To receive apologies for absence, including notifications of any changes to the membership of the Board.

Apologies for absence were received from Anne Marie Bond, Jess Gane, Alison Hernandez and David Thomas.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on  20 April 2026.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Torquay Place Leadership Board held on 20 April 2026 were confirmed as a correct record, subject to the inclusion of Vince Flowers under the list of apologies.

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.

Where the interest is for issues relating to prioritisation of topics, approval of a prioritisation matrix and where approval of Grant Funding is being discussed, the Monitoring Officer has granted a dispensation to Board Members to remain in meetings of the Torquay Place Leadership Board and take part in discussions but not to vote on any application made by themselves or their organisation.

(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.)

In line with the Place Leadership Boards Governance arrangements, interests were declared by individuals as projects were discussed, and those members were permitted to discuss the project in question, but not to vote on its funding bid.  Board Members were not expected to express interests at the start of the meeting, and interests are noted in the individual minute items. 

Tracey Cabache expressed an interest in all projects, as Director of Torbay Communities, and refrained from voting.

Tracey Cabache presented a summary of the latest position to Board members noting that:

-          6 projects had been awarded funds

-          10 projects had been carried forward

-          2 new projects had been analysed by the Assurance Framework and scored by Board members

-          9 projects were in development and not yet submitted

-          All funded projects had had face to face meetings, and draft Funding Agreements had been drawn up

At the outset of the meeting, £314,427 had been allocated from a total available to date of £592,000.

Barton Recreation Ground

Interests Declared –

Vince Flower as Chair of Torquay Academy and trustee of Torquay Boys Grammar School Multi-Academy Trust

Jim Parker as Chair of Barton Cricket Club

It was noted that the final costs of the project are likely to be substantially higher than that approved by the Board, due to the need for additional surveys to get the project to RIBA-4 status. 

Board Members questioned why this issue had not been previously picked up, and queried what lessons had been learned from this, noting that this may set a precedent for projects where funding figures vary in future. It was noted that the Quality Assurance Framework scored the projects submitted against risk frameworks on the basis of the information provided, and had found no issues with the project on that basis, noting only later that achieving RIBA-2 would not be sufficient for the project to progress.  The Board discussed various possible processes for issues of this nature, including more robust interrogation at the earlier stages and a more significant contingency for every project as standard. 

It was unanimously agreed by those entitled to vote that :-

1. a report detailing the Quality Assurance process and lessons learned from Barton Recreation Ground funding variances be bought back to the Board in September.
2. That the funding award be increased from £35,000 to £60,000 and the project be allowed to continue.

Business-Led Town Centre Improvements

It was noted that the Town Centre Partnership had said that they were not aware of this bid being put forward.  The Board noted that a number of Town-Centre focussed bids had been out forward and Members raised queries as to whether the interested parties were effectively communicating and consolidating their efforts.  Regarding this specific project, the feedback was that the aims were not sufficiently strategic and long-term in their current form, and that the funding request was substantial relative to the aims of the project.  The Board consequently declined to fund the project as submitted, but requested further information, most particularly on how the Town Centre groups are collaborating to form a coherent, strategic, long-term town centre project.

Melville Community Hub

Board members were generally supportive of this project, noting that previous funding allocations in the area had made a significant difference.  It was also noted that local groups in the area had secured funding from other sources, and had worked extremely hard to improve safety and security in the area.  The Board noted some low scores from the Quality Assurance Framework, and that these risks were primarily around the issue of planning permissions.  The Board felt that this did not represent a significant risk to the aims of the fund, and it was agreed unanimously that the following funding award be made :-

Melville Community Hub –

Interests – none present

          £50,000 Capital funding for the construction, installation, fit-out and making good of the Melville Community Hub structure

It was agreed that, having looked at the indicative scoring of the unfunded projects, Members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.