Agenda item

Members of the Public are welcome to put forward budget proposals for the expenditure of the £25,000 general budget allocated to the Area Committee. There is also a specific sports budget of £10,000. The Committee has previously agreed to divide the budgets equally among the three wards covered by the Area Committee.

The City Council’s Cabinet makes the final approval on expenditure of the budget. The expenditure already considered by the Cabinet is attached to the papers.

If residents do wish to put forward proposals for expenditure of the budget, they can either raise it at the meeting or forward it to the Committee Administrator, who will ensure it is raised at the next meeting. Councillors on the Area Committee will then decide which requests are to be forwarded to the Cabinet for final approval. It would be helpful if as much detail as possible can be provided with regard to the request, including costings.

There are three requests for funding which have been received, they are attached to the papers.

The Committee had a budget of £25,000 for general matters and £10,000 for sports. Details of the amounts that had already been spent out of the budget were included with the agenda papers.

The meeting heard representations from residents and representatives regarding proposals for expenditure of the Area Committee budget.

Bid from Aylestone Farm Horse Owners

Miranda White submitted a request for £1500 to fund consultants to consider whether proposals to provide better facilities for horse riders would be feasible. Officers provided an email which stated that they could provide the service free of charge to find out whether the proposals were feasible. It was recommended that any funding from the Area Committee would be better spent on carrying out works rather than funding consultants. It was agreed to hold a meeting between interested parties and officers from the Council to find a way forward on this matter.

Employment of Extra Advice Worker to Clear Backlog

Saffron Resources Centre submitted a request for £2400 to employ an experienced sessional advice worker.

The Chair stated that he would defer this item to the next meeting as neither of the ward Councillors were in attendance. It was part of the agreed procedure that Councillors from the ward affected must give their support to any budget proposal.

Peter Thomson commented that this was disappointing. He asked that a quick decision on this issue be provided.

Magpie Youth Centre – AXLR8 Motorbike Project

Gwynneth Carter and two young people introduced the request for £4000 for the AXLR8 motorbike project which aimed to give young people active involvement and participation in a programme around safer motorbike experiences and awareness.

Members of the Committee agreed to recommend to Cabinet that funding be as follows:- £3000 from the general budget, £500 from the sport budget and £500 from crime reduction funding.

Eyres Monsell Club for Young People

Louise Kaufman introduced a request from the Eyres Monsell Club for Young People for a grant of between £1000-2000 to enable the club to undertake repairs to the fabric of the building because it has problems with leaking radiators, damp carpets and a faulty heating system.

Members of the Committee agreed to recommend to Cabinet to support the Club up to a maximum of £2000 to help with capital repairs to the building.

Saffron Out of School and Saffron Community Enterprises – supported by St. Christopher’s Church

A request for a total of £1900 was made by the above organisations. This was for the purposes of bringing back in to use, the vicarage located on the corner of Marriot Road and Whitwell Row. Some of the money would be used to upgrade the premises telephone, security and electrical systems. The rest of the money would be used as rent for the premises for two months, gas and electricity and telephone charges.

Karen Pickering explained that following the proposed closure of Unit 9 of Linwood Workshops Saffron Community Enterprises and Saffron Out of School would lose their premises. It was therefore proposed to lease the vicarage to house these activities.

The Chair queried if Unit 9 Linwood Workshops were to remain open, would the grant still be required. Karen confirmed that the grant wouldn’t be needed if they still had use of Unit 9, but they had been given clear indications that Unit 9 would definitely be closed down.

The Chair then moved a recommendation:-

that the Committee recommends to Cabinet that the means be found to ensure that Unit 9 Linwood Workshops remains open to community groups.

Peter Thomson requested that a decision be made quickly and that should it not remain open for use, that the request for £1900 be considered for funding as soon as possible.

Saffron Resource Centre Education Advice

Peter Thomson from Saffron Resource Centre introduced a request for £4000 funding to pay for an education advice worker and related costs for 40 days in February and March.

The Chair commented again that this was a Freemen ward issue and as no Councillors were present the Committee were unable to provide support at the current time.

Gates on Meadow Gardens

Councillor Ramsdale noted that Councillor Keeling had previously expressed a desire to provide gates / fencing outside the car parks on Meadow Gardens at a cost of £1000.

Residents spoke in support of this proposal, noting that it had been requested for the past two years.

The Area Housing Manager spoke in support of this proposal as did Councillor Porter who noted strong support for the gates at a residents meeting.

As Councillor Keeling had previously indicated he was in favour of providing the gates, the Committee agreed to support this proposal.

Other Matters

Councillor Farmer indicated that for future budgets he wished to see funding for Eyres Monsell Carnival and for elderly peoples projects.