Minutes – Community Affairs Working Group (Discretionary Grants) – 4 October 2021

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Community Affairs Working Group – 4 October 2021 – 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) – 4 October 2021

NOTES OF THE VIRTUAL MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY AFFAIRS WORKING GROUP HELD ON MONDAY 4 OCTOBER 2021 AT 3.00PM

PRESENT:

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

EX-OFFICIO:

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

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE:

• Town Clerk, Deputy Town Clerk, Member Services Support Officer

36. APOLOGIES AND RECORD OF ABSENCE

Apologies had been received from Councillor Gershater.

Councillors Carter and Joy were absent from the meeting.

37. 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.

Those in attendance were reminded that the process for evaluating and deciding Discretionary Grants had been changed for 2021-22 and that this meeting had been called to allocate the remaining budget for the Grant year.

Members were also reminded that the large grant applicants would have the opportunity to give the Committee a short presentation followed by questions with a total of ten minutes being permitted per organisation.

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

The Chairman asked Members to give their declarations of interest in respect of the organisations that had submitted grant applications.

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

Councillor Scicluna declared personal interests as a member of the Chichester Local History Society and the Friends of Valletta.

Councillor Plowman declared a personal interest as a founder member of Second Chance Chichester.

Councillor C Hughes declared an interest as a City Council representative on the Friends of Valletta.

39. PRESENTATIONS FROM LARGER GRANT APPLICANTS

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

• Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice
• Chichester BID
• Chichester Local History Society
• Chichester Marks Holocaust Memorial
• Homestart Chichester and District
• Only Hope Project
• Oxmarket Centre of Arts Ltd

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

40. PUBLIC BODIES (ADMISSION TO MEETINGS ACT) 1960

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

41. CONSIDERATION OF DISCRETIONARY GRANT APPLICATIONS 2021/2022

Discretionary Grant budget 2021/2022: £35,000

 Discretionary Grants awarded in April 2021: £12,950

Supplementary Grant awarded to Over the Rainbow: £2,000

Remaining Grant budget: £20,050

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) A.R.E. (Charles Avenue Residents Engagement)

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £500 be awarded to C.A.R.E. to support the provision of ongoing community activities and outreach.

ii) Friends of Valletta

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £500 be awarded to Friends of Valletta to support to promote the Friends and enable participation in the Chichester Festival of Culture in 2022.

Councillors C Hughes and Scicluna abstained from the vote.

iii) Kingsham Primary School

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £500 be awarded to Kingsham Primary School to support the school’s sustainability goals and investment in recycling and an allotment area.

Councillor Gaskin noted that it would be preferable if the funding could be used to invest in non-plastic raised beds. The Deputy Town Clerk advised Members that the intended purchases were made from recycled plastic.

iv) My Sisters’ House Women’s Centre

It was RESOLVED to award a Grant of £329 to My Sisters’ House Women’s Centre to support the opening of a new drop in hub with the provision of a credit card machine.

v) Second Chance Chichester

It was RESOLVED to award a grant of £500 to Second Chance Chichester to support the cost of finding suitable depot space to store household goods due for repair or refurbishment.

Councillor Plowman did not vote.

vi) Words Out Loud

It was RESOLVED that no grant be made to Words Out Loud on this occasion.

Member expressed concern about the lack of clarity regarding the intended use of the funding.

Members were advised that an application from the Rotary Club had been received but not included in the original agenda due to clerical error.

Members were further advised that the application was for the provision of the Chichester city centre Christmas tree.

vii) Rotary Clubs of Chichester

It was RESOLVED that a grant of £500 be made to the Rotary Clubs of Chichester to support the provision of a Christmas tree in Chichester city centre.

Members agreed that this provision should be monitored and that there should be no expectation that the City Council would fund the provision of the Christmas tree on an ongoing basis.

Councillor Plowman, as a member of the Rotary Club, did not vote.

Total smaller Discretionary Grants awarded                              £2,829

Remaining Discretionary Grants budget for 2021/2022             £17,221

b) CONSIDERATION OF LARGER GRANT APPLICATIONS

i) Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £2,000 be awarded to Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice to support the expansion of the digital hub service.

Members agreed that the Grant should be awarded as it was intended to support a defined project rather than be used for general funding of the service.

ii) Chichester BID

It was RESOLVED to award Chichester BID a Grant of £1,600 to assist with the provision of Christmas illuminations for 2021-22.

Councillor Scicluna expressed concern about the fact that, as the City Council was already a Chichester BID levy payer, it was being asked to provide funding in addition to the levy.

The Working Group agreed that the Christmas lights were an important part of bringing in people to the City Centre and that increasing the spread of the lights in to the smaller streets should be encouraged.

iii) Chichester Local History Society

It was RESOLVED that a Grant of £1,000 be made to the Chichester Local History Society to support the publication of the Society’s annual journal and the production of the latest Chichester Paper.

iv) Chichester Marks Holocaust Memorial

Members expressed strong support for this Grant application.

In response to a question from Councillor Lishman, the Chairman gave Members a brief summary of the background behind the organisation and its links to Chichester.

After a short further discussion, it was RESOLVED that a Grant of £2,000 be awarded to the Chichester Marks Holocaust Memorial to support the creation of a new musical related to the Holocaust Memorial which was intended for performance in the Festival Theatre in January 2023.

v) Homestart Chichester and District

It was RESOLVED that no Grant awarded to Homestart Chichester and District on this occasion.

Members agreed that the Grants were intended to support defined projects and that, at this time, Homestart had stated that the Grant would be used to support the ongoing costs of running the organisation.

The Working Group agreed that the work undertaken by Homestart was vital and asked the Deputy Town Clerk to clarify the reasons for the decision when contacting the organisation.

vi) Only Hope Project

It was RESOLVED that no Grant be made to the Only Hope Project.

Members expressed sympathy for the project and its background but did not feel they could support this application on this occasion.

vii) Oxmarket Centre of Arts Ltd

It was RESOLVED that no Grant be made to the Oxmarket Centre of Arts on this occasion.

Members agreed that the Oxmarket Centre of Arts had previously received substantial grant funding through the City Council and that they would have expected the ongoing refurbishment project to have taken in to account the provision of the space outlined in the current Grant application.

viii) The Art of Chichester book

Members were informed that a late application had been received for a Grant to support the publication of a book on the subject of the history of art and culture in Chichester over the previous 60 years.

Members were further informed that the book would be associated with an exhibition in the Novium Museum from June 2022 to February 2023 which would also connect to the Chichester District Season of Culture 2022.

The Deputy Town Clerk advised Members that the late submission had possibly been due to a misunderstanding about the submission deadline.

The Working Group expressed support for the project but agreed that, as they had not seen the supporting paperwork they could not make a decision at that time.

Members agreed that, in order to give the application a fair hearing, the decision should be deferred to the Finance Working Group meeting on 19 October 2021 and that the applicant should be invited to give his presentation at that time.

The Chairman and Councillor Scicluna, as Chairman of the Finance Working Group; reminded Members that this was the second Grant application that had been deferred in this way in the current year and that, going forward, this should not become a regular occurrence.

The Working Group asked the Deputy Town Clerk to invite the applicant to attend the Finance Working Group so that the application could be fully considered.

Total larger Discretionary Grants awarded                                 £6,600

Total Discretionary Grants awarded                                            £9,429

Remaining Discretionary Grants budget 2021/2022                   £10,621

The meeting closed at 5.06pm

DATE OF THE NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: MONDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2021 AT 3.00PM