To welcome everyone to the inaugural meeting of the Board and receive apologies for absence, including notifications of any changes to the membership of the Board.

Apologies for absence were received from Carolyn Custerson, Alison Hernandez, Carl Wynard, Michael Westcott and Roy Linden and Hayley Costar (who were represented by Miranda Pusey).

To elect the Chairperson for the Torquay Place Leadership Board.

Jon-Paul Hedge provided an overview of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) Guidance which highlighted the need to appoint an independent Chairperson for the Board and to consider appointing Deputies to help provide resilience.

Jim Parker was elected as Chairman of the Torquay Place Leadership Board and Vince Flower was appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the Board.

It was confirmed that membership of the Board would be revisited at the next meeting once confirmation was sought from existing members who were unable to attend and formally reviewed within the next 4-years as required by the Guidance. 

Consideration would also be given once the full membership had been confirmed to appointing another Deputy Chairperson to aid with succession planning and deputise for the Chairman where required.

To receive an overview of the background to the establishment of the Torquay Place Leadership Board.

Jon-Paul Hedge gave a brief overview of the history and purpose of the Board as set out in the submitted presentation.  It was noted that the Board’s primary role was to create a bespoke and targeted 10-year Regeneration Plan for a geographically designated area of Torquay around key themes in order to improve lives of residents.  This included an initial four-year Investment Plan ready for delivery from April 2026.  The Board was accountable for the delivery of that Plan.  In total Torquay had been allocated £19,537,000 of funding (75% capital, 25% revenue) over 10 years.  

It was noted that the Government would be sending over a data set for Torquay, which would be used to inform business cases for the 10-year Regeneration Plan and 4-year Investment Plan.

a)         To receive declarations of non pecuniary interests in respect of items on this agenda

For reference:  Having declared their non pecuniary interest members may remain in the meeting and speak and, vote on the matter in question.  A completed disclosure of interests form should be returned to the Clerk before the conclusion of the meeting.

b)        To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on this agenda

For reference:  Where a Member has a disclosable pecuniary interest he/she must leave the meeting during consideration of the item.  However, the Member may remain in the meeting to make representations, answer questions or give evidence if the public have a right to do so, but having done so the Member must then immediately leave the meeting, may not vote and must not improperly seek to influence the outcome of the matter.  A completed disclosure of interests form should be returned to the Clerk before the conclusion of the meeting.

(Please Note:  If Members and Officers wish to seek advice on any potential interests they may have, they should contact Governance Support or Legal Services prior to the meeting.)

Teresa Buckley gave an overview on registering and declaring interests to ensure openness and transparency of the decisions of the Board.  As Members of the Board each person would be required to register their interests within 28 days, which would then be published on the Council’s website.  It was noted that Members were familiar with requirements around interests and did not feel the need for training at this time but agreed that they would contact Teresa Buckley for any advice or guidance they may require in the future.

Action:

To circulate the Model Code of Conduct and blank Register of Interest Form to Members of the Board for them to complete within 28 days – Teresa Buckley.

To consider any other items that the Chairperson decides are urgent.

Members discussed public participation at meetings.  It was noted that the paperwork for the meetings was published on the Council’s website. 

Members acknowledged the need to consider wider engagement and co-development of the Plans, ensuring that they were accessible to Torquay’s communities as part of their ongoing development.

Agreed:

1.             that members of the public are welcome to attend meetings as observers and that future venues for meetings be publicly accessible; and

2.             Members would review public participation and wider engagement at a future meeting.

To consider the Membership and Terms of Reference of the Torquay Place Leadership Board.

The Board considered the submitted paper which set out the draft proposed membership, terms of reference and operation of the Board. 

Members discussion points included:

·                     the need for more community representatives, with the understanding that this would change as the Board developed;

·                     the potential to create a nomination scheme where Members of the community could nominate other people, this could provide a true community representation into this strategic forum;

·                     the importance of the limiting the total number of members that were on the Board and the skillsets required.  There should be a fixed number of Members, but this had not yet been agreed; and

·                     consideration to be given to an alternative space where the voice of young people could be heard and that would allow them to be part of the work of the Board.

Agreed:

1.         that the Torbay Place Leadership Board – Terms of Reference and Operation, including the initial Membership be approved as set out in the submitted report be subject to:

a.         paragraph 7.3 h. being reworded to read “The Board will follow Torbay Council’s governance and finance arrangements, as required and in accordance with the Standing Orders, when considering private reports, with the default position being that all papers are open to the public. These are set out in the Standing Orders – Access to Information (see - Browse - Torbay Council's Constitution)”;

b.         confirmation from those Members who were not present at the meeting that they wished to be Members of the Board; and

c.         a Working Party to be formed to look at membership of the Board and report back to the next meeting.

To confirm the boundary to be covered by the Torquay Place Leadership Board.

The Board was advised that the original boundary proposed excluded The Willow, Shiphay and Edginswell, which were all part of Torquay.

Agreed:

That the Boundary for the Torquay Place Leadership Board would comprise all of the Torquay Wards within the Torbay Council’s boundary as set out in the submitted map.

To consider the future steps for the Torquay Place Leadership Board, including future dates and frequency of meetings.

Jon-Paul Hedge advised the Board of future steps including the communications, which would be created for the Torquay Place Leadership Board.  It was noted that the Board would meet quarterly, and the meetings would follow the Torbay Place Leadership Board which contained many of the same members.