Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Councillors Matthew Barber, Debby Hallett, and Ron Mansfield had all sent their apologies for absence.  

To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the committee meeting held on 26 November 2013. 

RESOLVED: to adopt as a correct record the minutes of the committee meeting held on 26 November 2013 and agree that the chair signs them. 

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. 

Councillor Dudley Hoddinott declared an interest in the grant application by Bike Safe as he had been a member of its action group and supported the project. 

Councillor Judy Roberts declared an interest in the grant application by Dean Court Community Association (Botley) as she was chairman of the trustees. 

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The chair announced that Dalton Pre-School had withdrawn its grant application from the new homes bonus grant scheme being considered at this meeting but would re-submit the application under the council’s capital community grants scheme. 

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

Mike Leggett spoke in support of the grant application by Bike Safe.  Sustrans had identified the Eynsham to Botley Road as being in need of a safe cyclepath.  Local people had started the Bike Safe project to raise funds to implement this.  They had carried out a survey of the route and were now working towards an outline design, leading to detailed engineering drawings for a community path from Swinford Toll Bridge to the A420 flyover at Dean Court, Botley.  The path would meet local and strategic transport needs and had received widespread support. 

To consider the report of the head of corporate strategy. 

The committee considered the head of corporate strategy’s report that set out details of the new homes bonus community funding scheme.  The cabinet member for grants had approved the policy and procedure and delegated authority to the four area committees to determine the grant applications.  The Council had set a budget of £100,000 for this scheme.  The apportionment between the area committees was based on the amount of housing growth in each area from April 2008 to March 2013.  In the north east area of the district, 288 new homes had been built in this five-year period, equating to a budget of £9,500 for the committee to award to applications under this scheme in the current financial year. 

The committee noted that the council’s chief finance officer had advised that any new homes bonus community funding that was not awarded by the end of this financial year could not be carried forward to the following year’s budget.  However, the published draft budget for 2014/15 included a proposal for a further £100,000 new homes bonus community funding, for apportionment between the four area committees. 

The committee carefully considered each application under this scheme.  Four applications had been received.  However, shortly before the meeting DaltonPre-School had withdrawn its application but would re-submit it to the committee under the separate capital community grants scheme. 

The committee assessed the remaining three applications against a high, medium or low ranking for each parish, dependent on the number of new homes completed in the qualifying five-year period.  Those parishes with the most new homes were awarded a ‘high’ ranking.  The committee used this as a guide to prioritise the applications but was not bound by it. 

The committee considered that the application by Headway was inappropriate for this scheme as it did not relate to new housing in Kennington or the north east area.  However, the committee asked officers to advise the applicant that it could apply for a grant under the council’s capital community grants scheme. 

This left two applications to determine: Bike Safe and Dean Court Community Association (Botley).  Councillor Dudley Hoddinott declared an interest in the application by Bike Safe and Councillor Judy Roberts declared an interest in the application by Dean Court Community Association.  During consideration of these applications, both councillors left the room. 

The committee agreed that as the budget only represented 86 per cent of the requested amounts from the two remaining applications, both applicants should be granted 86 per cent of their request. 

RESOLVED: to

(a)       approve the following applications for new homes bonus community funding:

(b)               refuse to award a new homes bonus community funding  ...  view the full minutes text for item NE15

None