Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mike Badcock, Peter Green, Peter Jones and Roz Smith.

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Abingdon Area Committee held on 6 July 2006, (circulated with the Council Summons dated 18 October 2006). 

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 6 July 2006 were adopted and signed as a correct record.

To receive any declarations of Personal or Personal and Prejudicial Interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. 

In accordance with Part 2 of the Local Code of Conduct and the provisions of Standing Order 34, any Member with a personal interest must disclose the existence and nature of that interest to the meeting prior to the matter being debated.  Where that personal interest is also a prejudicial interest, then the Member must withdraw from the room in which the meeting is being held and not seek improperly to influence any decision about the matter unless he/she has obtained a dispensation from the Standards Committee.

To receive notification of any matters, which the Chair determines, should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances, which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the Chair.

The Chair reported that a copy of the Council’s Grants Criteria had been circulated to each Member at the meeting for information.  He asked that they be returned at the end of the meeting.  One Member suggested that the Committee undertake a review of the grants awarded during the year to ascertain how many had met the Criteria and the Council’s stated priorities.  It was agreed that an item be included on the agenda for the next meeting in March 2007.

Any statements and/or petitions from the public under Standing Order 32 will be made or presented at the meeting.

None.

Any questions from members of the public under Standing Order 32 will be asked at the meeting.

None.

To receive and consider report 97/06 of the Strategic Director and Monitoring Officer (attached).

Introduction and Report Summary

The purpose of this report is to set out the budget position for the Abingdon Area Committee in respect of Community Grants, to invite Members to determine whether grants awarded under Service Level Agreements to twinning organisations in the Abingdon area can be paid and to consider and determine one grant application received since the last meeting of the Committee.  This report also provides information on grants awarded by the Abingdon Area Committee in the last financial year and in the current year to date.

The contact officer for this report is Lorna Edwards, Community Strategy Officer (Tel: 01235 547626).

Recommendations

(a)        Members are asked to note that a grant of £500 has been awarded under officer delegation since the last meeting and that the Committee’s remaining budget for 2006/07 is £16,680.48;

(b)        Members are asked to receive a verbal review of twinning activities in 2005/06 from the Town Clerk of AbingdonTown Council;

(c)        Members are asked to consider requests for payment of the grants under Service Level Agreements from the following two twinning associations in the Abingdon Area and to decide if payment can be made:

Abingdon Town Council, £2,500

Drayton Twinning Society, £500

(d)        Members are asked to determine the grant award, the agenda and the Council priority in respect of the following application: -

APAGE, £4,000, towards cost of producing brochure for Abingdon Arts Festival 2007,   Social Agenda, Town & Village Vitality priority;

(e)        Members are invited to note the grants awarded in 2005/06 and 2006/07 to support projects, services and events in the community.

(Councillors Monica Lovatt and Alison Rooke had each declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the request for payment of the twinning Service Level Agreement by Abingdon Town Council and in accordance with Standing Order 34 they withdrew from the meeting during its consideration.  Councillor Alison Rooke declared a personal interest in the application for grant aid submitted by Abingdon Performance Arts Group Enterprise (APAGE) and in accordance with Standing Order 34 she remained in the meeting during its consideration).

Prior to consideration of the grant and request for payment applications, the Committee received a presentation from Nigel Warner (Town Clerk) and Marianne Milburn (Twinning Officer) of Abingdon Town Council on the Town Council’s twinning activities during the past year, as follows:-

• Strong twinning links maintained.
• Employment of a Twinning Officer for 4 hours per week to assist individuals and groups.
• Grant awards to local groups amounting to £1,495.
• Continued close working with the Abingdon and District Twin Towns Society and the Vale of White Horse District Council.
• Attendance at a number of major twinning events, eg Annual Twin Towns Conference, Europe Day.

In response to questions, the Town Clerk advised as follows:-

• As part of the Town Council’s Best Value process all group financially supported through the twinning process would be asked to identify both positives and negatives of their respective twinning activities.
• The Burgess Trust was a Trust Fund established by the family of Burgess Printers and administered by the Town Council, to support twinning activities for 16 – 23 year olds.

The Chair thanked the Town Clerk for his presentation.

The Committee considered  the Twinning Partnership grants as follows:-

(a)               Abingdon Town Council

The Committee supported the continued financial support for Abingdon Town Council’s twinning activities.

(b)               Drayton Twinning Society

It was reported that the Society had now provided the information required in Schedules 2 and 3 of the Service Level Agreement.  Referring to paragraph 5.4 of the report, it was noted that it was a jazz evening not a barn dance that had proved popular.  Following an evaluation of events in 2005/06 a number of issues had been identified, as follows:-

·         Cost of activities, in particular hosting arrangements.

·         Lack of interest from the village to supporting twinning events.

·         Twinning activities organised by a small number of families.

The Committee stressed the need for the profile of the Group to be raised locally to encourage more families and organisations to participate in the twinning activities.

The Committee considered the grant application, as follows:-

Abingdon Performance Arts Group Enterprise

It was reported that Abingdon Town Council had awarded a grant of £250 and the Co-op £500.  It was noted that the theme of the 2007 Abingdon Arts Festival was young people and working in partnership with local schools.  Two schools had already expressed an interest in participating.  One Member asked whether the cost of the design, production and distribution of the 2007 brochure had been subject to a competitive tendering exercise.  In response, the Grants Officer reported that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

None.