Cabinet Member for Finance and Ref No: Resources FR11(17/18)

October 2017 Key Decision: No

Members’ Big Society Fund – Part I Funding Allocations

Report by Director of Electoral Divisions: Communities, and Principal , South, Manager Community Safety and Selsey, Burgess Hill East, Wellbeing , Shoreham North, Angmering and Findon, Billingshurst, Bognor Regis West & Aldwick, Lancing, Midhurst, , Southgate & Gossops Green, Middleton, Worthing Pier

Summary

A Members’ Big Society Fund of £300,000 has been made available in 2017/18 (FR01 11/12 amended annually). This report seeks the approval for the allocation of up to £150,000.

Recommendations

(1) Decision for the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources

That the allocation of £138,781 from the Members’ Big Society Fund to the following is approved:-

Community Shop Ltd £12,500   Parochial Church Council of St £10,000 Mary’s Church   Selsey Community Watch £5,000   St Peter and St James Hospice £13,931   Sussex Prisoners’ Families £20,000   Findon Village Collective £10,000   Barns Green Village Hall £12,500 Management Committee 

 Culture Shift £5,000   4Sight £10,000   St James Centre Project £10,000   Rape Crisis Surrey and Sussex £19,850   Home-Start Arun £10,000

(2) Decision for the Leader

That the allocation of £10,000 to Boxgrove Cricket Club is approved.

The application from the Boxgrove Cricket Club is supported by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources for an organisation in his division, for this reason the decision on whether to allocate funding is to be taken by the Leader.

1. Background and Context

1.1 A Members’ Big Society Fund of £300,000 was made available in 2017/18. Members are required to research and scrutinise proposals in their area and carry out suitable consultation prior to sponsoring proposals.

1.2 In order to be considered for Members’ Big Society funding, applications to this round of the fund had to:  Be submitted by Friday 8 September 2017 at 12 noon  Have a written statement of support by the local member(s) of the County Council included with the application form  Support the delivery of the County Council’s Future aims and ambitions  Be of significance to a local community or West Sussex as a whole and be both sustainable and of lasting benefit

Proposals have not been recommended unless they have a supporting statement from the local member.

1.3 Applications were invited from organisations whose projects:  Are community-led  Tackle a locally identified and evidenced need  Provide additional capacity  Expand the geographical reach of an existing project  Increase local involvement

1.4 For the first Round of this year there was a particular focus on projects that:  Help people to be independent  Reduce social isolation  Bring people together to strengthen communities

1.5 The fund cannot be used to:

 Support any project or service where it is otherwise more appropriate to be provided by an authority with the means to precept, or any government funded organisation, or any organisation that the County Council pays a levy to.  Support any expenditure that is the responsibility of another party  Support revenue expenditure where it does not form part of start-up or development proposals as necessary expenditure to attain sustainability

1.6 As the funding should not be used to substitute agreed County Council budgets, it should therefore not be paid to County Council services, unless under exceptional circumstances.

1.7 Successful applications may not be funded in full if there are aspects of the bid which do not meet the above criteria or could be delivered more efficiently using a different approach.

2. Engagement

2.1 All members have been given the opportunity to support proposals. Members are required to have undertaken appropriate consideration prior to the submission of their supporting statement.

2.2 Potential applicants were advised to contact officers from the Communities Directorate to discuss their bids and receive support.

2.3 A cross-party Member Reference Group considered the project summary and outcome intentions for each application supported by a local member(s). Their collective feedback on how well each application met the requirements of the fund was provided to the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources.

3. Proposal

3.1 The funding of £300,000 for 2016/17 has been agreed and must be allocated prior to the end of March 2018. During 2017/18 two decision points are planned, allocating up to £150,000 at each round. Any amounts not awarded in the first round are to be made available in the next.

3.2 The County Council is looking to ensure that best value for the fund is achieved. Discussions with applicants are ongoing to explore ways in which efficiencies can be made, savings on initial cost estimates can be achieved and resources can be shared.

3.3 All unsuccessful applicants will be offered the opportunity to work with officers to explore other potential funding streams, ways in which West Sussex County Council can promote their activities or connect them to support from other organisations.

3.4 In the first round for 2017/18, 24 applications were received with a total value of £395,639.66 which equates to the fund being more than 2.6 times oversubscribed. This report proposes the allocation of £148,781 to 13 projects.

3.5 It is recommended that the following proposals be supported and funding be committed to the following applications on receipt of a signed agreement. Application Applicant Project Description Supporting Bid Proposed number Member and Amount Allocation Division up to the value of MBSF171801 Fittleworth Fittleworth Towards the costs of building and Janet Duncton £20,000 £12,500 Community Shop Community fitting out the new community Petworth Ltd Shop and Café shop and café MBSF171804 PCC St Mary’s Community Towards building an extension to Jamie Fitzjohn £20,000 £10,000 Church, Meeting Room at the church to provide a Apuldram St Mary’s Church community venue MBSF171805 Selsey Selsey To expand activities and services Carol Purnell £7,874 £5,000 Community Community in Selsey to promote social Selsey Watch Watch interaction. MBSF171806 St Peter & St Connecting To deliver a volunteer Hospice Anne Jones £13,931 £13,931 James Hospice Communities to Ambassador project. Burgess Hill East St Peter & St James Hospice MBSF171811 Boxgrove Cricket Boxgrove Towards extension and Jeremy Hunt £20,000 £10,000 Club Pavilion refurbishment of the building Chichester North Restoration Project MBSF171813 Sussex Sussex To provide a pilot community Janet Duncton £20,000 £20,000 Prisoners’ Prisoners’ outreach service to West Sussex (Petworth) and Families Families prisoners’ families, recruit Debbie Kennard volunteers and deliver training (Shoreham North) for West Sussex professionals MBSF171814 Findon Village To re-open the To fund initial additional staff Deborah Urquhart £20,000 £10,000 Collective Ltd local shop and costs to train volunteers to work Angmering and post office in the in the shop Findon centre of Findon Village

MBSF171815 Barns Green Toilet block for Towards new toilet facilities Amanda Jupp £12,500 £12,500 Village Hall village hall including disabled access for the Billingshurst Management extension new extension Committee MBSF171816 Culture Shift Arts Connect Towards the cost of events and Ashvin Patel £10,000 £5,000 West Sussex courses to increase access for Bognor Regis West learning disabled adults to and Aldwick creative and cultural experiences MBSF171817 4SIGHT Volunteer4Sight Towards the development of an Ashvin Patel £19,017 £10,000 integrated sight care pathway (Bognor Regis West & Aldwick) Ann Bridges (Lancing) Kate O’Kelly (Midhurst) MBSF171819 St James Centre The St James Towards completion of Pieter Montyn £20,000 £10,000 Project reporting Centre Birdham, construction and fit out costs of The Witterings to the Parochial a new the community wellbeing centre Church Council Community of Birdham with Wellbeing Centre Itchenor in Birdham and surrounding area.

MBSF171821 Rape Crisis Specialist To fund the expansion and Michael Jones £19,850 £19,850 Surrey & Sussex support for increased reach of support for Southgate and survivors of women and girls in West Sussex Gossops Green sexual abuse

MBSF171822 Home-Start Arun Fathers Reading To develop the FRED programme Jacky Pendleton £10,000 £10,000 Every Day in Bognor, Littlehampton and Middleton (FRED) Worthing Michael Cloake Worthing Pier

3.6 The following applications have been unsuccessful in this round.

Application Applicant Project Description Supporting Member and Bid number Division Amount MBSF171802 Howard Lawn New clubhouse To remove and replace the old James Walsh £20,000 Tennis Club building clubhouse with a new building Littlehampton East MBSF171803 Age UK East Village Agent – To develop a village agent Jacqui Russell £16,853.66 Grinstead Later Life service to reach isolated people East Grinstead South and Ashurst District Community Wood Outreach MBSF171807 Selsey Pavilion Restoration and Towards renovation and Carol Purnell £20,000 Trust History Wall restoration the Selsey Pavilion Selsey and create a ‘History Wall’. MBSF171808 Middleton-on- Middleton-on- To de-silt a pond, provide Jacky Pendleton £5,001 Sea Pond & Sea Pond & planting, environment Middleton Village Green Village Green enhancement, tree pruning and Charitable Trust management. MBSF171809 Midhurst Bowling Relocation of Towards the construction of a Kate O’Kelly £20,000 Club Midhurst Bowling new bowling green, clubhouse Midhurst Club to a new and car park. site in Midhurst MBSF171810 Heene Additional Towards construction costs that Michael Cloake £20,000 Communuity capacity to will enable the introduction of Worthing Pier Assoc expand use of children’s ballet, badminton club, the halls and adult dance classes MBSF171812 Pyecombe Parish Children’s Play Towards upgrading and redesign Joy Dennis £20,000 Council Area, The of the play area and car park, to Hurstpierpoint and Bolney Wyshe, include replacement play Pyecombe equipment MBSF171818 Voluntary Action VAW Trustee Towards training costs for VAW Paul High £9,306 Worthing (VAW) Club Trustee Club project Worthing West MBSF171820 Barnham Barnham Towards car park improvements Derek Whittington £16,000 Community Community Hall for the community hall Fontwell

Trust (BCT) Car Park MBSF171823 Age UK Horsham Circles of Towards support for older people Christian Mitchell £15,307 District Support Worker- living in the Broadbridge area Broadbridge Broadbridge area MBSF171824 My Sisters’ My Sisters’ Towards improvement of existing Francis Oppler £20,000 House CIC – House CIC – activities and services. Bognor Regis East Arun & Arun & Chichester Chichester Women’s Centre Women’s Centre

4. Other Options Considered

4.1 Consideration was given to awarding larger amounts to fewer organisations, but in this Round there was evidence of strong fundraising abilities or the availability of other resources for a number of groups. By allocating part-funding and asking groups to draw further on their abilities or resources, this fund is able to reach more communities.

5. Resource Implications and Value for Money

5.1 Each proposal has been considered in terms of value for money and sustainability 5.2 Officers will work with the award recipients to ensure that funds deliver good value and that organisations are connected into relevant West Sussex County Council services, the wider community and their local Member.

Description Number Value Grant Fund Total 17/18 £300,000 Applications for approval 13 £148,781 – Oct 17 Remaining Available Funds £151,219

6. Impact of the Proposal

6.1 Equality Duty – The Members’ Big Society Fund was established to provide funding for positive and sustainable Big Society proposals, each of which has been supported by the Local Member. It is considered that for the following applications, the intended outcomes would advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not:  MBSF171803 - age  MBSF171805 - age  MBSF171807 - age  MBSF171809 - age  MBSF171816 - disability  MBSF171817 - disability  MBSF171822 - age  MBSF171823 – age

6.2 Crime and Disorder Act Implications – there are no Crime and Disorder Act Implications

6.3 Human Rights – There are no known Human Rights implications.

6.4 Social Value – Consideration of the Social Value implications of each project is integral to the ethos of the fund and reflected in all recommendations made. All applications contribute to the social wellbeing of local communities across the County. Application MBSF171808 also enhances the natural environment.

7. Risk Management Implications

7.1 Risk implications have been considered for each proposal and the recipient of the funds will be responsible for any assessment of risk.

Rachel North Emily King Director of Communities Principal Manager Community Safety and Wellbeing

Contact: Jen Bradbury, Practice Development Manager: 0330 22 23829

Background Papers - none