Agenda item

To advise of:

·                The current expenditure and balances of the Committee Grant budgets;

·                Recent requests received for Committee grant funding;

·                Activities and schemes with which the Community Engagement Officers have been involved;

·                Community-based activities that will take place during the next few months.

AGREED:

(1)       That the Members of the Letchworth Committee support the award of £940 in grant funding to ‘Make Lunch Letchworth’, for food and educational activities during school holidays for families in receipt of free school meals;

(2)       That the Executive Member for Community Engagement be requested to consider and support the grant funding application, as detailed in (1) above.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION: The awarding of financial assistance to voluntary organisations and the use of discretionary spending allow the Committee to further the aims of the Council Plan.

Audio recording – 53 minutes 40 seconds

The Community Engagement Team Leader presented the report entitled Grants and Community Update together with the following appendix:

·                Appendix 1 – 2021/22 Financial Year Budget Sheet.

She informed Members that the Committee had a budget of £11,000 plus unallocated funds carried forward from the 2020/21 Civic Year bringing the total available to allocate during the 2021/22 Civic Year to £13,800.

She further updated Members on the following:

Food Provision Network

·                Some funding and supermarket vouchers had been provided to groups across the district such as the Wilbury Community Forum, Letchworth Foodbank, Kings Community Church and the Letchworth Schools Partnership;

·                There was some funding left which could potentially be used to top up the Make Lunch Letchworth project.

Food and Drink Festival

·                The Letchworth Food and Drink Festival was going ahead on 25^th-27^th June 2021 and had some great food and drink stalls participating.

Grant Funding

·                Make Lunch Letchworth were seeking grant funding of £2,940 for food and educational activities during school holidays for families in receipt of free school meals;

·                They had also submitted a grant application to Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation for £2,000 which would be considered in July;

·                Members could consider recommending the £940 and if the grant application to the Heritage Foundation was unsuccessful, then Make Lunch Letchworth could come back to the Committee in October for further funding.

The following Members took part in debate:

·                Councillor Gary Grindal;

·                Councillor Ian Mantle;

·                Councillor Kate Aspinwall;

·                Councillor Terry Hone.

The following points were made in debate:

·                This was the first meeting of the Civic Year and there was a chance that the Committee could be inundated with requests for support from many worthy good causes in the months ahead;

·                It was possible that the Heritage Foundation and County Councillor Hone would be able to provide some funding support;

·                If there were any difficulties obtaining the remaining funding then the applicants were welcome to come back to the Committee;

·                The suggestion was made that the two other County Councillors covering parts of Letchworth could be approached for funding;

·                The use of emergency powers could be considered again in future to ensure that the organisation could continue to operate;

·                The Committee was supportive of the great work being done by Make Lunch Letchworth.

Councillor Gary Grindal proposed that the Executive Member for Community Engagement be advised that the Members of the Letchworth Committee supported the award of grant funding of £940 to Make Lunch Letchworth as detailed in the report. Councillor Mantle seconded the proposal and it was:

AGREED:

(1)       That the Members of the Letchworth Committee support the award of £940 in grant funding to ‘Make Lunch Letchworth’, for food and educational activities during school holidays for families in receipt of free school meals;

(2)       That the Executive Member for Community Engagement be requested to consider and support the grant funding application, as detailed in (1) above.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION: The awarding of financial assistance to voluntary organisations and the use of discretionary spending allow the Committee to further the aims of the Council Plan.