Category: Community First

Minutes if the meeting of Community First Brierley Hill held at St Michael’s Church, Brierley Hill on 16th September 2014 commencing at 7.00 pm.

Present

June Bowen, Rachel Harris, David Hoskin, Tom McCormack, Peter Plant, Tim Sunter

Apologies

Graham Hudson

Minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated and were agreed as a true record.

Matters arising

1. All necessary email consents had been received following the meeting from those who had not been present, and the grant recommendations had been processed accordingly.
2. There had appeared to be a slowing done of the processing of applications by CDF, possibly because of staff turn over.
3. CDF had queried the Brierley Hill Project on how the volunteer hours for matched funding were related to the capital works proposed.

Applications for funding

1. SBCBCP had requested £900. The panel considered the request. In line with precedents it noted that this application was likely to fund activities across the borough and there was not enough evidence of a Brierley Hill focus. It therefore decided not to recommend the request.
2. Homework Club, based in Albion Street requested £1339 to enable support for local children with their homework. The panel discussed how ‘local’ the children would be and whether it was possible to extend the scheme to other areas. TM, who had declared an interest in this application, explained that there was a limit on the number of children who could be supported before the impact was diluted. Children from all sections of the local community were welcome to participate. The panel felt this was a good scheme which met the criteria for funding and recommended the full amount.
3. Little Suckers – a breast feeding support group had requested £2000 for a twelve month project. It was explained that this was a locally based group which had previously worked in Brierley Hill and that it’s ‘clients’ would also come from the area. RH spoke strongly about the health benefits of breast feeding and informed the meeting that Brierley Hill was one of the areas of particular need in this respect. However, it was noted that the panel was only able to recommend funding to the end of February. It was agreed to recommend £833.33 as this would cover this period.
4. Oakfield Community Centre were requesting £2372 towards capital improvements to enable more usage of the building. The panel considered that this was a good scheme and recommended that it be funded subject to a check on the calculation of match funding.
5. Brierley Hill in Bloom requested £2500 to extend the scheme further through the town centre. The panel noted the positive impact the scheme had had to date. However, to fund this application in full would exceed the total of funds available. In view of the fact that this project had received funding last year it was decided to recommend £2273.11 for funding. TS and RH declared an interest in this request.

Any Other Business

It was noted that all of the funds available to Community First Brierley Hill had now been allocated. It was therefore unlikely that another meeting of the panel would be needed. It was agreed should anything now need to be agreed, as far as possible, this should be done via email.

TS thanked the panel for all of their efforts.

You are invited to the next meeting of the Community First Brierley Hill Panel which will take place on Tuesday 16th September 2014 at St Michael’s Church, Brierley Hill. The meeting will commence at 7pm.

The agenda for the meeting is:

1. Apologies
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
3. Matters Arising
   4 Correspondence
4. Applications for funding
   • grant report – an update on where we are with our allocated grants
   • Small Black Country Business Community of Practice – request for £900 to purchase a laptop for presentations on social media for local businesses
   • Brierley Hill in Bloom – request for £2500 to purchase more planters and extend the project around Brierley Hill
   • Homework Club – request for £1330 to support young people to do their homework at The Storehouse in Brierley Hill
   • Little Suckers – request for £2000 to cover venue hire for this support group for breastfeeding mothers
   • Oakfield Community Centre – request for £2373 to improve the Centre’s facilities whilst keeping hire fees affordable
5. Dates of future meetings
6. Any Other Business

I do hope that you can make the meeting on Tuesday.

Minutes of the meeting of Community First Brierley Hill held on Tuesday 15th July 2014 at St Michael’s Church commencing at 7pm.

Present

David Hoskin, Peter Plant, Tim Sunter

As there were only three members of the panel present the meeting was not quorate. However, in view of the fact that there were five applications to be determined it was felt worthwhile to hold and minute the meeting and ask other members of the panel via email whether they agreed with the decisions.

Declarations of interest

David Hoskin declared an interest in the application from St Michael’s and did not take part in the discussion on this matter.

Minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a true record.

Matters Arising

The recommendations of the panel from the previous meeting had been approved via email following requests for further information from applicants regarding where the target beneficiaries lived.

TS informed the panel that the CDF had indicated the panel had over allocated its funding for 2013–2014 by £67 and that they had therefore reduced the grant payable to Nine Locks Senior Citizen’s club by the equivalent amount.  The Senior Citizens Club have been informed regarding this.

TS had emailed the CDF regarding the concerns raised re Hawbush Urban Farm.

Correspondence

An email had been received regarding a possible further allocation of £1500 to the panel. This had to be bid for, with the criteria for success being a description of the best scheme for which the panel had recommended funding. The CDF were looking for schemes which had made an impact in the ward.

It was suggested that an email be sent to all of those recommended for grants asking if they wished to submit their project for this funding – and if the panel selected their scheme and it was successful then the funds should be allocated to that project for further work. The deadline for submission is 31st July.

Applications for funding

The panel carefull considered the applications received for funding. It was felt that all of the projects met the panel criteria and served the local population. It was therefore agreed (subject to consultation with missing panel members) to recommend the full amount requested by the following (click on link to see application):

• Black Country Rebels
• Brierley Hill Project
• St Michael’s Church
• Waterfront Christian Fellowship
• Easy Keep Fit Class.

Dates of Future Meetings

16th September
18th November

The next meeting of Community First Brierley Hill will take place on Tuesday, 15th July 2014. The meeting will start at 7pm and everyone is welcome to attend.

The agenda for the meeting is:

1. Apologies
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
3. Matters arising
4. Correspondence
5. Grant recommendations
   1. Grant availability
   2. Black Country Rebels
   3. Brierley Hill Project
   4. St Michael’s
   5. Waterfront Christian Fellowship
   6. Easy Keep Fit Class
6. Date of future meetings
7. Any other urgent business

Minutes of the meeting of Community First Brierley Hill held on 20^th of May 2014 at St Michael’s Church commencing at 7 pm.

Present

June Bowen, David Hoskin, Graham Hudson, Tom McCormack, Peter Plant, Tim Sunter.

Five panel members were present, so the meeting was quorate.

Apologies

Rachel Harris

Declarations of interest

TS declared an interest in the Brierley Hill Christmas Festival and Brierley Hill in Bloom.  TM declared an interest in Young Leaders. Neither TS nor TM took part in any decisions relating to the projects in which they took an interest other than to provide information requested by the panel.

Minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated, and they were agreed as a true record.

Matters arising

Following the last meeting an email circular was sent out to interested parties in Brierley Hill regarding the new weighting of priorities. The web site has also been updated to include this.

The decisions of the meeting were confirmed by panel members via email.

The situation re Nine Locks Senior Citizens Social Club was explained to them and they were happy to accept the £957.50 grant.

The 2014/2015 grant for St Paul’s could not be filed online until new internet details were received from CDF for the final year’s funding. These details were received early in April and the grant recommendation was immediately submitted.

CDF have indicated the timetable for the final year of the programme:

• All applications for funding to be recommended to CDF by the 31^st of December 2014
• Funded groups need to have spent a grand and return the final monitoring form by 28^th of February 2015
• Ongoing monitoring and auditing will take place with selected funded groups throughout 2015

In effect the new cut off date would mean that the meeting scheduled for 18 November would be the last one at which recommendations could by reached by the panel without special arrangements being made.It was agreed to keep the January and May 2015 meetings in the diaries in case they were needed.

Grants to date

A list of the grants agreed to date was circulated prior to the meeting. This showed that £43,909 had been recommended by the panel up to the end of the 2013 – 2014 year.

GH raised the concern with regards to Hawbush Community Gardens. There was a question of whether the grant of £945.97 had been spent. A recent meeting had shown that financial records may not have been up to date. The panel discussed this issue and agreed:

• To email the CDF pointing out the concern and asking if a monitoring form has been submitted.
• To ask if the money, if not committed, could be fired to another scheme in the Brierley Hill area.
• But, if the Community Gardens scheme could be continued, the panel would be happy for the money to be used in the way originally intended, as long as proper financial records and lines of accountability were established.

TS reported that Brierley Hill in Bloom had arranged to purchase and fit the planters in the High Street through Dudley MBC. Effectively the planters would remain the property of the Brierley Hill in Bloom project, but the ownership by Dudley MBC would ensure that any liability should an accident take place on the public highway would be covered by them rather than the Bloom group. The panel agreed this was a sensible approach. It also ensured that, should any planters be damaged, the council’s insurance would meet the cost of replacement.

TS further reported that in line with previous discussions the residue of the Brierley Hill Christmas Festival funds would be transferred to Dudley Council for Voluntary Service and would be spent in accordance with the ground conditions on the December 6 Christmas Lights Festival. This was noted by the panel.

Grant applications

The panel noted that £2250 had been committed for the St Paul’s Community Learning Centre out of funds available for this year. This left £20,378 to be allocated.

Grant applications had been received from AgeUK Dudley Springboard (£1755),   Amblecote Christian Centre (£1060), Alzheimer’s Support Group (£1020) and Young Leaders (£2500).

An email from RH was read to the meeting outlining some of the concerns she had regarding the applications. The key questions centred around whether the proposed beneficiaries were primarily residents in Brierley Hill ward. The panel noted that in the past it had decided against funding projects with borough wide beneficiaries as this diluted the ward-based focus of Community First.

TM, who had declared an interest in Young Leaders, was asked for information regarding the catchment area of the users of this service. He explained that the philosophy underlying the project was the leaders taught the older youths who in turn became leaders for the youngest participants. The majority of the young people involved lived in the Brierley Hill area. Having heard this reassurance the panel agreed to recommend that Young Leaders receive £2500 as requested.

TM agreed to ask the Alzheimer’s Support Group for further information about their scheme. TS agreed to write to Amblecote Christian Centre and AgeUK Dudley Springboard requesting further reassurances for the panel. It was agreed that rather than delay consideration of these applications to the next round of meetings, the responses should be circulated and decisions made by email.

Any other urgent business

There was no other urgent business

Dates of future meetings

• Tuesday 15^th July 2014
• Tuesday 16^th September 2014
• Tuesday 18^th November 2014
• Tuesday 20^th January 2015
• Tuesday 17^th May 2015

You are cordially invited to the next meeting of the Community First Brierley Hill panel which will commence at 7pm on Tuesday 20^th May 2014 at St Michael’s Church, Brierley Hill. 

The panel aims to encourage participation from members of our community and all are welcome to attend its meetings.

The agenda will be:

1) Apologies

2) Minutes of previous meeting  

3) Matters Arising

Following the last meeting an email circular was sent out to interested parties in Brierley Hill regarding the new weighting of priorities. This web site has also been updated to include this.

The decisions of the meeting were confirmed by panel members via email.

The situation re Nine Locks Senior Citizens Social Club was explained to them and they were happy to accept the £957.50 grant.

The 2014/2015 grant for St Paul’s could not be filed online until new internet details were received from CDF for the final year’s funding. These details were received early in April and the grant recommendation was immediately submitted.

CDF have indicated the timetable for the final year of the programme:

In effect the new cut off date would mean that the meeting scheduled for 18 November would be the last one at which recommendations could by made by the panel without special arrangements being made.

4)Grants to date for noting

5) Grant applications

Grant analysis

AgeUK Dudley

Amblecote Christian Centre

6) Any Other Urgent Business

7) Dates of future meetings

• Tuesday 20^th May 2014
• Tuesday 15^th July 2014
• Tuesday 16^th September 2014
• Tuesday 18^th November 2014
• Tuesday 20^th January 2015
• Tuesday 17^th May 2015

Access to the agenda papers can be achieved by clicking on the links above.

Alternatively a combined set of papers can be downloaded by clicking here.   

Key documents

Terms of reference

Community First Plan

News has been received this morning from the Community Development Foundation regarding the time-table for the final year of Community First funding.  This is set out in the table below, with the implications being that all applications must be received by 11th November 2014 so they can be circulated for the panel’s last meeting of 2014 scheduled for November 18th.

Minutes of the meeting of the Community First Brierley Hill panel held on Tuesday 18th March 2014 at St Michael’s Church, Bell Street South, Brierley Hill commencing at 7pm.

Present

June Bowen, David Hoskin, Peter Plant, Tim Sunter

Three members of the panel were present so the meeting was not quorate. It was decided to press ahead with discussion of items on the agenda and ask panel members not present for their approval via email. (Please note that the recommendations contained in these minutes were subsequently agreed via email with the other panel members)

Apologies

Ray Gibbs, Graham Hudson, Rachel Harris, Andrew Mann-Ray

Declarations of Interest

TS declared an interest in the Brierley Hill Christmas Festival project JB, DH and PP declared interests in St Paul’s Neighbourhood Learning Centre. Those who had declared an interest no part in the decision making process regarding the item to which such interest related other than to provide information.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated and it was agreed that these were a true record.

Matters Arising

1. Correspondence had been received via the Blog from Luke Norris who wishes to set up a Brierley Hill Football Club. He has been directed towards our website for instructions of how to apply but no application has been received as yet.

2. A discussion had been held with CDF regarding the underspend of the Brierley Hill Christmas Festival. The Festival had proved more successful than anticipated and partners had offered more help for no payment than had been expected. It was discussed whether the surplus that remained to be spent could be used to make advance payments for this year’s festival which, it had now been confirmed, would take place on 6th December. In return for this the Festival group would not submit a further application for funding.

CDF had indicated that as long as the panel agreed and that the money was spent before the deadline and that they were kept in the loop they would be agreeable to this. The panel discussed the matter and agreed to this course of action.

Grants Report

It should be noted from the grant report that £43,909.50 has been recommended by the panel to date. In addition £325 of expenses has been claimed by the panel. This makes a total of £44,234.50.

£45192 is available for the panel to the 31st March 2014. Therefore £957.50 remains to be allocated.

Community First Priorities 2014-2015

The panel discussed its priorities for the forthcoming year – which would be the last year of Community First.

It was felt that priority should be given to activities that left a longer term impact (such as the sustainability of a group, or equipment, or building repairs) should receive the highest priorities so that the Community First funding left some kind of legacy. It was felt that events which could not demonstrate this to the panels satisfaction should be considered for funding only towards the end of the year when it was clear how much funding was left.

The panel agreed that:

• Priority for the year 2014-2014 should be given to projects which had a longer term sustainable impact
• That the website should be changed to reflect this view
• That all previous applicants should be written to inviting applications which met the new criterion as well as the existing objectives.

Applications

1. Nine Locks Senior Citizens Social Group.

The panel noted that the appellation showed a budget of £1950 but also a cash contribution of £450. On the basis of the information supplied it was assumed that the funding ‘gap’ was £1500.

Consideration was given to how a similar event had been recommended for support in the past and it was noted that the whole of the cost had not be covered by the Community First grant.

It was agreed therefore that to recommend £957.50 grant – roughly equivalent to the proportion granted in the earlier application. This would also allocate the whole of the remaining funds available to the panel for the present year.

It was further noted that in view of the decision on priorities made earlier in the meeting similar applications for 2014-2015 would receive a lower priority for funding.

2. St Paul’s Community Learning Centre

The grant application for repair works and CCTV for St Paul’s Community Centre was considered.

It was noted that this group had already had one application agreed for this year. Any funding would therefore have to be allocated from the 2014-2015 budget. The panel was of the view that this met the objectives of the panel and was also of a nature which represented a long term benefit for the local community.

It was therefore agreed to recommend the £2250 be approved.

Any Other Urgent Business

There was no other urgent business

Dates of Future Meetings

• Tuesday 20th May 2014
• Tuesday 15th July 2014
• Tuesday 16th September 2014
• Tuesday 18th November 2014
• Tuesday 20th January 2015
• Tuesday 17th May 2015

All meetings to be held at St Michael’s Church, Bell Street South, Brierley Hill.

You are cordially invited to the next meeting of the Community First Brierley Hill panel which will commence at 7pm on Tuesday 18^th March 2014  at St Michael’s Church, Brierley Hill. 

The panel aims to encourage participation from members of our community and all are welcome to attend its meetings.

The agenda will be:

1) Apologies

2) Minutes of previous meeting  

3) Matters Arising

Correspondence has been received via the Blog from Luke Norris who wishes to set up a Brierley Hill Football Club. He has been directed towards our website for instructions of how to apply but no application has been received at time of writing.

4) Grants report  

It should be noted from the grant report that £43,909.50 has been recommended by the panel to date.  In addition £325 of expenses has been claimed by the panel.  This makes a total of £44,234.50.

£45192 is available for the panel to the 31^st March 2014. Therefore £957.50 remains to be allocated.

5) Priorities for grant approval 2014-2015

6) Grant applications

Nine Locks Senior Citizens Social Group

St Paul’s Community Learning Centre

7) Any Other Urgent Business

8) Dates of future meetings

Access to the agenda papers can be achieved by clicking on the links above.

Alternatively a combined set of papers can be downloaded by clicking here.   

Key documents

Terms of reference

Community First Plan