Return to Agenda

ITEM EX10

EXECUTIVE – 10 JUNE 2003

VILLAGE HALL GRANTS 2003/2004

Report by Director for Learning & Culture

Introduction

  1. The County Council’s grant scheme for the improvement of village halls and other community buildings is administered by the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC). This Report summarises the applications received and recommends allocations from the grant fund for 2003/04.

    2. Applications Received

  2. Sixteen applications were received. Each applicant organisation was visited by ORCC in order to discuss the proposed project and to gather additional information, as required. Applications were checked against the established eligibility criteria of the scheme (Annex 1).

  3. Notes on each application are in the Members’ Resource Centre.

    4. ORCC Grant Recommendations

  4. ORCC’s grant recommendations are attached in the table at Annex 2. These have been discussed with the ORCC’s Village Halls Advisory Group consisting of representatives of village hall committees countywide.

  5. One application by West Hendred Village Hall Committee for £5,000, was approved provisionally by the Executive in October 2002 from the 2003/04 budget. This grant can now be confirmed.

  6. Thirteen grants are recommended by ORCC at this stage, including West Hendred, totalling £42,525. These are summarised at Annex 2. ORCC suggest that three applications are deferred for consideration again in October 2003 against a remaining sum of £7,475.

    7. Progress on grants allocated in 2001/02 and 2002/03

  7. Eight grants were allocated in October 2001 totalling £50,000. Five have been claimed (Russells Water Village Hall, Standlake Village Hall, Elsfield Community Room, King Alfred Drive Community Centre, Didcot and Acorn Centre, Cowley). Two projects are nearly completed (Farmoor Village Hall and Cutteslowe Community Centre) and the other (Parkhill Hall, Kidlington) will start shortly.

  8. Eleven grants were allocated in 2002/03 totalling £50,000. Four have been claimed (Cassington Village Hall, Hagbourne Village Hall, Langford Village Hall and Upton Village Hall). Five projects are in progress (Aston Village Hall, Jericho Community Centre, Little Milton Village Hall, North Leigh Memorial Hall, Chipping Norton Town Hall) and two projects (Tackley Village Hall and West Hendred Village Hall) are preparing to start.

    9. Future of the grant fund beyond 2003/04

  9. The ORCC is aware of over £4m of potential building projects being planned throughout the county. In the light of increasing building costs and village hall/community centre committees’ need to improve the accessibility of their buildings in line with the Disability Discrimination Act, the County Council may wish to consider whether in setting its budget for 2004/05 and beyond, it is possible to increase the amount of grant available beyond the current level of £50k, which has not increased with inflation. When the grant scheme was at its peak in the early 1990s the annual budget was £140,000, at a time when building costs were running at 50 per cent of their present level.

    10. Financial Implications

  10. The annual budget for these grants is currently £50,000. The grants recommended in this report total £42,525. It is proposed that the allocation of the balance of £7,475 be considered in a further report to the Executive in October 2003.

  11. Funds from the 2001/02 and 2002/03 budgets have been carried forward to meet the commitments made to projects approved in those financial years.

    12. RECOMMENDATIONS

  12. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to approve the grants proposed in Annex 2 to this report.

KEITH BARTLEY
Director for Learning & Culture

Background papers: Applications

Contact Officer: Nancy Hood, Tel: (01865) 810292

May 2003


Return to TOP