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.

 

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer, will give a brief update on the current budget positions.

 

The meeting will consider the following budget applications:

 

B1) Community Trust Library

B2) ‘5 a day’ promotion

B3) Tuesday Group Trip to Skegness

B4) Day of Music

B5) Senior Community Society – Guru Nanak Birthday Celebration

B6) The Good Old Days Club – Abbey’s Got Talent

B7) Unity Boxing Club

B8) Leicester City Colts FC

Steve Letten, the Member Support Officer to the meeting explained that the following budget applications had been received:

 

B1 – Community Trust Library

 

Councillor Marriott, having declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the Community Trust Library, withdrew from the meeting and took no part in the discussion or vote on this item.

 

A funding application for £2000 had been received for the purchase of 4 CD players and a selection of CD books for members of the community who were visually or physically impaired. Steve was asked to investigate as to whether the Leicester City Council had any surplus stock available, which could be used by the Community Library.

 

RESOLVED:

                        that the funding application to the value of £2000 be supported

 

Councillor Marriott returned to the meeting at this point.

 

B2 – Five a Day Promotion

 

A funding application for £1097 had been received from Carlym Sandringham from the Healthy Living Centre, for the purchase of a portable oven to cook jacket potatoes for community events.

 

The need for health and safety training for safe use of the portable oven was noted.

 

RESOLVED:

                        that the funding application to the value of £1097 be supported

 

B3 Day trip to Skegness

 

A funding application for £250 had been received from the Tuesday Social Bingo Group for a day trip to Skegness.

 

Members agreed to support this particular bid, but stated that future bids of this nature from the Group, would not be supported as they wanted to ensure that other community groups would also benefit from the community meeting budget.

 

RESOLVED:

                        that the funding application to the value of £250 be supported

 

B4 – Come together

 

A funding application for £500 had been received from Danielle Williams, Event Co-ordinator, for a free music event in Abbey Park.  Steve explained that because the event was scheduled to take place on 27 June 2010, Members had already agreed to support this funding bid as a decision had been needed. Members of the public were therefore asked to note the decision.

 

RESOLVED:

that it be noted that the funding application to the value of £500 had been supported

 

B5 – Guru Nanak Birthday Celebration

 

A funding application for£1350 had been received from the Senior Community Society for an event at Holy Bones Community Centre on 2 November 2010.

 

The meeting heard that the organisation had received funding in 2009 for a similar event and Members agreed to support the funding bid to the value of £675 and the organisation was informed that funding would not be granted for the event in 2011. A representative from the Senior Community Society queried why only half of the bid had been supported and it was explained that there was a desire by Members, not to repeat funding for projects. The meeting also heard that there were other groups that the community meeting wanted to support and groups needed to carry out some fund raising for themselves.

 

RESOLVED:

                        that the funding bid to the value of £675 be supported

 

B6 – Abbey’s Got Talent Community Event

 

A funding application for £3500 had been received from The Good Old Days Club for a three day talent competition. Steve explained that further information in relation to the bid had been requested but not received.

 

RESOLVED:

that the funding bid be deferred until the additional information be received

 

B7 – Unity Boxing Club Equipment

 

A funding application for £730 had been received from the Unity Boxing Club for Unity boxing t-shirts, gloves, hand-pads and ropes.

 

The meeting heard that the need for extra equipment had arisen due to a large increase in membership. The t-shirts were requested in order to give the children a sense of ownership. The club drew members from both Abbey and Beaumont Leys Wards and previous funding had been received from community budgets from both Wards.

 

There was considerable discussion relating to this funding application. Some members of the public expressed views that the t-shirts should either be part funded or not funded at all. Members had a short adjournment to discuss this matter further outside of the meeting.

 

On re-convening the meeting, some members of the public also stated that the club should carry out its own fund raising. Members of the public also queried the need for the children to have special t-shirts.  One resident strongly objected to providing funding for the application and requested that his objections should be minuted.

 

Councillors and other members of the public responded that there was high unemployment in the Abbey Ward and many parents would not be in the position to afford to purchase the t-shirt for their child.   Councillors also stated that the boxing club helped to keep children off the streets.

 

Various options were discussed which included:

 

• funding the application to the value of £730
• funding the application to the value of £530, which included 50% contribution towards the t-shirts
• deferring the application

 

RESOLVED:

that the funding application be supported to the value of £730 with the proviso that no further bids from the Unity Boxing Club be supported from the Community Meeting budget

 

B8 –Sport in the Local Community

 

A funding application for £2422 had been received from Leicester City Colts and Leicester City Ladies for football coaching and equipment for young people. Steve explained that £1211 had been requested from the Abbey Community Meeting budget as the funding application had also been submitted to the Beaumont Leys Community Meeting. The meeting heard that approximately 25% of the children in the club lived in the Abbey Ward.

 

RESOLVED:

                        that the funding bid to the value of £605 be supported

 

The meeting heard that the funding applications that the Councillors agreed to support would be passed to the Leader and Cabinet Lead for approval.

 

 

Action	Officer Identified	Deadline
To investigate the possibility of obtaining any CD books that were surplus to requirements, from Leicester City Council, for the Community Trust Library.   Submit the funding bids that had been supported, to the Cabinet Lead and Leader for approval.	Steve Letten Member Support Officer               Steve Letten, Member Support Officer	As soon as possible                 By the end of June 2010