Appendix 4

RECREATION AND HERITAGE

COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICE

REPORT ON COMMUNITY BUILDINGS FUND

FINANCIAL YEAR 2004/05

The impact of the Disability Discrimination Act and the actions of many community associations and village halls to meet the requirements of the Act were contributory factors to the high level of applications received. Many of the applications showed that committees were taking the opportunity to use the Disability Discrimination Act to initiate a more general refurbishment of their premises. There were also a considerable number of applications to address health and safety issues.

CAPITAL PROGRAMME ALLOCATION

The initial allocation was set at £200,000 although this has been enhanced by savings identified elsewhere in the budget in order to meet the high level of applications.

ALLOCATIONS MADE

There are also a number of applications that have been deferred because their full funding package has not been confirmed and the value of these is £53,750.

1. BREAKDOWN OF PROJECTS

A total of 57 applications have been received.

44 have been or are being processed. - 39 have been approved for funding and 5 are awaiting approval.

A further 7 applications were deferred pending further information on additional funding from other sources.

1 application was cancelled by the applicant after approval.

1 application was eligible, but was deferred as Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council were proposing a 75% subsidy which if granted would be sufficient funding for the project to proceed without our assistance.

1 application was not recommended for support due to questions over the status of the management committee.

2 applications were not recommended as no application had been made to their District or Parish authority for matched funding under our criteria for projects over £15k.

1 application was refused as work had already started on the project before receipt of the application.

The projects that received funding fall into the following categories:

Priority	Type of project	No of applications	Total funds allocated
			£
1	Health & Safety	12	42,471
2	Disability Discrimination Act related	17	108,302
3	Phased Development	4	13,195
4	General refurbishment and extensions	11	43,589

Includes applications to be considered in March

The projects already supported were in the following district areas:

District Authority	No of projects	Total funds allocated	District funds matched*
		£	£
Basingstoke & Deane	3	16,567	150,000 (Sect 106)
Eastleigh	2	1,909	2,000
East Hampshire	5	31,280	5,600
Fareham	3	9,506	1,433
Havant	1	1,833	500
Hart	2	14,600	5,000
New Forest	5	13,724	7,025
Test Valley	10	53,200	45,616
Winchester	9	37,790	44,177

*Known contributions - does not include unknown grants for smaller projects

2. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

2.1. 21 User Satisfaction Survey forms were received following completed projects. All forms expressed satisfaction with the funding scheme. Comments received included:

_ I was very impressed by the whole process and the cheque was very prompt once I submitted invoices

_ We have found advice & assistance to be met, helpful, attentive & efficient. Many thanks for your help.

_ Thank you for your support - this support was greatly appreciated and will be fully publicised

_ We appreciated the services of Mr Dick Whittington in responding to our emails speedily when we informed him of unavoidable delay

_ Your team has been professional and friendly and it has been a pleasure dealing with you on this matter - overall from beginning to end the service has been really excellent. I found both written and verbal advice given was very helpful

_ The whole process was relatively straightforward & easy to use and understand

6.2 Following consultation on a corporate funding strategy the application system has been updated to include corporate requirements whilst taking into consideration user feedback on the existing format. This new format is now in use and a copy of the new application form and guidance documents are attached to this report at Appendix A.