Agenda and minutes

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Councillor Hillier declared that he has had past involvement with the Haywards Heath Community CIC. Councillor Belsey declared that he is also a Member of East Grinstead Town Council, however he has not had any involvement with the grant application considered at this meeting.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on the 23 September 2019 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.        

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Representations have been received from Councillor Eves regarding the application submitted by Kangaroos and Councillor de Mierre regarding the application submitted by the Haywards Heath Community CIC.

Holly-Jade Ryder, Business Development Officer introduced the four Micro Business Grant applications, noting that this is the 5th and potentially final meeting for the Micro Business Grant Scheme for 2019. A total of £8,000 is before the panel for approval and if successful, the full budget would be allocated leaving £359 to be allocated for the next scheme year. 

All applications were assessed against the criteria of delivering wider outreach, assisting with the delivery of new business lines, enabling more employees to be taken on and delivering benefits to the community. Each business has also passed Officers due diligence checks.

The applications which were recommended for consideration and approval by the

Panel are set out below:

The Vice-Chairman noted that the quality of the Officers work on all the grant reports had been exemplary

In considering the first application by Aureo Group, the Panel noted that it is the third grant application by the company, having received a grant in 2017 and 2018. Although supportive of this application as it meets the required criteria, the Panel requested that work be carried out separately to review the criteria and scoring for future Micro Business Grants in order to reduce the issue of repeat applications. A meeting will be convened separately with the Panel to take this forward.

Members discussed the remaining 3 Micro Business Grant applications and were supportive of all. The Vice Chairman requested to be able to visit the coding workshops proposed by Desk Village Ltd once they were in operation.

RESOLVED

The Cabinet Grant Panel agreed:

i.          that a Micro Business Grant of £2,000 be granted to Aureo Group to support the costs of procuring a digital marketing specialist.

ii.          that a Micro Business Grant of £2,000 be granted to Buchan Rum Architects Ltd to support the business in the costs of achieving RIBA status and further costs in attending CPD workshops, new equipment to support the business in its expansion to office premises, the development costs of a new website and the costs of undertaking networking activities.

iii.         that a Micro Business Grant of £2,000 be granted to Desk Village Ltd to support the costs of introducing coding workshops. 

iv.        that a Micro Business Grant of £2,000 be granted to The Classic Shutter Company  to support the costs of marketing, website improvements and training.

Elaine Clarke, Community Facilities Project Officer introduced the report concerning 3 applications for the release of Section 106 monies the Council has received from developers carrying out property development in the Town or Parish and 9 Community and Economic Development Grants. The report also provides an update on the Ansty Village Centre Trust which requires extra funding and a request for Members to consider a small grants scheme to support VEDay75.

In considering the VEDay75 proposal to ring-fence £7,500 for small £250 grants to 30 organisations for celebration events, the Panel enquired whether this amount was sufficient and requested that the application be a simple process to encourage small groups to apply. The Vice Chairman noted that the type of celebrations may be street parties and requested that guidance on street closure is provided on promotion of the grant scheme.

Regina Choudhury, Community Development Officer confirmed that the application would be a web based form in a shortened version with printed copies available if required. The grant will be promoted in Mid Sussex Matters along with media activity to promote it to smaller groups within villages. Regarding the grant amount, she considered it to be sufficient as the grant will be promoted alongside a sustainability message, tied into the theme of ‘make do and mend’ to encourage groups to make their own banners and bunting and encourage social interaction.

The Panel discussed the Ansty Village Centre Trust, and were supportive of the recommendations. They noted that the Council is holding £214,402 in Section 106 money which can be allocated towards this project to bring them close to the completion of stage 1 of the project. The Chairman congratulated the Trust on the huge amount that a small village has raised and noted that an additional budget shortfall of £100,000 remains. This will be considered at a future Cabinet meeting and it was requested that the Cabinet report contain a time-line of when each stage of funding was agreed, and further context of the users of the facilities and where they come from.

The Vice-Chairman sought reassurance that the use of Section 106 money from land south of Rocky Lane would be allocated appropriately (as it falls on the border of Ansty and Haywards Heath) to ensure that projects for residents in each area are supported.

The applications which were recommended for consideration and approval by the

Panel are set out below:

Section 106 Monies

Regarding Haywards Heath Tennis Club, the Panel established that the tennis courts could be hired by the public as well as club members but the new club house toilet facilities would not be available to everyone. They encouraged the applicants to consider subscribing to the community toilet scheme, and were supportive of the pilot being run in Ashurst Wood  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.