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COUNTY COUNCIL LOCAL COMMITTEE FOR SOUTH LAKELAND Meeting date: 23rd September 2011 From: Chief Executive’s Office BUDGET WORKING GROUP REPORT 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 This report presents the minutes from the Budget Working Group held on 31st August 2011 and brings forward the recommendations of the Working Group. 2.0 STRATEGIC PLANNING AND EQUALITY IMPLICATIONS 2.1 The Local Committee has established a Budget Working Group to monitor its budget, lead on developing the Area Plan and make recommendations on the disposition of unallocated resources. 3.0 RECOMMENDATION That Local Committee 3.1 Receives the minutes of the Budget Working Group held on 31st August 2011. 3.2 That Local Committee considers the amendments below to the Neighbourhood Forum Grant Criteria in order to ensure equity across the area: i) The maximum grant award should be increased to £1,500 in all Forum areas ii) Kendal Forum should allow applications from individuals who are representing County or Country iii) The maximum award for funding individuals in all Forum areas should be increased from £150 to £250 iv) The criteria are amended to state that “Public events will only be funded in exceptional circumstances and if an entrance fee is to be charged usually only a guarantee against loss will be considered.” v) The line stating that the Forum does not fund “Parish and District Councils, except in exceptional circumstances” to be removed completely vi) To make clear that the Neighbourhood Forums will not provide retrospective funding. vii) The line stating that “your group conforms to the Forum’s sustainability checklist as appropriate” to be removed completely 3.3 Local Committee are asked to agree, subject to confirmation from the High Furness Local Area Partnership and SLDC, that Egton with Newland, Mansriggs and Osmotherly parishes are transferred into the Low Furness & Ulverston Local Area Partnership and Neighbourhood Forum areas. 3.4 That Local Committee does not support the application for funding by the Quaker Tapestry. 3.5 That Local Committee agrees to award a grant of £5,000 to Kendal Arts International towards staging the Olympic Festival event in Bowness on 21st June 2012, from the Economic Initiatives Budget. 4.0 BACKGROUND 4.1 The minutes and reports of the Budget Working Group meeting held on 31st August 2011 form Appendix 1 of this report. 5.0 OPTIONS 5.1 Local Committee may choose to decline the recommendations of the Budget Working Group. 6.0 RESOURCE AND VALUE FOR MONEY IMPLICATIONS 6.1 Local Committee vired £30,000 into the Economic Initiatives budget in May 2011 to leave a spending limit of £30,000. 6.2 The recommendation if approved would allocate £5,000 to the specific project and leave a balance of £25,000 available to allocate. 6.3 The recommendation if approved to transfer Egton with Newland, Mansriggs and Osmotherly parishes from High Furness to the Low Furness and Ulverston Local Area Partnership and forum area, will reduce the High Furness Forum spending limit from £3,768 to £3,247 and increase the Low Furness and Ulverston forum spending limit from £9,812 to £10,333. 7.0 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS 7.1 No Legal Implications on this report Jill Stannard Chief executive 6th September 2011 APPENDICES Appendix 1 Notes of the Budget Working group meeting 31st August 2011 Appendix 2 Neighbourhood Forum Grant Criteria Electoral Division(s): All in South Lakeland * Please remove whichever option is not applicable Executive Decision Yes* Key Decision No* If a Key Decision, is the proposal published in the current Forward Plan? N/A* Is the decision exempt from call-in on grounds of urgency? No* If exempt from call-in, has the agreement of the Chair of the relevant N/A* Overview and Scrutiny Committee been sought or obtained? Has this matter been considered by Overview and Scrutiny? No* If so, give details below. Has an environmental or sustainability impact assessment been No* undertaken? Has an equality impact assessment been undertaken? No* N.B. If an executive decision is made, then a decision cannot be implemented until the expiry of the eighth working day after the date of the meeting – unless the decision is urgent and exempt from call-in and necessary approvals have been obtained. PREVIOUS RELEVANT COUNCIL OR EXECUTIVE DECISIONS [including Local Committees] “No previous relevant decisions”. CONSIDERATION BY OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY “Not considered by Overview and Scrutiny”. BACKGROUND PAPERS “No background papers”. REPORT AUTHOR Contact: Karen Johnson [email protected] 01539 713157. Appendix 1 Notes of the meeting of South Lakeland Local Committee Budget Working Group held on 31st August 2011. Attended by: G Cook (Chair), J Willis, I Stewart, J Airey, K Lancaster Officer(s): K Johnson 1. Apologies: None 2. Declarations of Interest: No declarations of interest were made 3. Matters Arising from the Minutes of the last Meeting: Members requested that the ASM confirm with Glynis Andrews of Member Services where November’s Local Committee meeting is to be held. 4. Neighbourhood Forums The ASM gave a brief update on the current budget position and a breakdown of forum grant spending this year to date. IS advised that he is aware that SLDC is currently looking at its grant spending and suggested that, in view of the reduction in availability of funding at both County and District level, it might be appropriate for some of the grant award processes of the two authorities to be joined, with Neighbourhood Forums providing an ideal format for this. Final decisions on grant awards would remain separate to each authority. The ASM was asked to explore the possibilities of this with Debbie Fox at SLDC and to report back to Budget Working Group. Forum Grant Criteria At the July meeting of Local Committee, members had expressed an interest in carrying out a review of the criteria for awarding Neighbourhood Forum grants as there are currently some inconsistencies between areas. Budget Working Group was presented with a copy of the current criteria with the differences highlighted and it was agreed that in the interests of equity there should be consistency across all areas. Members emphasised that officers should continue to ensure that groups applying for grants can demonstrate that wherever possible they are raising funds elsewhere. After further discussion the following recommendations were proposed: Recommendation That Local Committee agrees that: The maximum grant award should be increased to £1,500 in all Forum areas Kendal Forum should allow applications from individuals representing County or Country The maximum award for funding individuals in all Forum areas should be increased from £150 to £250 The criteria are amended to state that “Public events will only be funded in exceptional circumstances and if an entrance fee is to be charged usually only a guarantee against loss will be considered.” The line stating that the Forum does not fund “Parish and District Councils, except in exceptional circumstances” to be removed completely Under “What doesn’t the Forum fund” the wording of the line stating “> Costs of projects which have already been started” will be amended to emphasise that applications for retrospective funding will not be considered The line stating that “your group conforms to the Forum’s sustainability checklist as appropriate” to be removed completely 5. Local Area Partnerships Members were advised that the request from Egton with Newland, Mansriggs and Osmotherly parishes to transfer from the High Furness Local Area Partnership to the Low Furness & Ulverston Local Area Partnership was discussed and agreed at the Low Furness & Ulverston LAP meeting on 9th August. High Furness LAP will discuss the matter at its forthcoming meeting on 29th September. Historically the parishes have always had stronger community links with the Ulverston area. As the LAP areas have the same footprint as the Neighbourhood Forum areas, any transfer would have a slight effect on grant funding for the two areas, with Low Furness & Ulverston gaining approx £500 in the current year and High Furness reducing by that amount. There will be no effect on the County Council’s funding for Local Area Partnerships. Members also asked that the ASM confirm with her contact that there is no objection at SLDC. It is understood that the Better Highways programme, which works to the LAP/Forum area footprints has already re-aligned its work areas to include the parishes within the Low Furness & Ulverston team. Recommendation That Local Committee agrees, subject to confirmation from the High Furness Local Area Partnership and SLDC, that Egton with Newland, Mansriggs and Osmotherly parishes are transferred into the Low Furness & Ulverston Local Area Partnership and Neighbourhood Forum areas 6. Grant & Funding Applications a) The Quaker Tapestry As part of its Community Connections Initiative, a 3 year programme to ensure the sustainability of The Quaker Tapestry Exhibition, the Café and the Friends Meeting House, the organisation has applied to South Lakeland Local Committee for a £5,000 grant from its Economic Initiatives fund. The grant would go towards the purchase of new travelling boxes to enable the tapestry to be displayed at exhibitions around the country and also towards installing a community Wi-fi connection within the Meeting House and Café in Kendal. Members felt that as £15,000 of funding had already been secured from Cumbria County Council through the Regeneration Fund that it would not be appropriate to recommend any further funding from Local Committee. Recommendation That Local Committee does not support the application for funding by the Quaker Tapestry. b) Kendal Arts International This organisation is seeking £5,000 from South Lakeland Local Committee’s Economic Initiatives fund towards an event to be held on 21st June 2012 at the start of the Festival to mark the London 2012 Olympics.