Minutes – Community Affairs Working Group (Discretionary Grants) – 11 April 2022

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Community Affairs – 11 April 2022 – agenda and papers (Discretionary Grants)

The minutes of this meeting are presented below.

You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Community Affairs Working Group (Discretionary Grants) – 11 April 2022

MINUTES OF THE VIRTUAL MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY AFFAIRS WORKING GROUP HELD ON MONDAY 11 APRIL 2022 AT 3.00PM

PRESENT:

• Councillors Apel (Chairman), C Hughes (Vice-Chairman), Gershater, Lishman, Sharp

EX-OFFICIO:

• The Mayor (Councillor J Hughes), The Deputy Mayor (Councillor Joy), Councillor Scicluna (Chairman of Finance), Councillor Plowman (Chairman of Planning and Conservation)

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE:

• Councillor Gaskin, Deputy Town Clerk, Member Services Support Officer, Committee and Communities Officer

85. APOLOGIES AND RECORD OF ABSENCE

Apologies with a reason were received from Councillor Carter

86. INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN AND OUTLINE OF THE GRANTS PROCESS

The Chairman welcomed the Committee Members and representatives of the organisations that had applied for the larger Discretionary Grants.

87. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST FROM MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY AFFAIRS WORKING GROUP

The Chairman and Councillors Plowman, Lishman and Sharp declared an interest as Members of Chichester District Council.

The Deputy Mayor and Councillor Sharp declared an interest as Members of West Sussex County Council.

Councillor Plowman declared a personal interest due to his involvement with Chichester District Council activity regarding the future of the white pavilion in Priory Park.

The Chairman declared a personal interest as a member of Chichester Marks Holocaust Memorial.

The Mayor declared a personal interest as a member of the Royal Sussex Regimental Association.

Councillor Scicluna declared personal interests as a Trustee of the Chichester Youth Adventure Trust, a member of the Royal Sussex Regimental Association and the Vice-Chairman of The Festival of Chichester.

Councillor Lishman declared an interest in the Festival of Chichester through a personal connection.

88. PRESENTATIONS FROM LARGER GRANT APPLICANTS

The Chairman advised that there would be a slight change to the order of the presentations as published in the agenda due to scheduling problems.

Representatives of the following organisations gave a presentation in support of their Discretionary Grants application and answered Members’ questions.

• Festival of Chichester
• Chichester Pride
• Chichester Priory Park Cricket Club
• Chichester Forest Schools Community Interest Company (CIC)
• Lifecentre
• The Royal Sussex Regimental Association
• Transition Chichester
• UKHarvest
• 4Sight Vision Support

The Chairman thanked all the organisations for providing the additional information to the Working Group in support of their applications.

89. PUBLIC BODIES (ADMISSION TO MEETINGS ACT) 1960

It was proposed, seconded and RESOLVED that the public and press be excluded for the remainder of the meeting because of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted namely financial and business affairs of third parties

90. CONSIDERATION OF DISCRETIONARY GRANT APPLICATIONS 2022/2023

Discretionary Grant budget 2022/2023 £43,621

a) CONSIDERATION OF SMALLER GRANT APPLICATIONS

After a discussion of the Grant applications received, the Committee agreed to award Grants in the smaller application group as follows:

i) Centurion Way Users Group

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £500 be awarded to Centurion Way Users Group for the purchase of commercial quality equipment to enable ongoing maintenance of the southern section of Centurion Way.

ii) Chichester Tree Wardens

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £488 be awarded to Chichester Tree Wardens o provides fund for a project which will increase the Tree Wardens engagements and effectiveness across the city and to provide tree data to encourage long-term planning and appreciation of the city trees.

iii) Chichester Youth Adventure Trust

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £350 be awarded to Chichester Youth Adventure Trust for the installation of a defibrillator at the Trust’s bunkhouse accommodation in South Wales.

Councillor Scicluna abstained from the vote.

iv) Nightingales Army CIC

It was RESOLVED to award a Grant of £352 Nightingales Army Community Interest Company to support the continued provision of their website.

v) St Barnabas Hospices (Sussex) Ltd

It was RESOLVED to award a Grant of £487.97 be awarded to St Barnabas Hospices (Sussex) Ltd for the purchase of manual handling equipment necessary for the provision of care services.

vi) Sussex Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus

It was RESOLVED to award a Grant of £500 to Sussex Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus to support a single parent headed family with 3 Children from Chichester, on a specialist family residential break.

Members discussed the application and agreed that this organisation should be advised that Chichester Welfare Trust may also be a suitable source of funding.

vii) The Crown Community Pub Hub Limited

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £500 be made to the Crown Community Pub Hub Limited to assist with the provision of a defibrillator.

viii) Three Cities

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £500 be made to Three Cities to support the running of the “Three Cities” Festival event aimed at informing the public about the city links and Friends associations.

Total smaller Discretionary Grants awarded – £3,677.97

Remaining Discretionary Grants budget for 2022/2023 – £39,943.03

b) CONSIDERATION OF LARGER GRANT APPLICATIONS

i) Festival of Chichester

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £3,000 be awarded to the Festival of Chichester to fund aspects of the marketing and promotion of the 2022 festival.

ii) Chichester Pride

It was RESOLVED to award Chichester Pride a Grant of £2,500 to support the Chichester Pride event being held in the summer in the grounds of Chichester College.

iii) Chichester Priory Park Cricket Club

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £2,500 be awarded to Chichester Priory Park Cricket Club to support the planned renovation of the White Pavilion in Priory Park.

iv) Chichester Forest Schools CIC

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £2,120 be awarded to Chichester Forest Schools to provide funding for the provision of a new service using woodland sessions to support those impacted by dementia and their carers.

v) Lifecentre

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £2,430 be awarded to the Lifecentre organisation to support their ongoing work counselling and supporting young victims of sexual abuse in the city.

vi) The Royal Sussex Regimental Association

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £2,500 be made to the Royal Sussex Regimental Association in support of the planned event surrounding the re-dedication of St Georges Chapel in Chichester Cathedral.

The Mayor and Councillor Scicluna abstained from the vote.

vii) Transition Chichester

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £1,500 be made to Transition Chichester in support of a series of events planned for Great Green Week 2022 at the New Park Centre.

viii) UKHarvest

After some discussion about the information that had been provided with the Grant application, it was RESOLVED that a Grant of £2,000 be made to UKHarvest to provide funding for a “pop-up pantry” in the Whyke area of Chichester.

ix) 4Sight Vision Support

The Deputy Town Clerk read out an email from the organisation that had been sent after the presentation in response to questions raised by the Working Group.

After Members had discussed this, it was RESOLVED that a Grant of £1,328.40 be awarded to 4Sight Vision Support to support the provision of their bimonthly newsletter for 2022-23.

Total larger Discretionary Grants awarded – £19,878.40

Total Discretionary Grants awarded – £23,556.37

Remaining Discretionary Grants budget 2022/2023 – £20,064.63

The meeting closed at 5.25pm

DATE OF THE NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: MONDAY 6 JUNE 2022 AT 3.00PM