Agenda and minutes

There were no Apologies for Absence.

With respect to Minute 4, Councillor Jose Hales declared that he was a trustee of the Melbourne Mobile Warden Scheme. Councillor Sue Ellington declared that she was a member of the Community Warden Scheme in Swavesey.

With respect to Minute 6, Councillor Sue Ellington declared that she was a member of Swavesey Parish Council, who had applied to the grant fund, but that she had taken no part in the application process.

To authorise the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 30 June 2023 as a correct record.

The Democratic Services Officer advised the Committee that officers had proposed amendments to the Minutes of the meeting held on 30 June 2023 which were as follows:

Minute 6- The paragraph following Councillor Jose Hales returning to the Committee was amended to read:

“The Committee discussed the promotion options available and the needs of the various funded schemes in the district and highlighted that some schemes may have requirements for more than £2,000 of funding whilst others may not have the need for the full £2,000. It was concluded that a targeted approach to promotion would likely be more effective than running a grant scheme. It was also suggested that it would be beneficial to hold consultations with Cambridgeshire County Council on how the Care Together Seed Funding could be used in this way.”

Minute 7- The first bullet point was amended to read:

“Some schemes were still recovering from the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The second bullet point was amended to read:

“Most schemes were running at a deficit and there was a need to assess how to manage this.”

The penultimate paragraph was amended to read:

“The Lead Cabinet Member for Resources (Councillor John Williams) and Lead Cabinet Member for Communities (Councillor Bill Handley) stated that the approach to the future of the Mobile Warden Scheme grant fund would be taken away and discussed with Cambridgeshire County Council, with a decision to be made by September in advance of the budget.”

The Committee agreed to the changes by affirmation. With the amendments, the Committee authorised the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 30 June 2023 as a correct record, by affirmation.

The Development Officer (Communities Team) presented the report and clarified that a decision had been made to allocate £7,500 of the funding at the previous meeting, and the recommendation in front of the Committee was for the deferred allocation of the remaining £21,000.

Members expressed reservations about the effectiveness of using the funding for promotion. It was felt that the concerns raised at the last meeting had not been fully addressed by the changes to the criteria and that most schemes had tried the examples listed on page 13 of the report. Members felt that traditional fundraising methods for Mobile Warden Schemes (MWS) were unlikely to be sufficient in the future and it was stated that the County Council and Integrated Care System (ICS) needed to be more creative with their approach to funding MWS.

Members representatives of the ICS be invited to a discussion on the work undertaken by MWS and how they could be effectively funded, once the data from Rose Regeneration had been received. The Committee felt that another deferral would not be appropriate and that the recommendation in the report was the best course of action.

Councillor John Williams joined the meeting remotely

The Committee recommended to the Lead Cabinet Member for Resources that £21,000 of the Cambridgeshire County Council Care Together Seed Funding be allocated through a one-off grant scheme administered by SCDC, using the criteria laid out in Appendix A of the report.

The Development Officer (Communities Team) presented the report. The Committee reviewed the applications to the Community Chest Grant funding scheme received between 6 May 2023 to 6 June 2023.

After consideration of the applications, the Committee recommended to the Lead Cabinet Member for Resources that the application from:

• Bar Hill Village Hall (FKMCBWSZ) be approved and funded at the full amount requested of £2,000.

• The Well-brahams (GRLQHPMG) be approved and funded at the full amount requested of £1,300. Members requested that an update on the progress of the group be brought to the Committee at a later date.

• Cottenham Community Centre (KBMBWFCQ) be approved and funded at the full amount requested of £250. Members advised that the Community Centre should approach the Parish Council for funding in future.

• EDGE Community Youth Club (ZFPZXJJN) be approved and funded at the full amount requested of £1,092.24.

• Swavesey Parish Council (ZBJPCSSH) be approved and funded at the full amount requested of £329.71, with the funding to be drawn from the Community Chest rather than the Biodiversity fund.

The Project Officer (Climate and Environment) presented the report and informed the Committee that the application from Landbeach Village Hall was for £15,000, rather than £14,000 as listed in Appendix A of the report, and it was recommended that the full amount be awarded. The total recommendation for funding was subsequently £125,90.67 and the Project Officer advised that this was £900.67 over the allocated funding, but this could be absorbed by an underspend from a project funded in previous rounds of the grant. It was also clarified that the application from Townley Memorial Hall had been listed as having a funding recommendation of £4,000 in table in error and no funding was recommended.

The Vice-Chairs of the Climate and Environment Advisory Committee, Councillors Dr Martin Cahn and Geoff Harvey, were present and stated that they agreed with the Officer Panel Scores and Funding Recommendations, as laid out in Appendix A of the report. Comment was made on the variations in costs between projects that appeared to be quite similar with regard to PV panels, and it was suggested that expanded guidance on costs and energy efficiency be given to future applicants. The Project Officer advised that some applications were for part funding of a wider scheme which could account for some variances in cost and agreed to explore expanding guidance to include information on averages for PV panels. The Lead Cabinet Member for Resources commented that he had been through the applications and was happy with the recommendation.

After consideration of the applications, the Committee agreed to recommend to the Lead Cabinet Member for Resources that:

The following applications in the carbon emission reduction/ locking up carbon category of the Zero Carbon Communities Grant fund for 2023/24 be approved and awarded the full amount requested (of):

• Wysing Arts Centre – (£15,000)

• Duxford Community Centre – (£15,000)

• Hope Against Poverty – (£15,000)

• Swavesey Squash Club (Cavity Wall) – (£1,484)

• Milton Community Centre – (£8,321.87)

• Landbeach Village Hall – (£15,000)

The following applications in the community engagement on climate change category of the Zero Carbon Communities Grant fund for 2023/24 be approved and awarded the full amount requested (of):

• Cambridge Carbon Footprint (Repair Cafes) – (£15,000)

• Cambridge Carbon Footprint (Thermal Imaging) – (£11,095)

• Cambridge Sustainable Food (£15,000)

• Let’s Cook Project – (£15,000)

To inform the Committee that the next meeting will be held on 24 August 2023

The Committee was informed that the next meeting was due to be held on Thursday 24 August 2023.