Decision details

The Cabinet will be asked to approve a new streamlined approach to the allocation of grant funding across St Edmundsbury and the continuation of Locality Budget funding following the annual review.

(a)    New approach to grant funding arrangements and review of Locality Budget Scheme

RESOLVED:

That:

(1)     the revised approach to grant funding from 2015/2016 including the establishment of a Community Chest, as set out in Section 1.3 of Report No: GWP/SE/15/002, be approved;

(2) (a)     the Head of Families and Communities, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder with the responsibility for Grants, be given delegated powers to make awards from the Community Chest funding to the value of £10,000, as set out in paragraph 1.4.4 of Report No: GWP/SE/15/002;

(b)     subject to (2)(a) above, the Grant Working Party firstly be consulted by email on grants proposed to be awarded under this delegation using a similar procedure to that applied under the existing Rural Initiatives Grant Scheme; 

(3)     the existing St Edmundsbury Grant Policy be revoked and from April 2015 be replaced with the new criteria, as outlined in Appendix  A to Report No: GWP/SE/15/002; 

(4)     the success of the Locality Budget Scheme to date be noted and subject to the amendment below, revisions to the scheme to be implemented for 2015/2016, be approved:

the sentence, ‘For the purposes of this scheme, a rural parish council is considered to be a parish with a population of 1,000 or fewer according to the latest mid year estimate figures’, be deleted from paragraph 1.7 of Appendix B to Report No: GWP/SE/15/002;  and

(5)     any Locality Budget underspend for 2014/2015  with the exception of the £500 per Councillor carry-forward, be approved and retained within the Locality Budget fund for allocation in future years, as outlined in Section 3.2 of Report No: GWP/SE/15/002.