Agenda and draft minutes

To record apologies for absence. 

Apologies were received from Councillors Matthew Barber, Yvonne Constance, Jenny Hannaby, Chris McCarthy and Mike Murray.

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Wantage Area Committee minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2018.   

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2018 as a correct record and agree that the Chairman signs them as such.

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

Councillors Julia Reynolds and Charlotte Dickson declared that they had acted as council representatives for the Letcombe Brook Project but had had no involvement in its grant application and therefore would remain on the committee.

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

None.

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. 

A speaker representing one of the applications was present. They had the opportunity to respond to questions of clarification from the committee.

To consider the head of community services’ report.  

Be Free Young Carers

The officer introduced the application by Be Free Young Carers for a New Homes Bonus grant of £900 towards a Client Management Software replacement. The Officer explained that the applicant had requested £900 from each area committee and thus the score for funding the project could not be awarded full marks as it was conditional upon the other area committees granting the funding.

There were no speakers present for the application. The committee debated the item.

RESOLVED: to

1.    Increase the officers recommended score of 1 point for New facilities or activities to 2, in view of the fact that the new Client Management Software would provide a new facility for the group. This raised the overall score of the application from 8 points to 9, making it a high priority for funding.

2.    Award Be Free Young Carers up to 15.75% (capped to £900) of the total cost of the project, the amount requested by the applicant.

Harwell Village CIO

The officer introduced the application by Harwell Village CIO for a New Homes Bonus grant of £3,300 towards the cost of a refurbishment of Cherry Hall Floor in Harwell Village Hall. The Officer explained the reasons behind the recommended scoring, and highlighted that the project only received a score of 1 for funding the project because the group had enough reserves to fund the project in full themselves.

There were no speakers present for the application. The committee debated the item. A councillor noted that the new flooring would allow for better disability access to the village hall, and recommended raising the score for new facilities or activities to 2.

RESOLVED: to

1.    Increase the officers recommended score of 1 point for New facilities or activities to 2, in view of the fact that the new flooring would raise health and safety standards and allow better disability access to the hall. This raised the overall score of the application from 8 to 9, making it a high priority for funding.

2.    Award Harwell Village CIO up to 49.64% (capped to £3,300) of the total cost of the project, the amount requested by the applicant.

Wantage Summer Arts Festival

The officer introduced the application by Wantage Summer Arts Festival for a New Homes Bonus grant of £1,045 towards the cost of promotional aspects for Wantage Summer Arts Festival 2019. The Officer explained that although the project had scored 8 points out of a possible 12, the Officer recommended that the project received £0 of funding. The Officerexplained that although the current policy does not exclude applications for events/festivals. Itlooks to fund projects that support community initiatives and facilities that will benefit the community for at least five or ten years. The group had already put in an application to the council’s festival grant scheme, which is amore appropriate scheme than the NHB one.

The Officer also noted that as the application was new and they had not previously been awarded  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.