Agenda and minutes

No substitutions were required.

It was proposed, seconded and

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Angela Rushen be elected Chairman of the Grant Working Party for 2016/2017.

The Chairman then welcomed Councillor Diane Hind to her first meeting of the Working Party. Membership of the Working Party had been increased from seven to eight Members in July 2016.

No apologies for absence were received.

It was proposed, seconded and

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Jim Thorndyke be elected Vice-Chairman of the Grant Working Party for 2016/2017.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2016 (copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Rural Initiative Grants Scheme (RIGS) allocations 2016/2017

Funding has been ‘deallocated’ following conversations with the applicants and the outgoing Chairman of the Working Party in respect of the following projects:

With these funds added the remaining RIGS balance stands at £52,370.56

The Working Party is asked to NOTE the above update on the Rural Initiatives Grant Scheme.

The Working Party received and noted a narrative item which provided an update on the Rural Initiatives Grant Scheme.

Members noted that as at 1 September 2016, six projects had been allocated funding totalling £46,497 during the financial year 2016/2017.  However, £19,423 of RIGS funding previously allocated to three projects had been reallocated to the RIGS fund following conversations with the applicant and the Chairman of the Working Party.  A balance of £52,370.56 therefore remained. 

Whilst a balance of £52,370 currently remained in the RIGS fund, this budget allocation was a finite capital sum and once all funding had been allocated to projects, Members acknowledged that no additional monies would be forthcoming.  A suggestion was made by the officers to reduce the maximum amount that may be applied for under this scheme from £10,000 to £5,000, which would help enable the total balance remaining to be allocated to a greater number of projects and for RIGS to continue for a longer period. 

Match-funding for projects may therefore take longer to be sought; however, officers would continue to support parishes and community groups to access appropriate funding sources and dedicate sufficient time to ensuring other essential elements were in place for enabling the project to come to fruition.

The Working Party considered however, that a maximum of £5,000 was too low, as Members felt this could restrict the development of some projects altogether.  An alternative proposal of £7,500 maximum funding was therefore agreed and would be recommended to Cabinet for approval.

A discussion was then held on encouraging Ward Members to ensure sufficient detail was provided in applications for RIGS grants to help the Working Party make an informed decision on whether an application met the criteria for awarding a grant or not.

RECOMMENDED:

That the criteria for the Rural Initiative Grant Scheme (RIGS) be amended so that the maximum amount that may be applied for under this scheme is reduced from £10,000 to £7,500.

Report No: GWP/SE/16/002

The Working Party considered Report No: GWP/SE/16/002, which provided monitoring reports of the projects that were granted Community Chest funding for 2016/2017.

The report updated the Working Party on the first quarter monitoring of the respective projects listed in paragraph 1.1.3 from April 2016 to June 2016, and sought clarity on how Members wished to receive this information in the future.

The information in Section 1.2 had been provided by each of the 11 organisations.

A discussion was held and Members considered it was useful to be kept informed on progress of each project. Questions were asked on a number of projects, to which the officers provided comprehensive responses.  In response to a particular question, the officer informed the Working Party that investigations would be undertaken to ascertain whether the Voluntary Network’s Community Car Service could be better publicised to ensure potential users could easily access the service.

As suggested in Section 2, the Working Party considered whether it should receive future quarterly monitoring reports by email to keep Members updated on progress. This suggestion was agreed, including that the Working Party would be satisfied to receive the full report as provided by each organisation rather than a summarised version produced by the officers.   If it was considered that further information or discussion was required that warranted the convening of a meeting, the Chairman could make this decision accordingly.

RESOLVED: That

(1)     the content of Section 1 of Report No: GWP/SE/16/002 be noted; and

(2)     as suggested in Section 2, future quarterly monitoring reports be circulated by email to the Working Party to keep Members updated on progress of the projects supported through Community Chest.

The Working Party is requested to NOTE the following date for a future meeting in 2016:

·         Monday 7 November: to consider applications submitted for 2017/18 Community Chest funding

The meeting will commence at 5pm, in GFR14 at West Suffolk House.

The Working Party noted that the next meeting would be held on Monday 7 November 2016 at 5pm in GFR-14 at West Suffolk House.  This meeting had primarily been arranged to consider applications submitted for 2017/2018 Community Chest funding.

Members noted that a total allocation of £332,000 was available in the Community Chest fund for 2017/2018.  Applications to this fund closed on 30 September 2016.

Summaries of each application received would be provided in the report to be considered at the meeting on 7 November 2016, but the officers would also circulate the full application via email ahead of the meeting itself.