Agenda item

To approve an updated Memorandum of Agreement for the Basingstoke Canal Partnership.

Declarations of interest: None.

Officers:

James Taylor, Senior Countryside Management Officer, Surrey County Council

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    The Committee had asked for the Memorandum of Agreement to be reviewed during the meeting in June 2013, in light of the staffing changes which had taken place since 2008. Officers had looked at the Memorandum of Agreement and had provided the Committee with a revised version for discussion. The changes were intended to be a light touch update only and amendments had been consulted upon with the Joint Advisory Group (JAG), with comments being received from the Basingstoke Canal Society and Natural England. Surrey County Council Legal team and the Honorary Treasurer had provided input also.

2.    Documents mentioned within the Memorandum of Agreement were updated as some, such as the Strategic Plan had never been formed and had been superseded by the Strategy. While an additional paragraph had been included within the Agreement to include more of an emphasis of engaging with partners.

3.    It was agreed that the financial formula remain the same by the JAG as it was aimed to be a sharing formula.

4.    The Memorandum of Agreement was to last five years, and would require all authorities to ratify in line with their Standing Orders.

5.    The Committee congratulated the Senior Countryside Officer for his work on updating the Memorandum of Agreement, though Members expressed disappointment that there had been little input into the process other than by the Canal Society and Natural England.

6.    The Canal Society were pleased that many of their comments had been incorporated within the version submitted to the Committee, however felt that paragraph 1 could be amended to include the Basingstoke Canal Society as a partner. The Senior Countryside Officer explained that a previous sentence within paragraph 1 mentions other organisations as being partners, though the Chairman requested that these two sentences be merged.

7.    Members suggested that paragraph 28 was ambiguous, however the Honorary Treasurer noted that the Memorandum of Agreement mentioned that the financial contributions were agreed annually. Members further suggested that the Canal should look at additional funding streams as it was felt that more could be done to increase the volume of contributions.

8.    Members were concerned that not all authorities would ratify the Memorandum of Agreement, in particular the financial formula. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman agreed that they would like a response from all authorities, and would write and invite the Leaders and Chief Executives to a meeting to discuss the Canal and ratifying the Memorandum of Agreement.

9.    The Committee discussed the option of persuading authorities to pay contributions towards the canal due to the risks associated with shortfalls in funding.

RESOLVED: That

1.    The Memorandum of Agreement be agreed.

2.    Paragraph 1 of the Memorandum of Agreement be amended to have one sentence stating the organisations involved within the partnership.

3.    The Chairman and Vice-Chairman write to all authorities asking them to ratify the updated Memorandum of Agreement and invite them to a meeting to discuss the Basingstoke Canal.

Actions/further information to be provided:

The Chairman and Vice-Chairman to write to all authorities asking them to ratify the updated Memorandum of Agreement.

Committee next steps:

The Basingstoke Canal Joint Management Committee to review the Memorandum of Agreement in five years, February 2019.