Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Police & Policy Co-Ordination

Forward Plan Ref: 2011/176

Contact: Alexandra Bailey, Senior Performance & Improvement Manager Tel: (01865) 816384, Ben Threadgold, Senior Policy & Performance Officer Tel: (01865) 328219

Report by Senior Performance & Improvement Manager (CA 7).

The Big Society Fund was launched in February 2011.  Applications are being considered in four waves during 2011/2012.  The first and second waves were considered by Cabinet in July and October 2011.  Applications to the third wave closed on 30 November 2011.

The report:

1. details the bids we have received including service and councillors' comments

2. asks Cabinet to consider bids to the Big Society Fund and recommends which bids to fund.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to

(a)       Approve those bids which meet the assessment criteria

Cabinet considered bids to the Big Society Fund from the third wave of applications.

Councillor Janet Godden spoke in support of the two bids for Dean Court namely the bid for Dean Court Community Centre and the Cumnor Parish MUGA (multi-use games area) Project. She welcomed the recommendation to support the Community Centre in what was a deprived area. The second bid for the re-use of the abandoned sports area had been less successful and she believed that this was due to a lack of clarity in the bid. She gave information on the use by football clubs and other uses. She expressed disappointment that she had been unable to comment before the recommendations came to Cabinet and asked that they be allowed to redo and bring back the bid.

Councillor Hannaby spoke in support of the bid for the refurbishment of October Club kitchen and toilets arguing that the bid did meet the criteria although accepting that there was only so much that could be done to make a bid for kitchens and toilets innovative. She had not realised that there was a problem with the bid and commented that the bidders were unused to the process. The bid had had to be made quickly in order to meet the deadline. She would be grateful for any assistance the Cabinet felt able to provide but if they felt more work was necessary then she was happy to work with the community.

Councillor Brighouse spoke in support of the Thrive Barton bid expressing her disappointment that it was not to be funded. There was excellent new youth provision in the area thanks to the Play Barton Grant but the hub and satellite work had not happened. The bid was very much about local people working hard to make a difference in their community and had come about because of the numbers of children needing support. She referred to the work of the Barton Youth Partnership together with the police to address issues on the estate. Whilst not asking the Cabinet to change the recommendation today she hoped that they would look again at the area and in particular referred to the interest already shown by the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families.

Councillor David Turner spoke in support of the project to connect the B480 Parishes and welcomed the recommendation to support the bid.

Councillor Wilmshurst spoke in support of the bid by Chinnor Youth Centre. He accepted that the paper submitted was lacking in detail and supplied additional information on cost, on funding from the Parish Council, the Centre’s location and current support and plans for the future. He commented that he did not believe that the bid should be in category 3 but having read the summary he understood why it was.

The Cabinet Member for Police and Policy Co0ordination responded to the comments made commenting that bids needed Councillor approval before submission and Councillors could then get involved in the process. He agreed that some of the submissions could be clearer and he would encourage local councillors to become involved in the redesign. However the bids were assessed against strict criteria in a fair and equitable way as public money was involved. Councillor Louise Chapman added that she was aware of the Thrive Barton bid in her role as The Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families and would take the matter up outside the meeting as there were other possible alternatives to take it forward more suited to the bid than the Big Society Fund.

Councillor Mallon in moving the recommendations highlighted the success of the Big Society Funs and its continuation for the next two years. He acknowledged that there were more bids not meeting the criteria in the current round but again stressed the need to apply the criteria strictly. There was a risk that bids were not sustainable and funding could only be given where there was a robust business case. Others were not innovative or could be delivered in a different way. He urged Councillors to speak to officers in the preparation of bids to ensure their best chance of success.

RESOLVED:            to give approval to the following bids as detailed in Annex 1 to the report:

Dean Court Community Centre;

Kidlington Youth Club;

New Horizons (Littlemore);

Connecting the B480 Parishes