Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Swansley Room A, Ground Floor. View directions

Contact: Patrick Adams  03450 450 500

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

Councillor Kevin Cuffley declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 4 regarding the grant application from Sawston Scene, as a local member for the Sawston ward.

2.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 69 KB

The Portfolio Holder is asked to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2014 as a correct record.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2014 were agreed as a correct record.

 

It was noted that following discussions made at the last meeting, the Deputy Leader had agreed to award a Community Chest grant of £1,000 to the Willingham Photography Club. The Leader had declined to make a decision on this matter as he was the local member for Willingham.

3.

Grants to Voluntary Sector: 6-Monthly Update Report pdf icon PDF 146 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

The Leader

 

AGREED

 

A)           The continued provision of grant assistance to the current grant recipients issued through the Service Support Grant fund (subject to three year funding agreements) as agreed (Joint Portfolio Holders Meeting September 23 2013).

 

B)           The opening of a further round of grant applications under the Community Transport theme of the Service Support Grant fund, providing a further £8,461 of additional support to the Community Transport sector this financial year.

Minutes:

The Development Officer presented this item, which detailed the grant programmes funded by the Council during the first six months of 2014/15 and sought the approval of the Leader for the continued provision of grant assistance under the Service Support Grant and the further funding of grant applications under the Community Transport theme of the Service Support Grant.

 

Citizens Advice Bureaux

The Development Officer agreed to ascertain what the term “essential” meant with regard to “Cable/Satellite/Digital TV” and “mobile phone” regarding the advice given on debt types.

 

The Partnerships and Sustainable Communities Manager explained that the Council had not received requests for funding from Citizens Advice Bureaux in Bedford, St Neots and St Ives and the authority had insufficient funds in its budget to fund these bodies in addition to the Bureaux already funded.

 

Community transport

It was noted that there were community transport schemes within the District that had not applied to the Council for funding.

 

It was understood that the County Council was likely to reduce its funding for community transport, including the Dial-a-ride scheme. It was noted that to meet the criteria for a Service Support Grant a service would need to be available to more than one parish.

 

The Development Officer stated that voluntary drivers did not require PGV licences.

 

The Leader

 

NOTED           The delivery of all other grant programmes within the scope of this report, as currently delivered.

 

The Leader

 

AGREED

 

A)           The continued provision of grant assistance to the current grant recipients issued through the Service Support Grant fund (subject to three year funding agreements) as agreed (Joint Portfolio Holders Meeting September 23 2013).

 

B)           The opening of a further round of grant applications under the Community Transport theme of the Service Support Grant fund, providing a further £8,461 of additional support to the Community Transport sector this financial year.

4.

Community Chest: Funding Applications pdf icon PDF 138 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

The Leader

 

AGREED        to receive the proposed virement of £10,000 from the Community Development budget into the Community Chest for allocation in 2014/15.

 

The Leader AGREED the following grants

 

 

Name of applicant

Project description

Type of project

Total cost of project (£)

Total applied for (£)

Total grant awarded (£)

 

Grantchester Parish Council

Supply and planting of hedgerow along bridleway to Barton

Tree and hedge planting scheme

5,717

1,500

1,500

 

Sawston Scene

Late night shopping events

Other

700

600

600

 

TOTAL

2,100

 

Minutes:

The Sustainable Communities and Partnerships Manager presented this report, which invited the Leader to consider allocating £10,000 from the Community Development Budget to the Council’s Community Chest for 2014/15 and then consider the latest applications for funding from the grant funding scheme.

 

The Sustainable Communities and Partnerships Manager was confident that if £10,000 was vired into the Community Chest budget, there would be sufficient demand to allocate it during 2014/15.

 

The Sustainable Communities and Partnerships Manager confirmed that the grant request from Sawston Scene for late night shopping events was for set up costs and so met the grant criteria.

 

The Leader

 

AGREED        to receive the proposed virement of £10,000 from the Community Development budget into the Community Chest for allocation in 2014/15.

 

The Leader AGREED the following grants

 

 

Name of applicant

Project description

Type of project

Total cost of project (£)

Total applied for (£)

Total grant awarded (£)

 

Grantchester Parish Council

Supply and planting of hedgerow along bridleway to Barton

Tree and hedge planting scheme

5,717

1,500

1,500

 

Sawston Scene

Late night shopping events

Other

700

600

600

 

TOTAL

2,100

 

5.

Green Deal Partnership - Progress Report pdf icon PDF 148 KB

Minutes:

The Sustainable Communities and Partnerships Manager presented this report, which gave an update on the progress of the Green Deal Partnership in furthering the delivery of energy performance improvement measures for private housing in the district.

 

The Sustainable Communities and Partnerships Manager explained that there was funding for the installation of 1,000 solid wall insulations across Cambridgeshire and 175 Green Deal assessments had been carried out in the county.

 

The Sustainable Communities and Partnerships Manager explained that the Council’s Risk Register had been amended to include the possibility of the authority failing to meet the DECC Green Deal Communities Fund targets within the agreed timescales due to a slow take up of the installation measures and/or a poor service offered by the service provider. She added that the Council was working with the provider and carefully monitoring the contract to try and ensure that this did not happen.

 

The Sustainable Communities and Partnerships Manager reported that the cost of the assessment had been reduced from £99 to £29 and where solid wall insulation is sought the assessment cost could be redeemed against the cost of any work carried out under the scheme.

 

The Leader expressed the opinion that the national scheme could benefit from being simplified and then NOTED the report.

 

6.

Date of Next Meeting

Please bring your diaries.

Minutes:

The Leader AGREED to hold his next meeting on Thursday 29 January 2015 at 11am.