Issue - meetings

To consider the attached report of the Head of Transformation.

The Community Safety & Development Team Leader presented the report on the Arrangements for Dover District Council Community Grants Scheme for 2023/24.

The proposed changes to the Scheme for 2023/24 were as follows:

·         To refocus the scheme as the Cost-of-Living Community Impact Fund. This would provide funding to help support projects related to the cost-of-living crisis.

·         To reduce the amount that applicants could apply for from up to £4000 to up to £2,500. This would enable the funding to be spread more widely to help the widest range of people.

·         That the Scheme only have one grant round not two rounds.

·         That the Scheme was not split into areas of the district based on County Divisions but instead apply to the whole district.

·         That any injection of funds be added to the overall funding pot.

·

The grants panel would meet once per year in October or early November with the allocation of funding expected in late November or December.

The new scheme would be launched with a press release and all previous applicants would be advised of the new Scheme.

The Portfolio Holder for Community and Corporate Property, Councillor C D Zosseder, advised that the scheme had not been reviewed in seven years and that the new administration felt that it should be refocussed where funding was needed most against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis to help those already on low incomes and/or living in poverty.

Members welcomed the scheme and the move away from focussing on areas given the underspend in the rural areas and Sandwich in 2022/23.

In response to a question from Councillor C A Vinson, it was stated that 30 of the 68 previously successful applicants in 2022/23 would have been successful under the criteria for the new Scheme. It was expected that sports clubs would be less successful unless they looked to tailor their bids to the new criteria.

To consider the attached report of the Head of Transformation.

Responsibility: Portfolio Holder for Community and Corporate Property

It was agreed:

(a)   That the proposed rebranding and criteria changes set out at paragraph 4.2 of the report, utilising the £55,277.29 available to the Community Grants Scheme (comprising £22,500 usual budget, £7,500 Dover Lotto injection and £25,000 underspend), be approved.

(b)   That the budget outlined at (a) be augmented with an injection of £30,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.