/or indicate if S106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

Councillor Sameena Zaheer declared a personal interest in agenda item 7 as she was appointed to the Your Trust Board of Trustees.

To determine whether there are any additional items of business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chair decides should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items of business received.

To determine any items on the agenda, if any, where the public are to be excluded from the meeting.

There were no items for the exclusion of public and press.

Half an hour has been set aside for members of the public to raise any issues relevant to the business of the Committee and the Township.

No members of the public were in attendance and therefore no items were raised in the open forum.

To receive a presentation from Your Trust.

The Township Committee received a presentation from representatives of Your Trust which outlined the services and activities provided by the organisation throughout the borough.

Services and activities within the Rochdale North Township remit were highlighted such as at Rochdale Leisure Centre and Touchstones Rochdale.

The Chair thanked the Your Trust representatives for the presentation and invited comments and questions from Members. The following points were raised during the discussion:

·         Touchstones – Concerns were raised about the storage of collections and artefacts during Touchstones closure for redevelopment from August 2023. Members were informed that archives would be moved to storage facilities and to a new location at Sparth Community Centre.

·         Exercise Referral Scheme – There was discussion about how the Township Committee could promote the 12 week programme and how residents could be referred.

·         Outreach Officers – Members highlighted the need for dedicated officers to interact with local communities, especially young people and residents with disabilities. Your Trust informed that an inclusive officer was employed and there are plans for further recruitment.

·         Provision for children with disabilities – Attention was drawn to the number of children living with a disability that use Your Trust services in the borough and how they can use services without supervision.

Resolved:
That the Your Trust presentation be noted.

To consider delegation arrangements and appointments for 2023/2024.

Consideration was given to a report of Committee Services which requested that Members confirm their delegated decision making arrangements and make appointments to the relevant bodies.

Alternatives considered:
The Township Committee could choose not to appoint Sub-Committees and undertake all delegated functions themselves, however this could have a detrimental impact on the ability to progress Township priorities or to deal with urgent items of business. The Committee could also, if it chose to do so, adopt alternative Sub-Committee arrangements.

Resolved:
1. That the proposed Sub-Committee structure of the Rochdale North Township Committee, comprising of the Rochdale North Township Delegated Sub-Committee and the terms of reference as outlined at Appendix 1 of the submitted report, be approved;

2. That Members be appointed as follows:-

a)    Rochdale North Township Delegated Sub-Committee – Councillors A. Ahmed (Chair), O’Neill (Vice Chair), I. Ahmed, Ayrton, Faisal, Gartside, Holly, Nisa, Rana, Wazir, Winkler and Zaheer;

b)    Ward Forums - The relevant Ward Councillors be appointed to attend their respective Ward Forum. The Area Forums included in Rochdale North Township Committee are:
· Central Rochdale
· Healey
· Norden
· Spotland and Falinge

c)    Township Older Person’s Champion – Councillor Gartside;

d)    Township Younger Person’s Champion – Councillor Nisa;

e)    Township Highways Champion – Councillor O’Neill;

f)     Township Environment Champion – Councillor Zaheer;

g)    Rochdale Regeneration Group – Councillors Faisal, O’Neill, Winkler and Zaheer;

h)    Rochdale North Township Planning Panel - All members of the Rochdale North Township Committee to be invited to attend meetings, except those Members who have also been appointed to the Council’s Planning and Licensing Committee;

3. That any amendments to the appointments be delegated to the Chair of the Rochdale North Township Committee to determine.

Reasons for the decision:
The Council has established and appoints Township Committees that may exercise both executive and non-executive powers as set out in the Responsibility for Council Functions in Part 3 of the Constitution. This states that: ‘appointments to Township Sub-Committees, Township Working Parties, Partnership Arrangements and Local Outside Bodies shall be made at the first meeting of the appropriate Township Committee in the new Municipal Year’.

The Sub-Committee exercises either delegated powers or acts on any matter detailed in the Committee’s Terms of Reference on which it is essential to take a decision.

To review revenue and capital expenditure during 2022/2023 and options for the allocation of funds in 2023/2024.

The Committee considered a report of the Townships Officer that asked Members to approve the Rochdale North Township Funds’ terms and conditions and to agree delegation arrangements concerning funding decisions.

Alternatives considered:
In considering the report, Members were asked to decide whether or not to approve the allocation of funds to funding streams and to adopt appropriate terms and conditions.

Resolved:

1)    That the expenditure, commitments and balances for Rochdale North Township revenue and capital funds at financial year end 2022/23 (as outlined at Appendix 1 and 2 of the submitted report) be noted;

2)    That the findings of the review of Township Funds 2022/23 (as outlined at Appendix 3 of the report) and evaluations received to date for funded projects (as outlined at Appendix 4 of the report) be noted;

3)    That the allocation of Rochdale North Township Funds to funding streams in 2023/24 (as outlined at Appendix 5 of the report) be approved as follows:

·         Projects Fund (revenue) – £28,973

·         Members Fund (revenue) – £24,000

·         Ward Fund (revenue) – £72,000

·         Capital Fund – £84,100

4)    That the terms and conditions for Rochdale North Township revenue and capital funds for 2023/24 (as outlined at Appendix 6 of the report) be approved;

5)    That the delegation arrangements for Rochdale North Township Funds 2023/24 as detailed at 5.6 of the report be approved;

6)    That any uncommitted/unspent funds be reallocated to a central revenue or capital funding stream as appropriate before the end of January 2024 to enable Members to spend/commit all Rochdale North Township Funds during the 2023/24 financial year.

Reasons for the decisions:
The management of the Rochdale North Township Fund was delegated to the Rochdale North Township Delegated Sub-Committee to determine. Rochdale North Township Funds were allocated to projects that benefitted the Township’s community and environment, and realised the Township priorities. The decision enables the Committee to monitor and review the use of the Rochdale North Township Funds to ensure continued efficient and effective use of the funds.