Agenda item - Community Chest and Theatre Royal Grants 2022 to 2023 (Report number: CAB/WS/22/009)

Agenda item

Community Chest and Theatre Royal Grants 2022 to 2023 (Report number: CAB/WS/22/009)

Report number:     CAB/WS/22/009

Portfolio holders: Councillors Robert Everitt and Joanna Rayner

Lead officer: Davina Howes

Decision:

Resolved:

That:

 

A.       Recommendations of the Grant Working Party: Community Chest

         

1.       the allocation of Community Chest funding for 2022 to 2023, be approved, namely:

 

a.       Reach Community Projects, Newmarket        £5,000

b.       West Suffolk Citizens Advice, West Suffolk    £215,000

c.       Abbeycroft Leisure, West Suffolk         £10,992

d.       Mildenhall and District Sea Cadets, Mildenhall£6,000

e.       Moreton Hall Youth Action Group, Bury St Edmunds£12,520

f.       Suffolk Accident and Rescue Service (SARS), West Suffolk£10,000

g.       West Suffolk Hive CIC, West Suffolk    £1,880

h.       Alumah CIO, Brandon      £4,058

i.        Bury Women’s Aid, West Suffolk £16,225

j.        Hope After Suicide Loss, West Suffolk£14,175

k.       Relate, West Suffolk        £3,750

l.        Room 4, Haverhill  £4,680

m.      Suffolk Rape Crisis, West Suffolk         £7,000

n.       The Befriending Scheme, Haverhill      £5,267

o.       Homestart in Suffolk, West Suffolk      £5,700

p.       Homestart Mid and West Suffolk, West Suffolk        £15,000

q.       Sharing Parenting – Community Outreach, Newmarket

          £5,400

r.       Sharing Parenting – SEN Parent Support, West Suffolk     £12,480

s.       Still Good Food CIO, Bury St Edmunds£7,400

t.       Art Branches CIC, West Suffolk£10,776

u.       Memories are Golden CIO, Haverhill    £5,100

v.       Millennium Farm Trust, West Suffolk   £5,000

w.      St Nicholas Hospice Trust, West Suffolk        £20,000

x.       Steel Bones, West Suffolk£5,500

y.       The Shed, West Row        £5,000

z.       Bury Drop In, Bury St Edmunds£10,000

aa.     Gatehouse Caring, Bury St Edmunds   £10,000

bb.     Our Special Friends, West Suffolk        £10,000

cc.     The Voluntary Network, West Suffolk  £14,430

dd.     Wood Monkey CIC, West Suffolk          £8,400

 

2.       No Community Chest funding be awarded for two years for the reasons outlined in paragraph 3.3 of Report number: CAB/WS/22/009.

 

3.       For the reasons set out in paragraph 3.5.2 of Report number: CAB/WS/22/009, no Community Chest funding for 2022 to 2023 be awarded to:

 

a.       Abbey 1000, West Suffolk

b.       All Saints Under Fives Pre-School, Newmarket

c.       Brandon Creative Forum, Brandon

d.       Bury Christian Youth, Bury St Edmunds

e.       Cavendish Bowls Club, Cavendish

f.       Clare Swimming Club, Clare

g.       Dance East, West Suffolk

h.       Mildenhall Girl Guides, Mildenhall

i.        St Peter’s Church, Brandon

j.        Suffolk Young People’s Health Project, West Suffolk

k.       Brandon in Bloom, Brandon

l.        Greener Growth CIC, West Suffolk

m.      Haverhill Community Trust – Volunteer Centre, Haverhill

n.       SOS Bus CIO, Newmarket

o.       The Tree Action Society of Clare (TASC), Clare

p.       Beck Row Methodist Church, Beck Row

q.       Honington and Sapiston Village Hall, Honington and Sapiston

r.       Lidgate Village Hall, Lidgate

s.       Suffolk Building Preservation Trust Limited, Pakenham

t.       Freedom Bury St Edmunds CIC, Bury St Edmunds

u.       Restitute CIC, West Suffolk

v.       Suffolk Family Carers, West Suffolk

w.      Suffolk Mind, West Suffolk

x.       The Lightwave Community CIO, Red Lodge and Beck Row

y.       St John’s Church, Beck Row

z.       Newmarket Community Arts Centre Forum, Newmarket

 

B.       Core Funding: Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

 

That a grant of £61,000 core funding be approved for the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds for 2022 to 2023, ahead of a wider review of funding in time for the 2023 to 2024 award, as set out in Appendix 2 to Report number: CAB/WS/22/009.

Minutes:

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 2022 to 2023 financial year. Approval was also sought for a separate core funding grant to the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds.

 

Community Chest had £466,733 available for allocation for 2022 to 2023.  No project monies have been previously committed and carried forward from 2021 to 2022.

 

Applications for Community Chest funding for 2022 to 2023 closed on 29 October 2021.  A total of 56 applications were considered, totalling £1,19,398.80 from a wide variety of organisations as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.

 

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 2021 and January 2022 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 the scheme was oversubscribed by 256 percent with almost £2 million worth of applications received. 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 56 applications and extremely difficult decisions needed to be made. Having ascertained whether an application firstly met the selection and eligibility criteria, on many occasions, the Working Party felt that the amount it applied for could not be granted in full in 2022 to 2023. This was largely due to the limited funds available and maintaining a fair and equitable approach to all, basing their rationale on the quality of the application and the amount of funding requested. The Working Party had also considered that a proposed reduction for some would not impact on the organisation’s ability to deliver the project, having also acknowledged that many could be signposted to alternative sources of funding to potentially bridge the shortfall should it be required.

 

The majority of the proposed allocations were derived from examining the breakdown of costs of the project contained in the application and proposing that funding be granted to cover that specific element.  In addition, where applications had been made for two years, these had been recommended to be limited to one year funding only, for the reasons given in paragraph 3.3 of the report.

 

Councillor Thorndyke thanked the Working Party for its work and also officers from the Families and Communities and Democratic Services teams. He particularly commended the depth of knowledge for enabling organisations that were turned down or had a reduction in Community Chest funding to be signposted to alternative grant schemes and sources of funding. This provided some reassurance that projects may still come to fruition.

 

The Cabinet acknowledged the benefits to organisations of the discretionary Community Chest grant scheme and recognised the extremely difficult task undertaken by the Working Party and in light of the constraints it had, members felt the Working Party had made appropriate recommendations that would benefit a range of laudable projects to be delivered across West Suffolk.

 

A discussion was held on the sizeable grant recommended for Citizens Advice West Suffolk (CAWS); however, the value of the organisation to the community, Council and other services in West Suffolk was acknowledged, recognising the importance of their work in supporting residents in need and the delivery of their preventative services. Due to the level of expertise and the Council’s longstanding positive relationship, the Working Party was keen for the Council to support CAWS as best it could within the limited parameters of the Community Chest scheme and budget.

 

In response to questions, the Cabinet was informed that successful recipients of a Community Chest grant were required to submit quarterly monitoring reports to ascertain progress on project delivery. The Working Party was due to meet in March 2022 where a discussion would be held on options for reporting project progress to Cabinet and better promoting success stories.  

 

The Cabinet turned to its consideration of the proposed core funding grant for the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, as set out in Appendix 2.  Having acknowledged that the Council would review the theatre’s recovery plans from COVID-19, together with the Council’s long-term plan to implement a phased reduction to their grant over a three to five year period from 2022 onwards in line with the wider Council’s budget, the Cabinet agreed that funding should be granted at £61,000 for 2022 to 2023.

 

 

Resolved:

That:

 

A.       Recommendations of the Grant Working Party: Community Chest

         

1.       the allocation of Community Chest funding for 2022 to 2023, be approved, namely:

 

a.       Reach Community Projects, Newmarket        £5,000

b.       West Suffolk Citizens Advice, West Suffolk    £215,000

c.       Abbeycroft Leisure, West Suffolk         £10,992

d.       Mildenhall and District Sea Cadets, Mildenhall £6,000

e.       Moreton Hall Youth Action Group, Bury St Edmunds £12,520

f.       Suffolk Accident and Rescue Service (SARS), West Suffolk        £10,000

g.       West Suffolk Hive CIC, West Suffolk    £1,880

h.       Alumah CIO, Brandon                         £4,058

i.        Bury Women’s Aid, West Suffolk          £16,225

j.        Hope After Suicide Loss, West Suffolk £14,175

k.       Relate, West Suffolk                           £3,750

l.        Room 4, Haverhill                               £4,680

m.      Suffolk Rape Crisis, West Suffolk         £7,000

n.       The Befriending Scheme, Haverhill      £5,267

o.       Homestart in Suffolk, West Suffolk      £5,700

p.       Homestart Mid and West Suffolk, West Suffolk        £15,000

q.       Sharing Parenting – Community Outreach, Newmarket

                             £5,400

r.       Sharing Parenting – SEN Parent Support, West Suffolk     £12,480

s.       Still Good Food CIO, Bury St Edmunds £7,400

t.       Art Branches CIC, West Suffolk           £10,776

u.       Memories are Golden CIO, Haverhill    £5,100

v.       Millennium Farm Trust, West Suffolk   £5,000

w.      St Nicholas Hospice Trust, West Suffolk

£20,000

x.       Steel Bones, West Suffolk                   £5,500

y.       The Shed, West Row                           £5,000

z.       Bury Drop In, Bury St Edmunds          £10,000

aa.     Gatehouse Caring, Bury St Edmunds   £10,000

bb.     Our Special Friends, West Suffolk        £10,000

cc.     The Voluntary Network, West Suffolk  £14,430

dd.     Wood Monkey CIC, West Suffolk          £8,400

 

2.       No Community Chest funding be awarded for two years for the reasons outlined in paragraph 3.3 of Report number: CAB/WS/22/009.

 

3.       For the reasons set out in paragraph 3.5.2 of Report number: CAB/WS/22/009, no Community Chest funding for 2022 to 2023 be awarded to:

 

a.       Abbey 1000, West Suffolk

b.       All Saints Under Fives Pre-School, Newmarket

c.       Brandon Creative Forum, Brandon

d.       Bury Christian Youth, Bury St Edmunds

e.       Cavendish Bowls Club, Cavendish

f.       Clare Swimming Club, Clare

g.       Dance East, West Suffolk

h.       Mildenhall Girl Guides, Mildenhall

i.        St Peter’s Church, Brandon

j.        Suffolk Young People’s Health Project, West Suffolk

k.       Brandon in Bloom, Brandon

l.        Greener Growth CIC, West Suffolk

m.      Haverhill Community Trust – Volunteer Centre, Haverhill

n.       SOS Bus CIO, Newmarket

o.       The Tree Action Society of Clare (TASC), Clare

p.       Beck Row Methodist Church, Beck Row

q.       Honington and Sapiston Village Hall, Honington and Sapiston

r.       Lidgate Village Hall, Lidgate

s.       Suffolk Building Preservation Trust Limited, Pakenham

t.       Freedom Bury St Edmunds CIC, Bury St Edmunds

u.       Restitute CIC, West Suffolk

v.       Suffolk Family Carers, West Suffolk

w.      Suffolk Mind, West Suffolk

x.       The Lightwave Community CIO, Red Lodge and Beck Row

y.       St John’s Church, Beck Row

z.       Newmarket Community Arts Centre Forum, Newmarket

 

B.       Core Funding: Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

 

That a grant of £61,000 core funding be approved for the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds for 2022 to 2023, ahead of a wider review of funding in time for the 2023 to 2024 award, as set out in Appendix 2 to Report number: CAB/WS/22/009.

Supporting documents:

 

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