Agenda and minutes

Councillor Denaro chaired the Panel and welcomed all those present.  Introductions were made and general housekeeping explained.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

Councillor S. Colella declared an interest in respect of the application in relation to Haybridge High School as he had supported it. He also advised that he needed to leave the meeting at 5.15 pm and would therefore not be present for this item or a number of the Higher Bid items.

Councillor G. Denaro declared an interest in respect of the application in relation to Wythall Parish and Residents, purchase of a defibrillator at Wythall Railway Station.  During the application being heard he took no part in the discussions and sat in the public gallery.

Councillor S. Hughes declared an interest in respect of the application for Bromsgrove Baptist Church, Youth and Community Hub as she had supported the application.  During the application being heard she took no part in the discussions and sat in the public gallery.

The aim of this meeting was to give the Panel Members the opportunity to discuss the applications with the applicants and for applicants to respond to any questions which may arise from those discussions.

Officers explained that the Panel would hold a further meeting (in private) on Wednesday 7^th August, to discussion the allocation of the funds available.  The Panel would then prepare a report putting forward its recommendations for consideration at Cabinet on 4^th September.  The final decision for allocation of funds would remain with the Cabinet. 

Applicants would be contacted following the meeting on 7^th August to advise then of the Panel’s recommendations and again applicants will be contacted following the Cabinet meeting to advise them of the next steps in the process should they have been successful in securing a grant.

Each application had been allocated a five minute slot and those in attendance were advised that they were welcome to go when they had responded to any questions in respect of their application.

3^rd Bromsgrove Evergreen Scouts – Replacement of existing boiler

The Chairman explained that the Panel would not usually consider more than one application from the same organisation unless they were clearly for separate projects (this was detailed in the NHB Community Grants Scheme document) and therefore asked the representative from the 3^rd Bromsgrove Evergreen Scouts whether he wished Members to decide which one, if any to take forward, or whether he had a preferred option.  It was also noted that the number of applications received overall, far exceeded the funds available to the Panel for distribution.

In the circumstances the representative chose to put forward the application for the installation of new toilet facilities.

3^rd Bromsgrove Evergreen Scouts – Installation of new toilet facilities

Members considered the application before them.

A representative from the 3^rd Bromsgrove Evergreen Scouts attended the meeting.  Arising from Members questions the following responses were made:

·         It was confirmed that the land was owned by Bromsgrove District Council, with the building being entrusted to the Guides and Scouts in 1964, with the payment of a peppercorn rent.

·         The lease was currently being renegotiated, although there had been some problems with moving this forward.  (The Executive Director, Finance and Resources agreed to follow this up with the relevant officer.)

·         The overall cost of the three projects and the breakdown for the individual areas.  It was explained that if this work was done it would enable the other areas to be moved forward.  Work had been done on a number of fund raising events and the reintroduction of gift aid which would go towards the works.

·         The number of children on the waiting list – it was explained that this was done for the District as a whole and was no longer broken down into specific groups.

3^rd Bromsgrove Evergreen Scouts – Replacement of existing boiler

See above.

Age UK – Men in Sheds

Jo Hughes a representative from Age UK attended the meeting and Members considered the application before them.  Arising from questions the following points were noted:

·         The aim was to make the project sustainable by growth and increase its availability.  Currently it was available 10 am to 2 pm Monday to Thursday.  The benefit of funding would be to expand this and to look at other opportunities.

·         There was a demand for the service from woman, it was explained that often the partner had passed away and had carried out much of the practical side of things and women were now looking for ways of being able to take on this work themselves.  The men who attended the group were keen to share their skills to enable this to move forward.

·         There was also the opportunity for inter-generational work and the project could become a good community asset.

·         Other funding streams that had been looked at included shed sponsorship, a small membership fee and the sale of a calendar.

Alvechurch Parish Council – Wiggin Memorial Playing Field Storage Unit

Andy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/19

Avoncroft Cricket Club – Dual Lane Cricket net facilities

Paul Athey from the Cricket Club attended to present the application and respond to questions from the Panel.

It was explained that the junior section of the Club had been restarted some 5 years ago and had now increased to 120 5-14 years olds.  This was largely due to developments in the Stoke Prior area, with the expectation that it would expand further in the future.

The Club currently struggled to offer quality training to the youngsters as the training facilities were some 20 years old and the nets had been taken out of use due to concerns around health and safety.  In the last two years it was understood that Aston Fields Middle School was the only school which offered cricket, St John’s Middle School had shown an interest in using the facilities and having coaching support.  It was hoped that this would progress to other schools within the vicinity.

The Chairman explained that as the amount of funding requested by applicants far exceeded the available money, would a contribution be acceptable if the whole amount was not available.  Mr Athey confirmed that this would be as applications were also being considered by Sports England and the Lottery, but that these would not be able to cover the whole project.  There was also some flexibility within the proposed project and one bay could be installed rather than two if necessary.

Belbroughton Recreation Centre – Belbroughton playground redevelopment

Representatives from the Recreation Centre Committee attended to present the application.  It was highlighted that they had been working on this project for a number of years and they were now in a positon to proceed with the first phase of it.  This included the removal of existing equipment, fencing and surfacing and laying a new surface for the whole area.  Funding had been secured from a variety of other bodies including the parish council, but this was reliant upon match funding.  It was hoped that the current developers would be able to assist with the demolition work and the timescale for this was September/October, so if the funding was not available then an alternative plan would need to be put in place for this first phase of the project.

Members discussed a number of other areas in more detail, including:

·         What other facilities were available for young people – it was noted that there was a small skate ramp, a section for older children in the play area, which had been removed due to safety issues and therefore there was nothing suitable for children of 6 years and over.

·         Members asked whether the young people meeting at the park helped local businesses – it was confirmed that it was likely that local shops would benefit from an increased footfall at the park and the Recreation Centre itself would also benefit, as currently there was not as many clubs as there could be using it and this would definitely help to bring  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6/19

Members would be considering the criteria within the Scoring Matrix when reaching their decision in respect of each application.