Agenda item

This is the first meeting of the Grants and Concessions Panel under the new programme. To support decision making and for ease of reference the key 2016 guidance documentation (already approved) is supplied in the agenda pack:

·         What and who is eligible for grants?

·         Grants and Concessions Policy

·         What are Chichester District Council’s Priorities and Principles for Funding?

There are also five guidance documents that need to be considered:

·       Format of a grant application Summary Sheet

·       Format of a Grant Agreement (to be agreed with each successful applicant)

·       Guidance on the “Determination of Bids”

·       Guidance on “How Funding Advisers Assess Applications”

·       Guidance for Member Involvement

RESOLVED

That the following draft documents be agreed:

·       Grant Application Summary Sheet (subject to the addition of a box to note any officer negotiations)

·       Grant Agreement (to be agreed with each successful applicant)

·       Guidance on the Determination of Bids

·       Guidance on How Funding Advisers Assess Applications (subject to the additional sentence, ‘officers will carry out reasonable checks to ensure organisations applying for grants are not in dispute with the council’)

·       Guidance for Member Involvement

Mr Hyland explained the documents already approved by Cabinet drawing attention to the priorities and principles. There are three new priority areas:

·       Economy

·       Improving living places and spaces

·       Targeted projects

Mr Hyland outlined the broad principles officers use for assessing grant applications and explained the headings on the Grant Application Summary Sheet. Mr Hyland clarified each heading in turn drawing particular attention to the new heading ‘is the project ready for implementation?’

Mr Hyland explained the five guidance documents to be considered:

·       Grant Application Summary Sheet (with the inclusion of the six principles)

·       Grant Agreement (to be agreed with each successful applicant)

·       Guidance on the “Determination of Bids”

·       Guidance on “How Funding Advisers Assess Applications”

·       Guidance for Member Involvement

Members asked the following questions:

·       Are the new priorities ranked? There is no specific order and all priorities have equal weighting.

·       Why do applications under the economy heading have a £2,500 cap? The Economic Development team felt the cap would enable a greater number of businesses to benefit from funding.

·       Will the requirement to implement a project within 12 months be problematic? The new requirement does not prevent applicants from applying as long as they are able to explain the reason for asking for a financial commitment at an early stage.

·       Can it be clearly indicated whether officers have negotiated the value of an application? This can be added to the Grant Application Summary Sheet.

·       Who will be asked to sign the Grant Agreement and what level of responsibility will they need to have? Officers will decide on a case by case basis who the appropriately authorised person should be.

RESOLVED

That the following draft documents be agreed:

·       Grant Application Summary Sheet (subject to the addition of a box to note any officer negotiations)

·       Grant Agreement (to be agreed with each successful applicant)

·       Guidance on the Determination of Bids

·       Guidance on How Funding Advisers Assess Applications (subject to the additional sentence, ‘officers will carry out reasonable checks to ensure organisations applying for grants are not in dispute with the council’)

·       Guidance for Member Involvement