Agenda, decisions and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

None.

There were no declarations of substitute members.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

·         if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

·         you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a)Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b)   Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c)  Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d)    Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e)    Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f)   Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

(g)   Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital.  

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

Cllr O’Halloran declared a personal interest in Item B1, as her husband was Chair of St Luke’s Parochial Trust.

There were no declarations of interest.

Agreed.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 November 2023 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

AGREED RECOMMENDATIONS

Reason for decision- as specified in the report

Other options considered – none

Conflicts of interest/Any dispensation granted – as detailed above

The Executive Member, Homes and Neighbourhood reminded meeting that Council’s VCS Partnership Grants Programme is a key component of the Council’s efforts to support the development of resilient communities and a strong, independent voluntary and community sector and that it provides core funding to organisations, enabling them to grow and thrive. Other issues raised include:

Meeting was advised that this was a very competitive funding round with a total of 88 applications, requesting a total of £4.2m for a fund pot of £2.7m.

Executive Member informed the meeting that 61% recommended for funding is going to ‘targeted’ organisations, a 5% increase from 2021-24 in the level of funding going to organisations with a ‘targeted’ approach to working with residents with protected characteristics.

It was noted that 81% of delivery organisations are offering targeted services to residents with one or more protected characteristic.

RESOLVED:

That funding to the 51 organisations for the VCS Partnership Grants Programme across the 6 strands of the programme and detailed in appendix 1 is agreed.

That proposal to provide funding of £2,711,500 per full financial year and over the programme for four years totalling £10, 846,000 be agreed.

AGREED RECOMMENDATIONS

Reason for decision- as specified in the report

Other options considered – none

Conflicts of interest/Any dispensation granted – as detailed above