The Boston Town Area Committee (BTAC) met to discuss the BTAC Small Grant Scheme, the council's financial position, the overspend on public conveniences, and footway lighting. The committee agreed to endorse the recommendations made by the Working Group in respect of eligible applications to the Small Grant Scheme. They also reviewed reports on the overspend on public conveniences and the potential upgrade of footway lighting, but no decisions were made on these items.

BTAC Financial Position

The committee reviewed the BTAC financial position as of 31 March 2024, as detailed in a report by Sam Knowles, the Chief Finance Officer. The report indicated an overspend of £37,115 for the financial year 2023/24, which was offset by a contribution from reserves to ensure a breakeven position. The opening balance of the BTAC reserve on 1 April 2023 was £328,136, and the closing balance on 31 March 2024 was £118,459.

Details of the use of reserves is outlined in Appendix 1 but includes expenditure on play equipment of £142,000 and the contribution from reserves towards the in-year overspend of £37,000. After taking account of the Section 151 Officer’s¹ recommendation of a minimum reserve of £70,000, the funds available (not allocated) are £118,459.

Public Conveniences - Variance Against Budget

Following concerns raised at a previous meeting, the committee discussed a report by Duncan Hollingsworth, the Service Manager (Property and Technical Services), regarding the overspend on public conveniences. The overspend was attributed to two main issues:

• Bond Street Toilets: An unusually high water bill of £4,201 was received for the period of 10 November 2023 to 9 February 2024, ten times more than expected. However, subsequent monitoring did not reveal any leaks, and Anglian Water stated that the meter was not faulty. The cause of the excessive consumption remains unknown.
• Central Park Facilities: A notable increase in supply costs was identified in September 2023. A leak was eventually found in the supply pipe to the staff mess room, which was repaired at a cost of £5,970. The total cost for water consumption at this location for 2023/24 was £40,421. Following the repairs, water consumption significantly reduced.

The council is engaging with Anglian Water to seek a refund of charges paid, arguing that the sewerage charges should be adjusted as the leaked water did not enter the foul drainage system.

BTAC Small Grant Scheme

Maddy Eyre, the Local Communities Development Officer and BTAC Grant Administrator, presented a report on the BTAC Small Grant Scheme. The report detailed the applications made to the Small Grants Working Group in Round 1 of the financial year 2024/2025 for the BTAC Small Grant Scheme and BTAC Empowering Healthy Communities Grant Scheme.

The committee endorsed the recommendations made by the Working Group in respect of eligible applications.

The applications included:

• Community Growers CIC - £989.03 requested from the BTAC Empowering Healthy Communities Grant Scheme to purchase equipment for their weekly gardening club.
• Carers First - £1,000 requested from the BTAC Small Grant Scheme towards the cost of supplying well-being packs and activities for Young Adult Carers.
• Boston Wheelers – Go Ride Group - £790.00 requested from the BTAC Small Grant Scheme as match funding to provide free, weekly cycling sessions for children from the BTAC area for 2025.
• Polish Support Initiative CIC - £1,000 requested from the BTAC Empowering Healthy Communities Grant Scheme towards the cost of their Fall Fun Fest Event on 01 September 2024.

Footway Lighting

Duncan Hollingsworth, the Service Manager (Property and Technical Services), presented a report on footway lighting. The report provided information on the cost of upgrading a number of older Footway Lighting assets across the BTAC area.

The report set out the replacement costs of the areas pure footway lights. Outline costs had been secured to replace footway lighting at the following locations:

• Burgess Pitt (2 lights)
• Garfits Lane (3 lights)
• Havenside Country Park (4 lights)
• Heron Way (2 lights)
• Hilda Way (1 light)
• Powel Street (3 lights)
• Rawson’s Lane (1 light)
• Roseberry Avenue (1 light)
• Tattersall Road (1 light)
• Wyberton Low Road (1 light)
• Wyberton West Road (2 lights)

The current replacement cost to undertake the above works on the 21 assets is estimated to be £7,350 +VAT.

The report also noted that upgrading to 18W LED light fittings would reduce the annual running cost from £1,369 to £610, equating to a potential annual saving of £758.55, or a 44.6% reduction. This would give a capital payback of 9.69 years.

The committee was asked to consider the information and determine whether to instruct replacement of these 21 lights and whether to seek quotes for the replacement of the remaining non LED lights in its area that are classed as ‘car park’ lighting or ‘ornate’ lighting.

Work Programme

The committee reviewed the work programme for the upcoming year.