Agenda and minutes

Venue: Monkfield Room, First Floor. View directions

Contact: 03450 450 500 Email: Democratic.Services@scambs.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Sue Ellington sent Apologies for Absence and sent Mark Howell as a substitute.

2.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

Councillor Jose Hales reminded members of the Grants Advisory Committee that he was a trustee of the Melbourn Warden Scheme and that his wife is employed by the Scheme as a board member.

 

Councillors Claire Daunton and Mark Howell commented that they were life members of Denny Abbey.

3.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 121 KB

To authorise the Chairman to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 30 August 2019 as a correct record.

Minutes:

The Grants Advisory Committee authorised the Chairman to sign, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 30 August 2019.

4.

Review of the Mobile Warden Scheme - Lesley McFarlane pdf icon PDF 313 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

This item was deferred to a future meeting to obtain further information.

5.

Community Chest: Funding Applications pdf icon PDF 243 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman had agreed that this item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency, because Gamlingay Out of School's Club had already been required to purchase the shed. This is because the shed was being kept on Gamlingay Village Primary School land and therefore the project needed to be completed by the end of the school holidays. The group had secured funding elsewhere but needed an additional £495 to complete the project. Given that the money had to be spent the club would have had to pay additional costs such as interest rates if the application had to wait until the next committee meeting.

 

On 27 September the Grants Advisory Committee reviewed all new applications received between 1 and 31 August 2019.

 

Following consideration of the applications, the Committee made the following recommendations to the Finance Portfolio Holder:

 

 

Applicant

Village(s) affected

Description

Total applied for (£)

Total recomm

ended (£)

Additional conditions/ comments

 

1

 

Coton Village Hall

 

Coton primarily but also neighbouring villages

 

 

To upgrade their audio-visual equipment

 

1,000.00

 

 

1,000.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

 

1st Papworth Scouts Group

 

Papworth Everard

 

 

 

 

To purchase dining shelters, tables and benches

 

1,000.00

 

 

1,000.00

 

 

 

 

3

 

Gamlingay School’s Out Club

 

Gamlingay

 

 

To help purchase a large timber storage shed

 

495.00

 

 

495.00

 

 

 

6.

Grants Report for 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 158 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Williams commented that whilst reviewing grants, the committee should be looking at the value for money that it provides as a main policy of the Council. As such, it was agreed that a value for money statement would be added to the criteria for all grant funding when it came up for review. The committee noted that this was not simply financial value for money, but also what value it would provide to the given community. It was also agreed to include value for money implications on all grant reports produced by officers.

 

Having regard to the above, it was agreed to put a statement in the grants section of the Council website that all groups would be expected to provide value for money. As such, upon a review of the application forms, a value for money section was to be added.

 

It was suggested that the funding contracts for the Mobile Warden Schemes could be increased to a 3-year period. It was concluded that this would be looked at in the upcoming review of the Mobile Warden Schemes.

 

The Committee expressed concern at non-profit organisations having the capacity to provide a report every 6 months. It was agreed that any organisations annually receiving more than £15,000 must provide a report every 6 months, all other organisation would only be under an obligation to produce a yearly report unless otherwise requested by the committee.

 

Councillor John Williams noted that Farmland Museum were supposed to have provided a 6 month report on their progress which the committee had not yet seen. It was agreed that officers would endeavour to bring such a report to the November meeting of the Grants Advisory Committee.

 

It was agreed, that the funding from the now defunct Elite Athlete Scheme would be transferred to the Community Chest Grant. It was agreed that Aaron Clarke would check the constitution delegated such a power to the Lead Cabinet Members for Finance.

 

It was agreed that Aaron Clarke would check the minutes of the Grants Advisory Committee to attempt to identify a decision for all grants to be dealt with by the committee and circulate this information to the relevant people.

 

It was agreed that Aaron Clarke would write to all elected Members to inform them that the second tranche of community chest funding was about to be released.

 

It was agreed that a review of all grant schemes would be placed on the agenda of the January meeting of the Grants Advisory Committee.

 

It was agreed that Lesley McFarlane would circulate data on the self-funding school holidays sports and athletic camps run by South Cambridgeshire District Council as a good news story.

 

Claire Daunton queried if officers could produce a map of where the community chest grants had been awarded.

 

John Williams commended the officers for all their hard work.

 

7.

Date of next meeting

Minutes:

The next scheduled Grants Advisory Committee would be on Friday 25 October 2019, starting at 10:00am.