Agenda item

Report of Cabinet Member for Customer and Regulatory Services, Councillor Martin Horwood

The Cabinet Member for Customer and Regulatory Services presented the report, which proposes the distribution of £128k of CIL contributions to a fantastic range of projects in non-parished areas across the town.  These show the huge range of creativity and imagination present in the community, with many of the bids submitted by community groups.  The whole process has been carried out in an open and transparent way, with an all-party panel looking at all the bids and making recommendations, having checked that these meet our strategic objectives.

This process is a very fair way for developers to pay back to the communities their schemes affect, and although the government is considering interrupting or reducing this valuable source of funds, it is currently working well, with more funds will be available in the future through further contributions.  One of the recommendations is to undertake a lessons-learnt exercise to make the process even better going forward.

Some of the recommendations are agreements in principle, but are important commitments to help with further funding rounds. 

The Cabinet Member for Housing congratulated the Cabinet Member for Customer and Regulatory Services and officers for their hard work and for this new scheme for Cheltenham, which really gives voices to unparished communities, to support a wide range of community-based initiatives.  It is unfortunate that, with so many applications, some bids were not successful this time, it is good to note that they have been encouraged to re-apply next time.  She was particularly pleased to note that the Public Hearts Defibrillator Campaign funding bid was successful; led by Clare Seed, the group has been proactive over the last couple of years in installing defibrillators in areas of the community where they are most needed.

The Cabinet Member for Cyber, Regeneration and Commercial Income noted that officers felt there were lessons to be learnt, but having spoken to Members in other districts who were not even aware of CIL, felt that CBC is further down the road than some of its neighbours.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Assets was also pleased about the positive impact that CIL contributions would have on our communities, but was concerned about potential government changes once it realised how much funding was being provided by private developers in this way.

The Cabinet Member for Customer and Regulatory Services thanked Members for their comments, officers for all their work – Tracey Birkinshaw for the initial process, Helen Down for making local communities aware, Richard Gibson for his work on the later stages, and Paul Hardiman, John Spurling and Ewan Wright for drafting a robust response to the government technical guidance.  He also thanked all the largely voluntary residents and organisations who submitted bids.

RESOLVED THAT:

1.     the endorsed recommendations as set out in Appendix 2 as the priority list of neighbourhood projects for investment are approved;

2.     project agreements with the agreed projects are entered into;

3.     the intention to launch a second funding round once the neighbourhood Community Infrastructure fund has built up to a sufficient level is supported. The timing of this will be informed by regular monitoring of the fund.

4.     a lessons-learnt exercise is undertaken, and any best practice arising is built into future bidding rounds.