Agenda and minutes

Venue: Meeting Room 1, 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Milton, Abingdon, OX14 4SB

Contact: Paul Bateman, Democratic Services  Tel: 01235 22523 Email:  paul.bateman@southandvale.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

9.

Apologies for absence

To record apologies for absence. 

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Kate Gregory, Jo Robb and Ian Snowden.

 

10.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 113 KB

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Community Grants Panel minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2019. 

Minutes:

RESOLVED: to approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2019 and agree that the chair signs them as such.

 

11.

Declarations of interest

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.  

Minutes:

None.

12.

Urgent business and chair's announcements

To receive notification of any matters which the chairman determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chairman. 

Minutes:

None.

13.

Public participation

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. 

Minutes:

Speakers representing their application were present for nine out of nineteen applications. They spoke in support of their applications and had the opportunity to respond to questions from the panel. The speakers were the following:

 

John Cross

St. Mary’s Church

Aubrey Doran

Henley Rugby Football Club

David Kerrigan

Didcot Baptist Church

Richard McQuillan

Fish Volunteer Centre

Robert Walmsley

Bix PCC

Mark Gray & Sarah Wilson

Cholsey Parish Council

Laura Bristow

Oxford City Athletics Club

Caroline Cann

Tetsworth Memorial Hall

Jonnie Bradshaw

Warborough Sports Pavillion Refurbishment Project

 

14.

Capital grants pdf icon PDF 464 KB

To consider the head of corporate services’ report.

Minutes:

The panel considered the head of corporate services’ report for each project, which detailed the applications, the scoring recommendations, and the subsequent final recommendations based upon the South Oxfordshire District Council Capital Grants Policy.

 

The panel agreed to consider the applications in the following order, firstly those with speakers registered to represent their application followed by all other applications which had no speakers present to support their application.

 

Cholsey Parish Council

There were two speakers present for the item. Mark Gray and Sarah Wilson spoke in support of the application and answered questions from the panel.

 

Councillors asked a question regarding how the proposed project would benefit carbon reduction strategies. The speakers explained that the building had existing high standards for carbon reduction and the new facilities would benefit from the existing measures.

 

A second question was asked on whether the project would benefit residents external to the parish. The speakers confirmed that residents from neighbouring parishes were already using the facilities and would continue to be welcomed at the site.

 

RESOLVED: To approve the officers’ recommended scoring of 10 out of 12 points.

 

Tetsworth Memorial Hall

There was one speaker present for the item. Caroline Cann spoke in support of the application and answered questions from the panel.

 

Councillors asked what the current estimated savings in cost would be following the completion of the project. The speaker confirmed that there would be an estimated 50-65% savings through the replacement of old facilities.

 

A subsequent question was raised on whether any funding had been received from the parish council. The speaker confirmed that this remained in process and that the parish was currently waiting for any other applicants for funding.

 

Councillors consulted with the Energy Strategy and Projects Officer on whether the carbon reduction scoring could be increased as a result of the new information presented. The officer confirmed that taking into account the new information received from the speaker, the carbon reduction scoring could be increased by one point to the maximum scoring of three.

 

A motion, proposed and seconded, was passed, to increase the carbon reduction scoring to three points.

 

RESOLVED: To increase the carbon reduction score to 3 points, the maximum scoring possible for the criteria, giving the application a total of 10 points out of 12. The project therefore became a high priority item.

 

St Mary’s Church

There was one speaker present for the item. John Cross spoke in support of the application and answered questions from the panel.

 

The panel asked whether the applicant had applied to the Church of England for additional sources of finance. The speaker confirmed that an application for funding had been submitted to the Church of England.

 

A question was raised to officers on whether religious groups who provided services to the wider community were limited in scoring under the community benefit criteria. The officers confirmed that a site owned by a religious organisation was able to restrict access to people under the Equalities Act and therefore were limited to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

 

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