Issue - meetings

Report number:     CAB/WS/21/010

Portfolio holder: Councillor Robert Everitt

Lead officer: Davina Howes

Resolved:

That:

1.       the allocation of Community Chest funding for 2021 to 2022, as previously approved in 2019 to 2020 as part of two-year funding agreements, be noted, (Report number: CAB/WS/20/007 refers) namely:

a.       Reach Community Projects, Haverhill (separate project to that listed in 2a. below) £10,000

b.       Relate, West Suffolk (separate project to that listed in 2m.below) £5,000

2.       The allocation of Community Chest funding for 2021 to 2022, be approved, namely:

a.       Reach Community Projects, Haverhill   £10,000

b.       West Suffolk Citizens Advice, West Suffolk    £204,000

c.       Friends of Priory School, Bury St Edmunds    £5,304

d.       Haverhill Community Trust, Haverhill   £6,900

e.       Student Life, West Suffolk         £5,000

f.       Greener Growth CIC, West Suffolk      £2,660

g.       Suffolk Accident And Rescue Service (SARS), West Suffolk          £10,000

h.       Risby Village Hall, Risby   £1,340

i.        St John’s Church, Beck Row       £2,000

j.        Alumah CIO, Brandon      £5,880

k.       Bury Women’s Aid, West Suffolk £6,280

l.        Fresh Start New Beginnings, West Suffolk     £10,000

m.      Relate, West Suffolk        £5,000

n.       Suffolk Cruse Bereavement, West Suffolk      £5,738

o.       Suffolk Rape Crisis, West Suffolk         £5,625

p.       Best Before Project, Bury St Edmunds £8,740

q.       Epic Dads CIC, West Suffolk      £14,500

r.       Homestart in Suffolk, West Suffolk      £7,000

s.       Homestart Mid and West Suffolk – Forest School, West Suffolk   £9,510

t.       Sharing Parenting – Family Outreach, West Suffolk £13,000

u.       St Peter’s Church, Brandon       £9,623

v.       Art Branches CIC, West Suffolk £9,600

w.      Headway, West Suffolk    £6,240

x.       Millennium Farm Trust, West Suffolk   £6,480

y.       St Nicholas Hospice Trust, West Suffolk        £13,158

z.       Suffolk Mind, West Suffolk         £5,360

aa.     The Shed, West Row        £1,139

bb.     Bury Drop In, Bury St Edmunds £11,996

cc.     Gatehouse, Bury St Edmunds    £15,000

dd.     Lightwave, Red Lodge and Beck Row   £6,000

ee.     Our Special Friends, West Suffolk        £10,660

ff.      The Voluntary Network, West Suffolk  £12,000

gg.     West Suffolk Vineyard Church, Bury St Edmunds    £6,000

3.       No Community Chest funding be awarded for two years for the reasons outlined in paragraph 3.3 of Report number: CAB/WS/21/010

4.       No Community Chest funding for 2021 to 2022 be awarded to:

a.    Babylon Arts West Suffolk

b.    Bury Cricket Club, Bury St Edmunds

c.    Bury Scout Group, Bury St Edmunds

d.    Haverhill Running Club, Haverhill

e.    Ipswich Town Football Club, Brandon

f.     Kinetic Science, West Suffolk

g.    M&L Arts, West Suffolk

h.   Mildenhall Girl Guides, Mildenhall

i.     Mildenhall Sea Scouts, Mildenhall

j.     Newmarket Swimming Club, Newmarket

k.    St Edmundsbury Sailing and Canoe Club, Lackford Lakes

l.     The Racing Centre, Newmarket

m.  The Suffolk Foundation, West Suffolk

n.   Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds (separate project to 5. below)

o.    Bardwell Allotments, Bardwell

p.    Brandon in Bloom, Brandon

q.    Bury Water Meadows Project, Bury St Edmunds

r.    Pakenham Water Mill, Pakenham

s.    Radio West Suffolk, Bury St Edmunds

t.     SOS Bus, Newmarket

u.   West Suffolk Hive, West Suffolk

v.    All Saints Church, Newmarket

w.   Honington and Sapiston Village Hall

x.    Jiggens Memorial Hall and Playing Field, Ixworth

y.    Ousden Village Hall, Ousden

z.    Stansfield Village Hall, Stansfield  ...  view the full decision text for item 225

(Councillor David Roach declared a local non-pecuniary interest in this item in his capacity as a Haverhill Town Councillor; the Town Council is the sole trustee of the Haverhill Community Trust. Councillor Robert Everitt declared a local non-pecuniary interest in this item as a Suffolk County Council appointed observer on the board of the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds. Both members remained in the meeting for the consideration of the item and voted.)

The Cabinet considered this report, which sought approval for the recommendations of the Grant Working Party following its consideration of applications for Community Chest funding in the 2021 to 2022 financial year. Approval was also sought for a separate core funding grant to the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds.

Applications for Community Chest funding for 2021 to 2022 closed on 30 October 2020.  A total of 64 applications were received, totalling £1,661,855.93 from a wide variety of organisations as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.  Due to one application being withdrawn by the applicant and one being received after the deadline, 62 applications were subsequently considered.

The Community Chest budget for 2021 to 2022 was £466,733. £15,000 of the budget was committed in 2019 for second year funding, as listed in the report and noted by the Cabinet. The remaining budget available for 2021 to 2022 was therefore £451,733.

There were a number of potential synergies between the applications and as such they were grouped into various categories as set out in section 2.3 of the report. Each application was required to be evaluated by the Working Party in accordance with the eligibility and selection criteria set out in Appendix 2 of the Grant Working Party report and was considered in turn.

Councillor Robert Everitt, Portfolio Holder for Families and Communities, drew relevant issues to the attention of Cabinet and commended the Grant Working Party for their sterling work and thanked officers that had supported the process. Before making any further comments, with the agreement of the Chair, he invited Councillor Jim Thorndyke, Chair of the Grant Working Party to provide a summary of their work.

Councillor Thorndyke informed Cabinet that the Working Party had met on three occasions in December 2020 and January 2021 to consider each application and to make appropriate recommendations for Community Chest funding (if any). The main challenge faced by the Working Party was that over £1.6 million worth of funding had been applied for and following the removal from the 2021 to 2022 budget of funding already allocated in 2019 as part of two year funding agreements, a budget of just over of £451,733 remained. A significant amount had been applied for by Citizens Advice West Suffolk, and therefore following a sizeable allocation to this organisation, the budget was depleted further for allocation to other applicants. 

Councillor Thorndyke explained that the Working Party spent over 12 hours thoroughly considering each of the 62 applications and extremely difficult decisions needed to be made. Having ascertained whether an application firstly met  ...  view the full minutes text for item 225