Decision details

On 26 November 2021 Grants Advisory Committee met to consider making several amendments to the Community Chest Grant (CCG) Criteria, proposed as follows:

1.    To include biodiversity grants (formerly Wildlife Enhancement grants) as a £10,000 ringfenced fund within the CCG grants criteria.  Bringing this fund in line with the CCG provides a transparent application process and could result in more than the original £10,000 being allocated towards biodiversity. Parish Councils would be eligible to apply for this funding as they are for the Council’s Zero Carbon Communities (ZCC) funding if they are not already in receipt of a grant from the Council’s ZCC fund for the same financial year. 

2.    To include a one-off allocation of £50,000 from existing and available Council post-Covid funding into the CCG for Community Led Plans work and distribute in accordance with the CCG criteria. This sum would be allocated from adoption of the changes until the end of the current Community-Led Plan project (October 2023, in line with officer resources).This money will not fund projects that result from creation of a Community-Led Plan and is only for the creation of the Community-Led Plan itself.

3.    To increase the upper CCG grant limit of £1,000 to £2,000 this will allow community groups and, where appropriate, parish councils to request a larger contribution to their projects. The cost of materials and equipment is increasing across the board and since most CCG applications are for the maximum award of £1,000 towards a greater project cost.  CCG funding is historically this fund is underspent. By increasing the maximum award to £2,000 it is more likely that remaining funds will be spent by the year end and a full allocation can be made in future years.

4.    To amend CCG criteria to include Community Interest Companies are eligible for CCG funding as this is not stated explicitly in the criteria and, this should be mentioned for the sake of clarity.

To accept the recommendation (Option 1) of the Grants Advisory Committee.

The report and proposed revisions were considered in detail by the Grants Advisory Committee and there is sufficient budget available.

The Committee was asked to consider the options below and then make recommendations to the lead member for finance accordingly.

Option 2 - to approve the recommendations with amendments, giving details

Option 3 - to select and approve from the list of recommendations, giving reasons and details of any refusals or changes

Option 4 - to refuse all recommendations, giving reasons.