Agenda and minutes

- to receive minutes

The minutes of a previous meeting held on 22^nd March, 2005 were agreed as a correct record.

- to receive minutes

Resolved:-  That the minutes of a meeting of the above Forum held on 17^th March, 2005 be received.

- to consider a process for approving claims to the Community Access Fund

Further to Minute No. 3 of a meeting of the Cabinet Member, Education, Culture and Leisure Services held on 9^th October, 2001, consideration was given to a report of the Strategic Leader Culture, Leisure and Lifelong Learning which contained details of operational experience and levels of take-up at the five different schools in the programme.

During the development of the £2.6m Space for Sport & Arts programme, it became clear that the funding bodies required community access to new facilities in deprivation communities to be affordable.  On that basis, members agreed in 2001 to create a Community Access Fund to enable the LEA to provide a subsidy for local people to access the new facilities.  The programme has now reached the end of its first full year (2004-05), and the Community Access Fund has worked well by targeting a substantial number of low income participants in sport or arts groups.

In order to ensure proper budgetary control, and to establish a baseline for comparative levels of take-up at the five different schools in the programme, requests for subsidy have in this first year been approved on a one by one basis at LEA level.  In the light of this first year’s experience and take-up, a different process is proposed for 2005-06 which will streamline procedures and make better use of the funding available.

Resolved:- (1)  That a streamlined process for approving claims to the Community Access Fund, which provides a better level of financial control over the funding, be approved.

(2) That part of the total fund is used proactively to add value to the forthcoming Community Coaching Initiative.

(3)  That a report be submitted to a future meeting on community groups, level of outreach work and allocation of funding within Thurcroft.

The meeting was informed that a total of thirty thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight people had visited the Museum since its recent refurbishment.