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.

The meeting will consider the following application for funding that has been received:

Thurnby Lodge Tenants and Residents Association – Community Newsletter- request for £500.

a)         Thurnby Lodge Tenants and Residents Association (TARA)

The meeting was reminded that an application from the TARA for funding for printing and delivering newsletters to homes in the area had been circulated with the agenda. 

The TARA Treasurer advised the meeting that other sources of funding were being investigated.  Fundraising activities also were being organised, including a Fun Day on 10 July 2010.  Money raised through these would help with these costs and, hopefully, help fund future projects.  However, one problem facing the Association was that the grant received from the Council had reduced from £1,500 per year to £500 per year.

The bid under consideration was to help the TARA produce eight-page newsletters.  Although the newsletters were successful, attracting paid advertising and providing a useful way for people keep in touch with local news, the Association had had problems in getting them delivered.  It therefore was planned to pay someone to analyse the best areas in which to focus deliveries.

The Chair advised the TARA that, although the Ward Members supported this application and recognised the importance of the newsletter, the Community Meeting would not be able to provide funding for every edition of the newsletter.

RECOMMENDED:

that funding of £500 from the Ward Community Fund be supported for the printing and delivering of 3,000 newsletters.

b)         Thurnby Lodge Brownies – Summer Camp

The meeting noted that a Brownie pack at Thurnby Lodge had asked for financial assistance towards transportation costs for a one-week summer camp.  Assistance was requested as, for some of the children involved, this would be the only summer holiday they had.

AGREED:

that, as full details of costs were not available at the meeting, the group liaise with the Member Support Officer to complete a formal application for funding.

c)         Rowletts Hill Allotments

A verbal request was made for a grant of up to £500 towards the cost of spraying unused allotments before they were rotovated, when being brought back in to use.  Rotovating alone did not work, as the allotments usually had things such as brambles, docks and couch grass growing in them.

It was noted that these allotments were based in Thurncourt, (off Colchester Road).

d)         Parents Get Active in Thurnby!

It was noted that, since the agenda had been circulated, an application for funding had been received from Shelley Osborne for £2,900 towards the cost of providing three fitness sessions a week in Thurnby over a period of 40 weeks.  The funding would be used towards the cost of equipment, coaching and promotional material for walking and aerobics / circuits based sessions.  The application was tabled at the meeting.

There was some concern that the application appeared to be suggesting that the activities would be based in Thurnby, which was outside the City.  Carla Lane, Physical Activity Officer with Leicester City Council, undertook to check the location of the proposed venue.

In reply to a question, Carla Lane explained that, although it was hoped that this scheme would help people participate in the 3X30 Pledge, (which was jointly funded by the Council, health authorities and Sport England), current financial support for the Pledge was used to fund the Physical Activity Officer post.  Therefore, there was no funding available for items such as the promotional material for the scheme under consideration.

It was noted that a request for Extended Services funding already had been made, but it was suggested that alternative sources of funding also should be sought, as it was hoped that the sessions could be open to anyone in the community.  It also was suggested that more information on how the scheme would operate should be obtained.  This should include details of the catchment area for the scheme, whether an alternative venue could be used (such as the Thurnby Lodge Community Centre) and other approaches made for funding.

AGREED:

that this scheme is welcomed in principle, but further information is needed before a decision can be taken, including other funding options that have been considered.