To invite members of the public who have registered in advance of the meeting to speak to the Committee.
Minutes:
The Committee welcomed three public speakers to the meeting, who were invited to speak to the Committee in turn. No written records of the speeches was provided for Council records. The speeches as delivered during the meeting, which lasted for a maximum of three minutes each and might therefore, not reflect the full length of the points residents had recorded in advance of the meeting, are recreated below.
a) Ms Liz Williams - Fighting for Survival Group
“For those of you that don’t know me I’m Liz Williams, and I am speaking on behalf of the Fighting for Survival Group. Firstly can I just say thank you to for reconsidering the proposed changes. I would also like to thank the Officers who have worked on producing the report.
I would like to make a couple of points. Firstly, the importance of leases to the Voluntary Sector. If we apply for funding from other organisations then part of the funding criteria is often having a lease. If we do not have this then we cannot be awarded the funding.
I just want to clarify that I am speaking on behalf of 8 of the 9 organisations affected by this change in policy, not for the Voluntary Sector as a whole.
Secondly, we believe that only voluntary organisations based in Redditch should be awarded funding. If they are outside of the Borough it means that often they can apply for funding within Redditch and in the area where they based – here and there.
I am sure that you do not want empty units in our districts. It does not look good if there are empty units in our district centres. Even with the £5000 grants on offer that does not even cover our rents. It’s just not enough.
Finally we would like to get a market appraisal on the units. We never got a proper appraisal of rents in the units.”
b) Ms Sue Yeng
“Hello. As an introduction I have been working in the voluntary section since I was a child, first with the West Indian Community and then with Women’s Refuge. I also work around positive use of the bandstand in Redditch”.
The following points were noted from the speech:
· Hours that are provided by the voluntary sector provide value for money for the Council. Working in the voluntary sector can almost be a full-time job.
· The voluntary sector provides support for the Council and the community and is good value for money as we provide services that the council do not have to provide and ‘fill the gaps’.
· New policy needs to be re-visited.
· Council Tax could be raised by £12 per annum and this would cover the costs so no changes need to be made.
c) Mr Andy Thompson
“Good evening, I am here representing the Liberal Democrats in regards to the proposal of change to the Council’s Concessionary Rents Policy.
It is reckless to cut funding for the voluntary sector and the proposals that are given in the report just don’t add up.
More money cannot be obtained from renting to commercial organisations as the units are sub-standard and will not reach the market rental value. This will mean that the units will be unoccupied and will require Council maintenance.
After working with the voluntary groups before I have always encouraged them not to be reliant on one pot of money and always diversify their income streams. To stop it in one go is dangerous.
During the financial crash in 2008 the voluntary sector stepped up and filled the gaps that were created”.
An email was received by Democratic Services regarding the Voluntary Concessionary Rent Policy and read out by the Senior Democratic Officer. It read as follows:
“Hi I am a disabled lady who wants a voice but unable to attend. Could someone tell the committee that the increased rents to charities would be detrimental to so many in our community who rely on the places for mental health support, physical, emotional, and social and these increases will cost more to the finances with the damage it will do with increases for services. Please urgently reconsider Karen Smith”.