Agenda item

Councillors are reminded that they will need to declare any interest they may have in budget applications, and/or indicate that Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

 

Francis Connolly, Member Support Officer will give a brief overview on the current position with regard to the Community Meeting budgets for the current financial year.

 

The following applications have been received for consideration at this meeting:-

 

B1)   Karl Brown - Community Basketball Sessions – request for £1,345 for publicity, equipment and coaching fees.

 

B2)   Children and Parent Alliance (CAPtA) ‘Community Cultural Events –request for £1,375.

 

B3)   Shama Women’s Centre – ‘Be Safe, Be Secure’ – request for £1,525 for the balance towards a new alarm system.

 

B4)   Leicester St George's Festival - request for £1,000 for street bunting

 

B5)   Cultural Quarter Business Association – Music and Arts Festival – request for £6,900 to co-ordinate the event.

 

B6)   Cultural Quarter Business Association  - Cultural Quarter website and social networking – request for £3,500.

 

B7)          SPARKS – Friends of Sparkenhoe – ‘Project Playground’ – request for £2,199 for play equipment.

 

B8)   25yrs Celebration of a Sheltered Housing Scheme Being Open – request for £250 for catering costs.

 

B9)   Friends of Queens Road Allotments - request for £815 for further allotment improvements.

 

B10) Saroj Seth and Prem Kholsa – Lunch Club for Elderly – costs to be confirmed.

 

B11)         Leicester Secular Society – ‘Castle Together’ – request for £700 to enable to expand community use of the hall.

 

B12) Up-grading of street lighting in the St George's Area - request for £3,450

 

B13) St Andrew's Play Association - request for £1,000 for installation of fire alarm system.

Francis Connolly, Member Support Officer gave the meeting a brief update on the current position with regard to the budget. He noted that before the meeting there was approximately £10,000 left in the budget.

 

Councillors noted that even if applications were not successful at this meeting, further applications for next year’s budget could be made within two weeks in the new financial year.

 

A resident queried whether there had been any bids picked up from the Holy Trinity area with regard to Alleygates. The Chair commented that bids had not been received at this meeting but this was the sort of thing that the budget could fund. He also commented that a bid for play equipment could also be considered. Councillors noted that they would be attending a residents’ meeting on the 12 April where this could be discussed further.

 

The following applications were considered and decided upon at the meeting:-

 

B1) Community Basketball Sessions – Publicity, equipment and coaching fees. The bid was for £1,345.

 

Councillors proposed that as the sessions would be taking place in the summer, this application would be considered in the new financial year after April. This was supported.

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be deferred until the new financial year.

 

B2) Children and Parent Alliance -Community Cultural Events. This was a bid for £1065.

 

Councillors proposed to part fund this application at £1000.

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported and £1000 be allocated from the Community Cohesion Fund subject to final approval from the Cabinet Lead for Front Line Service Improvement and Neighbourhoods and the Leader of the Council.

B3) Shama Women’s Centre - for the balance towards a new burglar alarm system. This was a bid for £1,525.

 

Sudha Vemuri from the Centre spoke in support of the bid, noting that the organisation had been previously been burgled, therefore they needed to improve their burglar alarm system.

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported and £1,525 be allocated from the Ward Action Plan Fund subject to final approval from the Cabinet Lead for Front Line Service Improvement and Neighbourhoods and the Leader of the Council.

 

B4) Leicester St George’s Festival – Street Bunting. This was a bid for £1000.

 

Residents expressed their support for this application.

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported and a sum £1,000 with £428 of this allocated from the Ward Community Fund and £572 from the Ward Action Plan Fund subject to final approval from the Cabinet Lead for Front Line Service Improvement and Neighbourhoods and the Leader of the Council.

B5) Cultural Quarter Business Association – Music and Arts Events. This was a bid for £6,900.

 

B6) Cultural Quarter Business Association – Cultural Quarter Website and Social Networking. This was a bid for £3,500.

 

Councillors explained that they didn’t feel that they could support these bids. Partly this was because they were too big and partly because it wasn’t clear how this would support the ward as a whole. Councillors wished to give greater support to the St. George’s Festival in the first instance. They did however want to hold further discussions with the Business Association to see how any support could be given in future.

 

RESOLVED:

that the applications be rejected, but further discussions take place with the applicants to see if any future support can be given.

 

B7) SPARKS project playground – Playground Equipment. This was a bid for £2,199.

 

As this project was based at Sparkenhoe Primary School, it was felt that there would be more children using the playground from other wards. Therefore Councillors proposed to support the project to £1000.

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported and £1,000 be allocated from the Ward Action Plan Fund subject to final approval from the Cabinet Lead for Front Line Service Improvement and Neighbourhoods and the Leader of the Council.

B8) Sheltered Housing Scheme, Bob Trewick House – 25 Year Celebration, Catering Costs. This was a bid for £250.

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported and £250 be allocated from the Community Cohesion Fund subject to final approval from the Cabinet Lead for Front Line Service Improvement and Neighbourhoods and the Leader of the Council.

 

B9) Friends of Queens Road Allotments – Further Allotment Improvements. This was a bid for £815.

 

Heather… was present and spoke in support of the bid. These were privately owned allotments which didn’t receive Council support. There had been problems with vandalism and work had been done to improve security. This application was make further improvements. A 150 year old hedgerow was being reinstated, skips were being used to remove rubbish and wildlife measures were being installed.

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported and £815 be allocated from the Ward Action Plan Fund subject to final approval from the Cabinet Lead for Front Line Service Improvement and Neighbourhoods and the Leader of the Council.

 

B10) Lunch Club for Elderly– Provision of lunches / ingredients. This was a bid for £2,250.

 

Mrs Saroj Seth from the Geeta Bhavan lunch club was present and spoke in support of the bid. She noted that the club was the only opportunity for old and frail people to get out of the house and associate with other people. It was open to anyone who lived in the ward from all communities. It wasn’t just a lunch club, people from statutory agencies were invited to give talks.

 

Councillors proposed that they were minded to support the application, as long as the Club advertised its services to all elderly people in the ward, this would partly be done through by being included on the leaflets sent out to advertise the Community Meeting. Mrs Seth agreed to promote the lunch club across the ward.

 

RESOLVED:

(1) that the application be supported and a sum of £2,250 be allocated, with £1,901 of this from the Ward Action Plan Fund and £349 from the Community Cohesion Fund subject to final approval from the Cabinet Lead for Front Line Service Improvement and Neighbourhoods and the Leader of the Council; and

 

(2)that the application be supported on the basis that efforts are made to promote the Lunch Club to elderly people across the ward.

 

B11) Leicester Secular Society – ‘Castle Together’ – the development of Secular Hall to become a community centre. This was a bid of £700.

 

Councillors proposed to reject this application at the current time as it was felt that it wasn’t clear how the proposals would benefit the Castle Ward residents. It was felt that further discussions were needed to ensure that the benefits of any funding could be targeted at the Ward.

 

Allan Hayes from the Secular Society informed the meeting that it was intended hold more meetings like a recent event where people from lots of different backgrounds brought food from their culture. The rooms would be available cheaply for people from all different backgrounds. The Chair commented that it was no reflection on the good work that was being done, but the fact that it was being made available for the whole city, not just the Castle Ward.

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be rejected at this time to allow for further discussions to take place to see how the ward can fully benefit from any funding.

 

B12) St. Andrews Play Association – Installation of Fire Alarm System. This was a bid for £1000.

 

Stephen Ashley from the Play Association was present and spoke in support of the application. He noted that the Association had never had a fire alarm system. They would normally spend money on maintenance on the ball court, but they had it replaced this year with external funding so were able to match fund any funding from Community Meeting for a burglar alarm.

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported and £1000 be allocated from the Ward Action Plan Fund subject to final approval from the Cabinet Lead for Front Line Service Improvement and Neighbourhoods and the Leader of the Council.

 

Councillor Senior left the room for consideration of the following item.

 

B13) Upgrading of Lighting in the St. George’s Area – Installation of improved ‘white’ lighting rather than existing yellow sodium lighting. This bid was for £3,450.

 

The Chair commented that this white lighting was brighter, therefore people felt safer as a result. PC Charles Edwards supported this new lighting.

 

Councillors proposed to part fund this application from the remainder of the funding available in the current financial year and the rest from the next financial year.

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported and £1,282 be allocated from the current financial year and £2,168 be allocated from the 2010/11financial year; this to be funded from the Ward Action Plan Fund subject to final approval from the Cabinet Lead for Front Line Service Improvement and Neighbourhoods and the Leader of the Council.

 

A resident queried about a condition being included on all successful bids to show that the money had been successfully spent. The Member Support Officer explained that there were verification procedures, including the recent introduction of a form which needed completion on completion of the project and receipts were required as proof. People who receive money were also encouraged to attend meetings and report back.