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.
a) The Members Support Officer will provide an update on the 2010/11 Community Meeting budget.
b) The following applications for grants are submitted for consideration:-
i) Westcotes Library
Applicant: Mary Pringle, Senior Community Librarian, Westcotes Library
Proposal: Westcotes Library – promoting the library and its services to the community in Westcotes Ward
Amount:
|
Item |
Cost (£) |
Actual or Estimate? |
Request to Ward Meeting (£) |
|
Folding table top kit (portable presentation system) |
124.95 |
A |
124.95 |
|
Portable folding display system |
257.45 |
A |
257.45 |
|
TOTAL |
382.40 |
|
382.40 |
Summary:
The items requested would be used to promote the library and its services to members of the community in Westcotes Ward, in particular parents and children, to encourage more parents to bring their children to the library.
The portable tabletop display kit would be used by library staff attending parents’ evenings and book weeks at local schools, as well as other outreach events. These kits can be used very effectively to enhance a stall with a clear, professional display highlighting services available at the library.
The larger folding display system would be used within the library to publicise events in an attractive and modern way, ensuring that customers are aware of the many activities and services that the library offers. This display equipment is flexible and lightweight and could be used throughout the library, as opposed to the old, heavy display boards used at present, which must be secured to a wall to prevent accidents. A new portable system would allow library staff to provide displays in different areas of the library and reach more of their customers, enhancing their enjoyment of the library.
ii) Kaleidoscope Arts Project
Applicant: Kaleidoscope Arts
Proposal: Kaleidoscope Arts Project – Save The Manor and bring the community together through art
Amount:
|
Item |
Cost (£) |
Actual or Estimate? |
Request to Ward Meeting (£) |
|
Facilitator costs to teach 28 hours at £25.00 per hour |
£700 |
A |
£700 |
|
Stage hire for event |
£300 |
A |
£300 |
|
TOTAL |
1,000 |
|
1,000 |
Summary:
Awards for All funding of £10,000 has been applied for through the Big Lottery Fund and match funding of £1,000 is required. This money would enable Kaleidoscope Arts put on a series of art based taster sessions, from May to the end of June, which would lead up to an event on 25 June to help Save The Manor community centre, promote all the courses / facilities available and ultimately promote the main course that the group will be running from September – December. This would be to produce a community film made by the community for the community.
The Manor is a council-owned former manor house with exceptional potential as a community centre. Threatened with closure, the committee has until June 2011 to get 2,000 people through the door before the premises are closed for good. Kaleidoscope Arts provides community-based tuition in photography, music, dance, languages, film, art and creative writing. It has secured the backing of the committee and local councillors.
The project is divided into three distinct phases:-
1. To advertise and run free taster workshops from May, following an initial consultative phase identifying need / interest in the local community. The arts provision will be targeted at lone parents, unemployed people, young people aged 16-25, retired people and people for whom English is a second language. An early consultation has been conducted on the street with questionnaires. During the initial phase, Kaleidoscope Arts we will orchestrate the planning and publicity campaign for its planned event to save the centre. This stage of the project will target the entire community, and attempt to generate support for the community centre's long-term survival across Leicester.
1. Event ‘Save The Manor Day’ 25 June 2011
3. September-December. Kaleidoscope Arts will run free workshop sessions, part-funded. 10-week courses, with the potential to run as a collaborative project, culminating in the production of short film to be shown in various local community settings
Evaluation. Kaleidoscope Arts aims to evaluate each phase of the project, inviting participation and feedback in a number of ways. Both the taster sessions and the workshop series will end with a discussion of people's experience of them, including how they could be improved. Written feedback forms will be distributed for both taster and workshop phases. People's artworks and the documentation of their creative process - photographs, etc - will provide other, more interesting kinds of experiential record of the success of the project. The 'Save The Manor' event will seek feedback through a visitor book, feedback forms for taster sessions to run on the day, photographs, work created on the day and messages pegged to the interactive installation. Initial sign-in at reception, along with signed petitions to save the premises, will give a good idea of levels of support within the community.
At every stage of the project, the following will be evaluated:
· The number of people who attend the event and courses
· Feedback diary
· Work produced throughout
This will help us to measure the project’s success and help Kaleidoscope Arts develop professional practice, allowing for sustainability of both its own organisation within The Manor, and of The Manor itself as a cultural and community hub, attracting a larger number of user groups.
c) The following application has been agreed via the “fast track” urgency procedure and is submitted for information:-
Applicant: Love Hoops Foundation
Proposal: Active Women
Amount: £250
The total project cost is £2,000 but applications for funding are being made to 8 Community Meetings, (namely Aylestone, Beaumont Leys, Braunstone and Rowley Fields, Eyres Monsell, Freemen, New Parks, Western Park and Westcotes)
This can be broken down as follows:-
|
Item |
Cost (£) |
Actual or Estimate? |
Request to Ward Meeting (£) |
|
Court Hire |
6156 |
A |
500 |
|
Coach Fees |
3600 |
A |
500 |
|
Training Costs |
2500 |
A |
500 |
|
Equipment |
1200 |
A |
500 |
|
Travel Expenses |
2000 |
E |
|
|
TOTAL |
15,456 |
|
2,000 |
Summary:
Love Hoops Foundation is part of the street games consortium that successfully bid to Sport England for funding from their Active Women programme, which targets disadvantaged women.
Under this project, over 360 young women in Leicester will be offered coaching and playing opportunities. They then will have the opportunity to take coaching and refereeing qualifications, aiming to establish 6 new basketball clubs in the City. Mentoring will be provided by the Love Hoops Foundation.
The project hopes to overcome the following barriers:-
· Access to sports facilities. Sessions will beheld in young people’s own communities
· Finance. The funding will help those in communities where low income families often have very little money to pay for sporting activities
· Cultural / Religious. The project aims to address young women’s perceptions of sport, including letting them know that sport is an option for them. There will be female coaches from the area, who will act as positive role models
The project’s targets are to:-
· Put 12 Level 1 coaches and 6 Level 2 coaches through the programme
· Have a minimum of 2 volunteers from each centre, but hopefully more
· 32 champions, 2 from each city, to be the project’s “eyes and ears”
· Train 12 NATO qualified table officials and 12 referees, as well as the coaches mentioned above
· Establish 6 new clubs. These initially will have central administration, but will become self sufficient at the start of Year 3, looking for at least 12 players to register for each team
· Have 10 sessions of coaching for each group as part of the programme. It is likely that further funding will be requested, once established, to carry on the programme, leading to club establishment
· Take part in monthly tournaments over the two years, once the teams are established
· Retain 100 new players over 2 years, measured as NGB registrations.
The following funding has already been promised to this project:-
Sport England Active Women Grant £5,156
Love Hoops Foundation £2,920
City of Leicester Lady Hoops £5,380
TOTAL: £13,456
Minutes:
i) Westcotes Library – Promotion of the Library
AGREED:
That funding of £382.40 be approved from the Ward Action Plan Budget to Westcotes Library for the purchase of a portable presentation system and a portable folding display system.
ii) Kaleidoscope Arts Project – Support the Manor
Amanda Leandro, of Kaleidoscope Arts, introduced herself to the meeting and explained that this project had been set up to support the Manor House Neighbourhood Centre.
The Centre had been given until June 2011 to get 2,000 people through its doors, before a decision was made on whether the Centre should stay open. It therefore was proposed to hold taster sessions, workshops and a one-day event, to encourage people to use it. These events also would provide people with “soft” learning skills that could be used in other situations, for example to help get in to employment.
The Chair advised the meeting that under-spent funds from the 10,000 tress project had been used to keep the Centre open until June.
AGREED:
that funding of £1,000 be approved from the Ward Action Plan Budget to Kaleidoscope Arts towards its work to support the Manor Neighbourhood Centre.
iii) Love Hoops Foundation – Active Women
The meeting was advised that this application had been agreed via the “fast track” urgency procedure and had been presented for information.
NOTED:
that £250 had been approved to the Love Hoops Foundation towards the Active Women project as follows:-
a) £86.47 from the Ward Action Plan Budget;
b) £32.46 from the Ward Community Fund; and
c) £131.07 from the Ward Community Cohesion Fund.
iv) Bethany Court Leicester – Computer for Communal Lounge
AGREED:
that funding of £2,000 be approved for the purchase by Bethany Court Leicester of the following items for use in the communal lounge at Bethany Court:-
· 2 computers;
· 2 computer chairs
· a printer and cartridges;
· 2 monitors;
· consumables (such as paper and ink); and
· insurance for these items.
v) Councillor Sarah Russell / Leicester City Council Environmental Services – Briton Street Clean Up
Councillor Russell advised the meeting that, although the pavement in Briton Street was very clean, pedestrians dropped rubbish over walls and household rubbish accumulated in front gardens. Briton Street had been suggested as a good location to pilot a “full street” clean up, as it had the heaviest pedestrian traffic, (apart from Narborough Road).
As this was a pilot project, it was not possible to provide an actual cost for the work, so the sum of £1,000 had been requested. If the scheme cost less than this, the clean up would continue beyond Briton Street, and any costs above that would be borne by the cleansing service.
Concern was expressed that some of the property to be cleared was owned by people who were able to afford to clear it themselves. The Ward Councillors advised the meeting that this had been considered, but some of the rubbish to be cleared had not been left by the tenants or landlords, (for example, having blown on to the property, or been left by people passing along the road).
As well as clearing the front areas of the properties, work would be undertaken to ensure that residents were aware of how to dispose of the various types of refuse and, where appropriate, people could be put in touch with the Council’s Care and Repair service. It was stressed that only cosmetic work would be undertaken and nothing would be done at the rear of the properties concerned.
In response to questions, it was noted that, if the properties were cleared but then deteriorated again, Section 215 Notices could be issued, requiring the owner(s) of those properties to clear the rubbish.
AGREED:
that funding of £1,000 be approved from the Ward Action Plan Budget for the Briton Street Clean Up, this being a pilot project adopting a full street way of tackling environmental problems.
vi) Councillor Sarah Russell / Ride Leicester / Cycle Champions – Family Cycling Project
AGREED:
that funding of £1,000 be approved from the Ward Action Plan Budget for a Family Cycling Project to be run from the Manor House Neighbourhood Centre.
vii) Councillor Andy Connolly / Leicester City Council – Planting on Narborough Road North
Councillor Connelly explained that it was hoped to remove shrubs currently growing down the centre of Narborough Road and plant some bulbs there instead. Any funds remaining after those bulbs had been planted would be used to plant similar bulbs on the opposite side of the road.
Some people present questioned whether the bulbs would be seen by anyone other than motorists, but were assured that that part of Narborough Road was well used by pedestrians and cyclists.
AGREED:
that funding of £2,000 be approved from the Ward Action Plan Budget for the planting of daffodil and other perennial bulbs as indicated.
viii) Councillor Andy Connolly / Shaftesbury School (on behalf of residents on Ridley Street) – No Ball Games Signage
Councillor Connolly advised the meeting that problems were being encountered by residents in Ridley Street outside of school hours, when children were playing ball games against the wall of the school. It therefore was proposed to put up three “No Ball Games” signs.
Although the meeting recognised the problems that could be caused by ball games, some reservations were expressed about funding these signs. In order not to discourage children from playing games outside, it was suggested that an alternative location could be found at which ball games could be played, or soft balls could be provided.
It was noted that the school premises were not suitable for use outside of school hours, as the equipment provided there was designed for supervised use.
AGREED:
that this application be deferred to enable other options to be discussed with those concerned.