Meeting documents

Councillor Mordue

Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Compliance

To consider the attached report.

Contact Officer:  Jan Roffe (01296) 585186

(a)          Decision(s)

(1)  That the original NHB funding scheme be continued without any change.

(2)  That the NHB funding scheme criteria be expanded to include a "microgrants" scheme as described in the Cabinet report, subject to a minor amendment to the proposed criteria to the effect that it would apply to projects costing up to £10,000, and the removal of the requirement that the project should demonstrate a link to growth, which in the case of small Parishes might preclude consideration for assistance.

(3)  That the operation of the "microgrants" scheme be reviewed in twelve months time.

(b)          Reason(s) for Decision(s)

The changes to the New Homes Bonus Scheme at a national level and the closure of the Community Chest scheme have presented an opportunity to review the NHB Parish Funding Scheme.  The above decision will enable the scheme to be more inclusive, allowing smaller Parishes to benefit from the funding available.

(c)        Alternative Options Considered

To maintain the status quo.  However, it has been identified that amending the scheme as described in the Cabinet report will extend the range of Parish orientated organisations that might be helped.

(d)       Relevant Scrutiny Committee

Finance and Services.

(e)        Conflicts of Interest / Dispensation(s)

None.

The Government had introduced the New Homes Bonus (NHB) in 2011.  The scheme had been designed to ensure that the economic benefits of housing growth were returned to those councils and communities where that growth had taken place.  Under the scheme, for every new home built and occupied in Aylesbury Vale, and for every long term empty home brought back into use, the Government would give the Council a non ring fenced NHB grant each year for six years.  However, following concerns as to the affordability of the national scheme, the Government had now reduced the number of years in which payments were made to five years in 2017/18 and to four years in 2018/19.

The decision to reduce the number of years during which payments were made affected the amount that the Council received and therefore the amount that the Council was able to pass onto communities under its NHB funding scheme.  The changes at a national level had presented an opportunity to review the NHB Funding Scheme.

Cabinet was reminded of the criteria for the original Scheme and the composition of the Panel, which included District and Parish Councillors.  The Panel submitted recommendations to Cabinet for formal approval.

A schedule of the schemes funded via the scheme since its inception was submitted from which it was noted that the level of grants had ranged from £2,600 to £500,000.  Initial observations on the operation of the scheme showed that for the most part, applications tended to be from the larger Parishes.  The resource requirements for compiling a compelling business case were fairly intensive.  Secondly, the impact of growth on individual communities was often difficult to determine objectively.  Thirdly, there was the issue of determining whether to fund schemes which could be viewed as the responsibility of another public agency.  Cabinet had thus far endorsed the view of the Panel that whilst a scheme might be the responsibility of another statutory agency, the rules permitted allocating funding.  Realistically there was often little chance of the other agency being in a position to fund such a scheme.

The Community Chest scheme had recently ended after ten years.  The scheme had been introduced as part of the arrangements for the housing stock transfer.  There was no successor scheme and it had become apparent that there was a need for the NHB scheme to be more inclusive, i.e. available to both large and small Parishes.  It had been recognised in particular that in smaller villages, it was often voluntary and community organisations that contributed towards/ provided the Parish infrastructure.

With this in mind, and having regard to the opportunity to review the operation of the NHB funding scheme in the light of Government changes, Cabinet considered a modification to the scheme to enable "microgrants" to be made towards smaller projects.  The scheme would be designed to be more inclusive of smaller Parishes and voluntary/community sector organisations, who had experienced difficulty benefitting from the current scheme.

The grants would be made available for such schemes as the refurbishment of village halls, buying new equipment and helping with general running costs of facilities.  The budget would be met from the 20% allocation set aside for Town/Parish Councils – expected to be in the region of £800,000 in 2017/2018.

Ten per cent of this total would be made available for the "microgrants" scheme.  If in future, the total funds available under the NHB scheme increased or diminished, then the "microgrants" scheme would grow or reduce proportionately.  The application requirements would be simplified proportionately to the award.  Applications would need to evidence consultation at Parish level and would have to be endorsed by the relevant Town/Parish Council prior to submission.  Applications could be submitted at any time, with the 15^th of each month being the closing date.  The scheme would start in September, 2017.  An indicative time table formed part of the Cabinet report.

Applications would be assessed by the Council’s Grants Officer, using a scoring system to be developed in conjunction with the NHB Advisory Grants Panel.  Panel funding recommendations would be submitted for approval by the relevant Cabinet Member in consultation with a nominated Aylesbury Vale Association of Local Councils (AVALC) Panel representative.  Applicants would be notified of the decision within four weeks of each closing date.

Grants would need to be claimed within three weeks of the award and would be paid by bank transfer.  The successful applicants would complete a monitoring form when the project had been completed, which would be forwarded to the Advisory Grants Panel, as a means of evidencing the benefit that the particular project to the local community.

It would be a condition of each grant award that the contribution made by the NHB "microgrants" funding scheme should be clearly identified to the local community in all publicity about the project and by displaying a plaque where appropriate highlighting the contribution by AVDC and AVALC.  Only one "microgrants" application per year would be permitted and any organisation would only receive up to three "microgrants" throughout the life of the fund.  The success of the scheme and the availability of funds would be reviewed at the end of the first year’s operation.  AVALC had been consulted and were supportive of the proposals.

Cabinet supported the proposals but felt that the criteria should be amended to read "schemes up to £10,000 and that reference to the need to demonstrate a clear link to growth should be removed as this could preclude some applications, although this should remain a scoring criterion with higher growth attracting more points.  Accordingly, it was,

RESOLVED –

(1)  That no change be made to the criteria of the original scheme.

(2)  That approval be given to the expansion of the scheme in accordance with the criteria referred to above, to include a "microgrants" scheme and that the operation of the scheme be reviewed in twelve months time.