Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to:

Make available a grant of £139k to Cheltenham Festivals to fund the establishment of independent ICT infrastructure and financing of the first year of independent maintenance support, to be met from the Council’s General Fund Reserve.

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report which had been submitted to Cabinet as an urgent item due to financial lead in times. He explained that whilst Cheltenham Festivals was a separate organisation Cheltenham Borough Council provided in kind support for ICT networking and telephony. Increasingly as the festivals grew the demands on the ICT team were becoming more difficult to fulfil and were impacting on the core ICT service. The proposal to award a grant to Cheltenham Festivals would create scope for savings in the ICT commissioning review and avoid the potential cost of meeting the increasing service requirements of Cheltenham Festivals. The grant, which would be funded from the General Reserve, would cover the infrastructure set up and one year’s maintenance cost.

Members supported the objectives of the report and paid tribute to the good working relationship between CBC and Cheltenham Festivals.

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to:

Make available a grant of £139k to Cheltenham Festivals to fund the establishment of independent ICT infrastructure and financing of the first year of independent maintenance support, to be met from the Council’s General Fund Reserve.