Agenda and minutes

To note any substitution of Members made in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 19-22.

There were no substitutions.

To note any apologies.

Apologies had been received from Councillor Lynn Chesterman.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on XX XXX XXXX (previously circulated).

The Minutes of the meeting held on 8 March 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To note declarations of Members’ disclosable pecuniary interests, non-disclosable pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests in respect of items on the Agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report of the Executive Director (Housing and Communities) which provides Members with details of the applications received for a Small Grant.

Members were advised that the administration of grants had been moved from Finance to Community Partnerships.

There had been a lot of engagement with the community and this would continue in to the future in order to encourage more groups to submit applications.

Work was being done to identify which organisations had previously applied and to target new organisations in order to ensure that funding was available to arts, dance, sport and other relevant groups in an equitable manner.

New posters and flyers had been produced using the unallocated funds from 2016-2017 and these had been distributed to Parishes and organisations and also handed out at events.  All Councillors would be provided with flyers to distribute in their wards.

The same process would be introduced for the Queen’s Sapphire Jubilee Awards.

Four applications for Community Grants had been received which the Board considered.

Dance Motion

An application was received for £2,000 to pay teachers to run classes/workshops, also for venue hire and other expenses.

Members commented that this application was an improvement on that submitted last year.  However, they wanted to know if the questions they had asked last year had been answered.  They were advised of the answers that had been received.

Members were keen to support this application and they asked officers to encourage the applicant to provide feedback on the project.

AGREED to a grant of £2,000.

Digswell Players

An application for the sum of £2,000 had been received to contribute to the replacement of the stage curtains.

AGREED to a grant of £2,000.

Herts Area Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Centre

An application for the sum of £2,000 had been received to contribute to the service to provide support and counselling for women who have survived rape, sexual assault and/or childhood sexual abuse.

Members were supportive of the work of the Centre.

AGREED a grant of £2,000.

Northaw Transition CIC

An application for the sum of £2,000 had been received to provide a path and handrail to enable the orchard to be more accessible.

Members agreed that this was a very worthwhile project.

AGREED a grant of £2,000.

It was

RESOLVED

That grants of £2,000 each should be made to the organisations listed above.

There was £31,000 to carry forward for forthcoming applications.

The Chairman felt that reference needed to be made to the letter that had been sent to the Welwyn Hatfield Times by Mr D Lewis, in respect of the Grants Board and the decisions that had been taken when allocating Annual Grant money.

The Chairman stated that he had sent a response to the letter refuting the claim that the Board did not know what the voluntary sector did and pointing out that personal attacks were not warranted.

The amount of money available for grants had diminished over the years and the Grants Board had to give careful consideration to all applications for annual grants and ensure that money was allocated in a fair manner, taking into account the number of applications received, the amounts applied for and the nature of the projects that were to be supported.