Agenda, decisions and minutes

None.

The Portfolio Holder is asked to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2015 as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2015 were agreed as a correct record, subject to the following amendments:

·         The last sentence of the first paragraph on minute 3 was amended to read: “The general welfare advice budget had been reduced by 15% in year 3 of the current programme, which has been observed in the proposed programme and historical inflationary pressures have also been taken into account.”

·         In the paragraph under the heading “Fit to Learn” the word “strength” was added after the word “co-ordination”.

·         The paragraph under the heading “Independent Living” was amended to read “… supported the effectiveness of befriending schemes and the Council was working in partnership”.

The Leader explained that he had taken the decision to pass responsibility for the Sustainable Energy Partnership and the wider issue of tackling the effects of climate change to the Corporate and Customer Services portfolio. The decision to establish a webpage to bring together all of the Council’s sustainability work in one place and signpost to relevant organisations’ website still stood, whilst the decision to disband the Sustainable Energy Partnership at the end of March 2016 had been rescinded.

In the absence of a representative from Weston Colville, this item was withdrawn from the agenda.

The Leader AGREED the following grants:

The Development Officer presented this report, which invited the Leader to consider applications for Community Chest Grants for 2015/16. The Sustainable Communities and Partnerships Manager explained that an applicant had returned £1,500 to the scheme’s budget after a project had not gone ahead. As a consequence the funds available increased to £3,008.25. The Leader explained that the maximum he would award to each applicant was £1,000, as there were insufficient funds to award grants of £1,500 to all applicants and the maximum awarded at September’s meeting was also £1,000. The Leader examined each application in turn.

Caxton Parish Council – “thank you for driving carefully” signs

The Leader noted that there were other funding streams available for these signs, the Council had rejected similar applications in the past and there were plans to amend the scheme’s criteria to exclude the funding of such signage. The Leader decided not to award a grant to this applicant.

Great and Little Abington Parochial Church Council – to repair radiators

The Leader noted that this application met the scheme’s criteria and agreed to award a grant of £1,000.

Linton Action for Youth – to repair leaking roof

The Leader noted that this application met the scheme’s criteria and agreed to award a grant of £460.

Steeple Morden Parish Council – to repair and refurbish the war memorial

The Leader noted that this application met the scheme’s criteria and agreed to award a grant of £1,000.

The Sustainable Communities and Partnerships Manager reported that the 2015/16 scheme was now closed. Any new applications would have to be considered from 5 April 2016.

The Leader AGREED the following grants:

The next meeting will be held on Thursday 12 November at 4pm.

Those present noted that the next meeting will be held on Thursday 12 November 2015 at 4pm.