Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Phillip French and Derek Redhead.

The following substitution was declared:

David Nettleton substituting for Derek Redhead.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2015 (copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2015 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Report No:   GWP/SE/15/002

The Working Party considered Report No: GWP/SE/15/002 (previously circulated), which sought endorsement of the proposals regarding proposed new grant funding arrangements and for the locality budget scheme to be continued with revisions following the review of its pilot in 2014/2015.

A new approach was proposed to support families and communities, as provided in textual and diagrammatic form in the report, which aimed to simplify the present arrangements and funding types, with differing degrees of devolution of control to local communities.

The following proposed three funding streams were:

(a)     Locality Budgets;

(b)     Community Chest; and

(c)     Portfolio Holder Budgets.

The paper provided further details on the remit of each of the above and examples of the types of grant that would typically derive from each stream.

The new approach aimed to promote each Ward Member’s role as a community leader and for championing their own communities.  Emphasis was placed upon achieving a successful balance between Council and community initiated funding.

Section 2 provided details of the Locality Budget Scheme review and proposed revisions to the scheme following its successful pilot in 2014/2015.

The following appendices were attached to the report.

Appendix A: Criteria for community grant funding;

Appendix B: revised councillor guidance for the Locality Budget Scheme; and

Appendix C: a revised application form for use with the Locality Budget Scheme.

The officers informed that a revision to Recommendation (2) provided in the report was required, as the proposed delegation should be to the Head of Service, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, and not to the Portfolio Holder him/herself.

New Approach Grant Funding Arrangements

The Working Party firstly considered the proposed changes to the grants process, which included the establishment of a Community Chest and introducing delegations within that funding stream to enable the Head of Families and Communities, in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder to award grants up to the value of £10,000.

£10,000 was considered to be significant amount of money to be allocated under the above delegation and the Working Party expressed an interest in remaining involved in discussions should the Head of Service and Portfolio Holder need to consider granting funding using these delegated powers.  It was therefore suggested that the Working Party should be consulted by email on grants proposed to be awarded under this delegation in a similar way that was applied when determining applications made under the existing Rural Initiatives Grant Scheme (as outlined in Appendix A).   This proposal was accepted by Members and together with the revisions to the delegations outlined above, this proposal was included as an additional recommendation as (2)(b) below.

During the discussion of this item, Members noted that the existing Rural Initiatives Grant Scheme would continue as a ring-fenced grant within the Community Chest until all of the remaining £67,444 had been allocated. A formal decision would need to be taken by Cabinet and Council as part of the budget setting process as to whether or not to replenish this fund and if so, by how much.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

No dates for an ordinary meeting in the 2015/2016 civic year have been proposed at this stage. The Borough Council’s Elections are scheduled for May 2015 and therefore membership of the Working Party may change by the time it meets again in late 2015.

The next meeting will therefore be arranged nearer the time in consultation with the Working Party.

It was noted that no dates for an ordinary meeting in the 2015/2016 civic year had been proposed at this stage. The Borough Council’s Elections were scheduled for May 2015 and therefore membership of the Working Party may change by the time it met again in late 2015.

The next meeting would therefore be arranged nearer the time in consultation with the Working Party.

In the meantime, the officers would continue to consult current Working Party Members on grant applications submitted under the Rural Initiatives Grant Scheme, and also consult on any new applications for core funding or those due to come under review, by email.