Agenda and minutes

Public Speaking: To register your intention to speak at a Council, Cabinet or Committee meeting, please contact Democratic Services on committee@uttlesford.gov.uk or 01799 510410, 510548, 510369 or 510460. Panel, Forum and Working Group meetings do not generally permit public speaking. Please refer to a specific meeting's pdf agenda pack for further information and registration deadlines.

Live Broadcast: For Council, Cabinet and Committee meetings the video player will be available on this page under the Media banner a few minutes before the meeting is due to begin. Please note that Panel, Board, Forum and Working Group meetings are not generally broadcast on the website. We believe that live streaming video of our formal decision making meetings, and publishing the recordings to be watched back later, is good for democracy – and you can find these videos on our website. This video technology sits alongside the longstanding practice of providing seats in the public gallery for members of the public and journalists to turn up and watch our in-person meetings live. Please understand that whilst we will continue to make every reasonable effort to ensure that our key public meetings at which important decisions are live streamed and recorded, any failure in that technology does not in any way invalidate the legitimacy of that meeting or of the decisions taken at it. Even in the event of such occasional technical failures, the public gallery will still have been open, as required by law, and the minutes of the meetings will still be made available in due course.

Zoom and YouTube have their own privacy and data security policies, which can be accessed at www.zoom.us and www.youtube.com.

Venue: Committee Room - Council Offices, London Road, Saffron Walden, Essex CB11 4ER. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services  Email: committee@uttlesford.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

16.

Apologies for Absence and Declarations of Interest

To receive any apologies for absence and declarations of interest.

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Ranger and Sell, Richard Priestly, Paul Salvidge and Peter Walker.

 

17.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 74 KB

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2018.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 January were approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record, subject to noting the following members of the Museum Society were present: R Priestley, P Salvidge, P Walker and T Watson.

 

18.

Museum Society Chairman's Report pdf icon PDF 164 KB

To consider the Museum Society Chairman’s report.

Minutes:

The Working Group considered the report from the Chairman of the Museum Society.

 

The Chairman of the Museum Society noted the society was planning a bake off event in the summer.

 

19.

Quarterly Report: January - March 2018 pdf icon PDF 153 KB

To consider the quarterly report for January – March 2018.

Minutes:

The Working Group considered the quarterly report from the Curator. The Curator noted the following specific points.

 

Staff Shortages

 

The amount of staff on planned and unplanned leave had meant that managing the Museum to full capacity had been difficult.

 

Lift Upgrade

 

The Museum’s lift had been upgraded to comply with the latest fire safety regulations.

 

Visits

 

School bookings had been picking up. The learning pages of the Museum’s website were now the most viewed. The Museum was considering mailing out posters to schools to encourage them to book visits from the Learning Officer. Shop and ticket sales had been positive, but a St Valentines event had to be cancelled due to lack of sales. With funds from the Resilience Grant, the Museum hoped to commission an audience analysis to understand how to encourage more people to visit the Museum.

 

The Chairman apologised for the poor Member attendance at the Chairman’s charity event hosted by the Museum. He said the work of all its staff was much appreciated.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Light, the Curator said the Museum would consider providing free entry for the Fete De La Musique.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Wells, the Curator said parish magazines could be useful for publicising events at the Museum.

 

20.

Draft Forward Plan 2018 pdf icon PDF 231 KB

To consider the draft forward plan for 2018.

Minutes:

The Working Group considered the report.

 

The Curator said the Museum would soon be invited by the government’s national Accreditation Scheme for public museums and galleries to complete a mid-term accreditation update. The Forward Plan would need to be finished to be included in this update.

 

Members discussed the problems of staff retention at the Museum. Competent young staff were well-trained at the Museum but then tended to leave to take on other roles elsewhere. The Chairman said this was the nature of working at a small museum.

 

The Chairman thanked the Chairman of the Museum Society for working through the Forward Plan with the Curator. The Assistant Director – Corporate Services said the Cabinet Member for Communities and Partnerships, had offered to be another sounding board for the Curator.

 

21.

Resilient Heritage Project Enquiry Form pdf icon PDF 74 KB

To consider the Resilient Heritage Project Enquiry form.

Minutes:

The Working Group considered the report.

 

The Curator said she had submitted the draft project enquiry form online but had not yet received feedback. She hoped to do so soon.

 

22.

Date of the Next Meeting

To consider the date of the next meeting.

Minutes:

It was agreed that early September would be an appropriate date for the next meeting. The final date would be decided once the Democratic Services Officer had been able to investigate room availability.

 

 

The meeting ended at 6.50pm.