Agenda item

The report of the Head of Locality Partnerships provides the Community Committee with an update on the budget position for the Wellbeing Fund, Youth Activity Fund, Capital Budget, as well as the Community Infrastructure Levy Budget for 2021/22.

Prior to the start of this item, Cllr Collins thanked the Outer North West Locality Officer for his work in ensuring that the tyres were removed from the beck in Horsforth.

The report of the Head of Locality Partnerships provided the Community Committee with an update on the budget position for the Wellbeing Fund, Youth Activity Fund, Capital Budget, as well as the Community Infrastructure Levy Budget for 2021/22.

Members were informed of the following points:

·  The remaining balance of the Wellbeing Fund is £67,777.89. Members were advised that Adel & Wharfedale have £13,465.75, Guiseley & Rawdon have £7,195.47, Horsforth have £4,706.38 and Otley & Yeadon have £42,410.29 available to spend. Table 1 of the submitted report showed a breakdown of projects funded. A proposal to return £1,500 from the Horsforth small grant and skips budget back to the Horsforth Wellbeing Balance was approved.

·  Members were requested to consider the following projects:

·  Since the last meeting on 15 November 2021 the following projects have been considered and approved by DDN:

o  Jungle Kids Christmas Camp £1,020.00

o  Friday Night Live £4,590.00

o  Poetry Workshops in Ralph Thoresby School £600.00

o  Summer Holiday Camps £1,793.50

·  At the Chairs discretion a further two applications were tabled for Member’s consideration.  Members agreed that the following projects be approved by Delegated Decision Notice after the meeting:

·  There is a remaining balance of £25,509.24 in the Youth Activity Fund. A full breakdown of the projects was listed at Table 2 of the report. The Children and Families Sub-Group met on the morning of 7^th March to consider the following projects:

·  The Small Grants and skips, has a remaining balance of £4,157.35 available to spend. Projects and skips allocated was listed at Table 3 of the submitted report.

·  The Community Committee has a capital budget of £51,373 available to spend, as a result of new capital injections. Members were asked to note the capital allocation broken down by ward and summarised in Table 4.

·  The Community Committee is asked to note that there is £252,022.97 total payable to the Outer North West Community Committee with £213,829.97 currently available to spend. The breakdown is as follows Adel & Wharfedale £69,322.76, Guiseley & Rawdon £142,274.86 and Otley & Yeadon £2,232.35 which is detailed in Table 5 of the submitted report.

Member’s discussions included:

·  The need for discussions to be had with organisations prior to the start of refurbishment applications to ensure that the refurbishments were compliant with the Climate Emergency Policies as set out by the Council. This would include such items as LED lighting and heating systems.

·  It was noted that allocation for budgets had not yet been set for the next financial year.

·  Members had met with Parks and Countryside and Cleaner Neighbourhoods. Members aired concerns that they did not feel they were getting what they paid for through funding of a site-based gardener. They had been led to believe that the site-based gardener was to add ‘polish’ to the work already undertaken by Parks and Countryside and the Cleaner Neighbours Team but were of the view that they had not seen any signs of the ‘polish’ that was expected. They were disappointed with the outcome of the meeting. It was the view of the Members that they should request in writing what they would get from the site-based gardener, it was the view that previous funding was not value for money. Members in other wards said that they used community groups to assist with maintaining green spaces. Members raised concern that the Administration were not consistent in their approach to green spaces across Leeds. It was the view of the Community Committee that there was a need to look after the ‘gems’ in the city such as Golden Acre Park

·  Members discussed at length the need to have defibrillators in certain locations of the Outer North West. It was recognised that the local volunteers known as Defibrillator Guardians worked well to ensure that they were always ready to use. However, there was a concern about how these should be maintained and the ongoing costs for the battery pack and consumables required for the defibrillators. Members suggested a meeting with the local Defibrillator Guardian to gain clarity of future maintenance.

·  Members had met with Leedswatch in relation to the CCTV cameras located in Horsforth, Otley and Yeadon. It was the view that these should not be funded by the Community Committees. It was noted that whilst in discussion with Leedswatch the cameras had remained operational at all sites. The local ward councillors had received assurances that the cameras would be upgraded. It was suggested by Members that pressure should be put on the Police to enhance their system, so that the data collected from the cameras was easily accessible.

·  Members requested that CIL funding was shown in future with a breakdown not only by ward but included the breakdown of CIL money received by the Parish and Town Councils.

RESOLVED –

a. Details of the Wellbeing Budget position (Table 1) to be noted

b. Wellbeing proposals be considered with the outcome details as set out above

c. Details of the projects approved via Delegated Decision (paragraph 33) be noted

d. Monitoring information of its funded projects (paragraph 34) be noted

e. Details of the Youth Activities Fund (YAF) position (Table 2) be noted with the details of projects as set out above (supplementary information)

f. Details of the Small Grants and Skips Budget (Table 3) be noted

g. Details of the Capital Budget (Table 4) be noted

h. Details of the Community Infrastructure Levy Budget (Table 5) be noted

Cllr Flynn left the meeting at 14:30 during consideration of this item.