Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report :

Contact name: Margaret Plumridge

Tel: 01962 84 6173 Email [email protected]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1) Summary of Decision Area :

1.1 The County Council provides partnership funding from the Community Buildings Fund for capital projects to Community Associations, Village Hall Trusts and similar bodies as outlined in the fund's criteria. This enables the voluntary and community sector to maintain the quality of Hampshire's cultural assets, namely community centres and village halls, some of which are listed.

1.2 This report provides details of the financial position of the Community Buildings Fund in 2008/09 and details requests for partnership funding from this fund.

2) Applications considered in this report :

3) Recommendation:

3.1 That partnership funding totalling £19,976 as listed above be approved for allocation from the Community Buildings Fund for 2008/09.

MAIN REPORT

1. Purpose of the Report :

1.1 The purpose of this report is :

i) to provide details of the financial position of the Community Buildings Fund for 2008/09

ii) to provide details of requests for partnership funding from the Community Buildings Fund in 2008/09

2. Background/ Contextual Information :

2.1 The County Council works in partnership with specific community organisations particularly community associations and village hall trusts who seek to enable local people to meet the recreational, educational, social, cultural and environmental needs of their local communities. These organisations give local people an opportunity to participate in local activities and encourage local initiatives by people of all ages.

2.2 Partnership funding from the Community Buildings Fund enables the voluntary and community sector to maintain the quality of Hampshire's cultural assets, namely their village halls and community association buildings, some of which are listed. This finance enables improvements to be made to those buildings and can assist with the development of new facilities where appropriate. The provision of these buildings by the voluntary and community sector enable local communities to access the services and facilities they need.

2.3 By providing financial support to these organisations for the maintenance of their buildings the County Council is able to work in partnership with the community sector to achieve the Corporate Priority - Enhancing our Quality of Place.

3. Budget Position:

3.1 The sum of £100,000 was set aside in the 2008/09 Recreation and Heritage Capital Programme to support the Community Buildings Fund in 2008/09. A further £25,000 from the capital programme carry forward, originally set aside for landlord improvement works to the community centres owned by the county council, has been allocated to support the fund bringing the fund total to £125,000.

3.2 To date, £167,527 has been allocated in this financial year which exceeds the available funds. However, a review of the fund for 2004/05 reveals that a number of allocations made in that year have not been followed up suggesting that the schemes did not finally proceed. This will provide sufficient funding to cover the recommendations in this report which total £19,976 bringing the final total for support approved for 2008/09 to £187,503.

4. Criteria for Grant:

4.1 The partnership funding distribution criteria is set out in Appendix 1.

4.2 Projects listed in Appendix 2 meet fully the criteria and have been allocated a proposed level of partnership funding in line with the criteria.

5. Other Considerations

5.1 Legal Implications

The Council has wide powers under Section 19 Local Government ( Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 to provide recreational facilities and to contribute by way of grant or loan towards expenses incurred by voluntary bodies in providing such facilities.

5.2 Impact Assessment

Organisations applying to this scheme are by their nature defined as accessible to all members of the community. This is embodied within their charitable objects, therefore no groups or organisations should be excluded from any benefit arising from these decisions. Furthermore the application procedure includes equalities monitoring information as agreed as part of the corporate review of grants programmes and procedures.

6. Summary Recommendations:

6.1 That partnership funding totalling £19,976 as listed below be approved for allocation from the Community Buildings Fund for 2008/09.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

Appendix 1

CRITERIA FOR THESE GRANTS:

The partnership funding distribution criteria for the Community Buildings Fund is as follows:

Partnership funding is granted for:

· Building repairs, extensions and refurbishments

· Health and safety issues

· Equipment to improve the buildings and increase usage

· Feasibility studies

Who can apply:

· Village halls (not parish run halls)

· Community associations

· Church organisations that have a separate community programme on their property

Funding criteria:

· For projects costing less than £15,000, the funding criteria is up to one third of the cost.

· For projects costing more than £15,000, the grant is calculated at 50% of the combined district and parish council contribution up to a maximum of 25% of the project costs or £12,500, whichever is the lesser.

· Feasibility studies - applications will be considered for 50% of the cost up to a maximum of £500.

Priority Criteria:

1. Health and safety issues that could result in the building being closed or activities seriously curtailed if the work is not carried out.

2. The work is absolutely essential in order to meet the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act. (It has been widely publicised that these types of buildings will not be closed provided reasonable steps have been taken to meet the terms of the Act).

3. The project is part of a phased development and this element is essential to it's overall completion.

4. Non priority work.

Appendix 2

Name Emsworth Community Centre

Consultation The local member, Councillor David Gillett, has been consulted.

Project Replacing flooring and kitchen.

Cost £12,345

General Reserves £46,782

Project Reserves £0

Statement This building is owned by the county council and the work is deemed urgent.

Partnership Funding None

Recommendation Up to £4,115 as one third of project cost

Name Forest Community Centre

Consultation The local member, Councillor Adam Carew, has been consulted.

Project To fit an induction loop in the main hall

Cost £2,315

General Reserves £5,212

Project Reserves £0

Statement This project will enable members of the public who are hearing impaired to participate fully in activities and events held at the centre. The acoustics in the hall are not very good for those with a hearing impairment and at present groups that use the hall are finding this difficult. This funding will help towards the purchase and installation of a hearing loop system to address this problem enabling more groups and individuals to utilise the hall.

Partnership Funding Whitehill and Bordon Town Council £100

Recommendation Up to £772 as one third of project cost

Name Headley Down Community Centre

Consultation The local member, Councillor Sam James, has been consulted.

Project To replace window frames and wood panelling.

Cost £5,779

General Reserves £10,862

Project Reserves £0

Statement Headley Down Community Centre is within a remote area known as The Heatherlands estate in East Hampshire. The Community Centre is at the heart of its community with a variety of activities taking place that residents may not otherwise have access to due to the poor transport links. The centre is in need of new woodwork and panelling above and below the windows on all sides of the building. It will also need to replace the existing wooden window frames which have become rotten with age. This will be done with UPVC for a more aesthetically pleasing finish.

Partnership Funding £2,000 East Hampshire District Council.

Recommendation Up to £1,926 as one third of project costs.

Name Hurstbourne Priors Village Hall

Consultation The local member, Councillor John Maxwell, supports the recommendation.

Project Replacement of Hall Floor

Cost £19,769

General Reserves £10,000

Project Reserves £5,000

Statement This project is extremely urgent as the village hall has had to cancel bookings and close as the floor of their main hall has been affected by a severe fungal attack. This has left the floor unusable and unsafe. This grant will help with the replacement of the entire floor including replacement of the brick sleeper walls where needed, new joists, application of anti-fungicide and new flooring.

Partnership Funding £14,769 from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

Recommendation The criteria based contribution for this project could be £4,942 i.e. 25%. However, that sum is almost equal to the unfunded element of the project which is £5,000 before any contribution is made from the applicant's funds. There are insufficient funds remaining in this year's Community Buildings Fund to meet the criteria based contribution of £4,942 so it proposed to offer the remaining unallocated balance of the 2008/09 fund of £2,986 leaving the applicant to contribute the balance of £2,014 (10.2%) from their own funds.

Name Ibsley Village Hall

Consultation The local member, Councillor Kathy Heron, has been consulted.

Project Refurbishment of toilets.

Cost £13,128

General Reserves £15,948

Project Reserves £4,682

Statement This grant will help towards the cost of refurbishment of both the ladies and gentlemen's toilets at Ibsley Village Hall. At present the toilets are unhygienic due to lifting floor tiles which are trapping dirt, the walls are not washable and there are broken fittings.

Partnership Funding £4,069 from New Forest District Council

Recommendation Up to £4,376 as one third of project costs

Name Rookesbury Hall, Newtown

Consultation The local member, Councillor Felicity Hindson, supports the recommendation.

Project Replacement of flooring in entrance hall and committee room.

Cost £8,924

General Reserves £7,500

Project Reserves £5,000

Statement This project will ensure that the flooring in the entrance hall and committee room can be replaced with harder wearing wood block flooring. At present the entrance hall and committee room are carpeted, however these have become dirty and worn, potentially leading to tripping hazards in the future. This new flooring will be easier to maintain as well as being aesthetically pleasing which will hopefully help to bring more business to the hall.

Partnership Funding None

Recommendation Up to £2,975 as one third of project costs.

Name Springwood Community Centre

Consultation The local member, Councillor Ian Beagley, has been consulted.

Project To strip and re-seal main hall floor.

Cost £4,879

General Reserves £6,897

Project Reserves £1,500

Statement This project will ensure that the main hall floor is stripped and resealed as advised by the landlord, Havant Borough Council in order to prevent the entire floor being replaced in the future at a higher cost.

Partnership Funding None

Recommendation Up to £1,626 as one third of project costs.

Name St Johns Church, Rownhams

Consultation The local member, Councillor Roy Perry, supports the recommendation.

Project To repair and upgrade the driveway to the church hall

Cost £3,600

General Reserves £14,367

Project Reserves £0

Statement This project will help towards the cost of aggregate, bitumen and drainage materials to improve access to the church hall from which a large number of community activities are run. At present the access is uneven, full of potholes and often waterlogged causing a high risk to users. The project will see loose material removed, additional drainage channels put in place and the drive resurfaced.

Partnership Funding None

Recommendation £1,200 as one third of project costs.