Meeting documents

Councillor Mrs Macpherson

Cabinet Member for Communities

To consider the attached report.

Contact Officer:  Jan Roffe (01296) 585186

(a)          Decision(s)

That the Panel’s recommendations as set out in the Appendices to the Cabinet report be approved.

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

The rationale behind the decisions is explained in the appendices attached to the Cabinet report.

(c)        Alternative Options Considered

Not to approve or adjust the recommendations of the Panel.  However, Cabinet was satisfied with the conclusions reached by the Panel.

(d)       Relevant Scrutiny Committee

Finance and Services.

(e)        Conflicts of Interest / Dispensation(s)

None.

The New Homes Bonus (NHB) was a national initiative whereby funding from the national revenue grant for local authorities had been top sliced and allocated to local councils in proportion to the number of new homes in their area.  For every new home built and occupied in Aylesbury Vale, and for every long-term unoccupied property that was brought back into use, the Government gave the Council a NHB grant each year.

In December 2012, the Council had agreed to allocate a share of the NHB to Parish and Town Councils, to help alleviate the impacts of housing growth on local communities.  20% of the Government allocation had been set aside for the funding scheme, which equated to £1,228,000 being available in the 2017/18 round of funding.  Additionally, a £284,686 underspend had been carried over from the last round of funding allocations.  It had been agreed last year to establish an £80,000 budget for micro grants which meant that a total of £1,432,686 was available to allocate in this round of NHB grants.

The Informal NHB Grants Panel had met on 26 January 2018 to consider applications for funding from Parish and Town councils under the NHB grant funding scheme.  The Panel had consisted of the Chairman of the Panel (Councillor Strachan), Councillors Lambert and Town, and Parish Council representatives John Gilbey and Nick Hierons (nominated by the Aylesbury Vale Association of Local Councils - AVALC). The Chairman of the informal Grants panel attended the Cabinet meeting to elaborate upon the Panel’s considerations.

The Cabinet report set out the key criteria that applicants needed to demonstrate when applying for NHB grant funding.  Awards could be for up to 100% of the scheme cost and could support both capital and revenue projects (with a life of less than 6 years).

Prospective applicants were required to submit a preliminary ‘Expression of Interest’ (EOI) form to identify whether projects met the criteria, to discuss other possible funding sources (including Section 106), and avoid abortive work for potential applicants. The deadline for applications had been 15 December 2017.

For 2017/18, ten EOI’s or enquiries had been received and seven Parish and Town Councils had subsequently submitted applications for consideration by the Panel, to a total value of £333,448 (of the £1,432,686 of funding available).

The Panel had also considered requests from both Wing and Aston Clinton Parish Councils to ring-fence NHB grant funding awarded in previous rounds because of unavoidable project delays.  In considering the applications the Panel members had recommended funding for all seven projects with awards totalling £225,098.

The Panel had also recommended ring-fencing the grants previously awarded to Wing (£208,000) and Aston Clinton (£500,000).

The level of funding recommended and the reasons for the recommendations were outlined at Appendices A and B (financial spreadsheet) to the Cabinet report.

Once the level of funding was agreed, funding agreements with the successful applicants would be finalised, which would include timescales for the delivery of the various projects, to be monitored by the Grants Officer, and against which phased grant payments might be made.  Appropriate recognition of the support provided by the NHB funding scheme would also be sought through media publicity and appropriate plaques or signage would be required on the schemes that were funded.

RESOLVED –

That the recommendations of the Informal New Homes Bonus Grants Panel, be approved, as set out in the schedules attached at Appendices A and B to the Cabinet report.