Agenda item

The Head of Community Services explained that the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Councillor Mike Rouse, who was also in attendance at the meeting for this item, would introduce the report which had been provided by Officers. Councillor Mike Rouse outlined the background of the report and reasons why the Voluntary Concessionary Rents Scheme was proposed to change.

It was highlighted that

·         Due to the Section 24 notice there needed to be some difficult decisions made with a focus on an increase in revenue.

The Chair invited Councillor David Thain, as Portfolio Holder for Corporate Management to speak. Councillor David Thain thanked the Officers for all of their hard work on pulling together a complicated report. Councillor Thain also added that the voluntary sector in the area needed to move forward and look to national organisations as a model on how to expand their own organisations.

Following the presentation of the position statement for the Council’s Concessionary Rents Policy a number of points were discussed in detail by Members:

• The hard work and commitment by Officers in regards to this proposal were acknowledged.
• This policy had divided the Council and had left the Council in a difficult position.
• The voluntary sector was the heart of the community in Redditch.

Councillor Debbie Chance expressed the view that this policy change should be suspended as none of the options provided in the report supported what she considered to be the proper way to go forward. It was then proposed that a further option be considered by Executive. This recommendation was circulated by Councillor Debbie Chance as follows:

“That the Executive

Option 7

• To reject all 6 current options in favour of O&S current position that no change is made to the Voluntary Concessionary Rent Scheme.

• To NOT continue with the current Members £5000 grant allocation of £145,000 and revert back to the former grants panel and grants allocation scheme to set the criteria. Setting up a simpler application scheme.

• Maintain the £75,000 grant for financial and advice problem solving”.

The recommendation made by Councillor Debbie Chance was seconded by Councillor Joe Baker.

On being put to a vote the proposal was lost.

Councillor Peter Fleming raised his concerns regarding the ‘meanwhile type’ leases that Officers had included in a number of the options in the report. It was discussed by Members that this meant leases were unstable for the organisations. The Head of Planning explained that the reason for the ‘meanwhile type’ leases was that some of these areas were looking to be redeveloped and leases needed to be flexible to offer the best options for redevelopment. Councillor Peter Fleming suggested that a recommendation be made that the Executive reconsider the inclusion of ‘meanwhile type’ leases in any proposed options.  This recommendation was seconded by Councillor Nyear Nazir and on being put to the vote it was approved. 

Members questioned Officers as to what the most important issue for the voluntary groups was. The Head of Community Services explained that during the consultation period the issue that most concerned the sector was the lack of stable Core Funding available. It was agreed by Members that this was important and they enquired whether it was possible to provide Core Funding from the pot of funding which was already available.

The Committee also discussed other options that had previously been used to provide support to the voluntary sector. Members questioned Officers as to whether the sector was pleased with the revised funding process in respect of grants given out by Members. Officers reported that organisations had expressed the view during consultation that they had a preference for a grant application process as opposed to the current Community Councillor Grants scheme.

A number of other issues were discussed by Members including:

• The need for compromise in making this difficult decision.
• Voluntary organisations had expressed the view during the consultation that they would feel more comfortable with an Officer led panel decision making process with clear and fair criteria which included providing feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

Members discussed at length which option was most acceptable to them.

Councillor Shurmer proposed that Executive discard options 1, 2 and 6 and only consider options 3, 4 and 5. This proposal was not seconded as it stood. Councillor Shurmer amended the recommendation and proposed that Executive discard options 1, 2, 5 and 6 and only consider options 3 and 4. This recommendation was seconded by Councillor Jennifer Wheeler.

On being put to the vote and the recommendation was lost.

Councillor Debbie Chance the proposed that the report be noted. This resolution was seconded by Councillor Michael Chalk and on being put to the vote this was agreed.

RECOMMENDED that

the Executive Committee reconsider the inclusion of ‘meanwhile type’ leases in any proposed options.

RESOLVED that

the report be noted.

(At the end of this item there was a brief adjournment).