Decision details

9.1

The Committee considered a report of Jayne Foulds, Community Services Manager, on the proposed allocation of funds to address local priorities for the South East Local Area Committee for 2024-25.

9.2

Funding delegated by the Council to LACs in 2024/25 amounts to £100,000 per LAC (£25 000 per ward). Following consultation with South East LAC Members it is proposed that this budget should be treated a whole South East LAC budget of £100,000 to address issues identified in the South East Community Plan. The following areas of expenditure are proposed from the £100,000 budget.

• Crime and Community Safety - £50,000
• Environment - £17,000
• Health and Wellbeing  - £15,000
• Children and Families - £15,000
• Administrative costs - £3,000

9.3

In order to enable financial decisions to be made more quickly, given the delays caused by the two pre-election periods (local election and general election) it is recommended that the level of expenditure that can be approved by the Community Services Manager in consultation with the LAC Chair under the delegated authority, is increased to sums up to £10,000.

9.4

RESOLVED: That the South East Local Area Committee:

1. agrees the recommendations set out for use of the 2024/25 budget to address local priorities in the South East LAC as detailed in the report;
2. authorises the Community Services Manager, in consultation with the Local Area Committee Chair, to finalise the eligibility criteria and make decisions, following engagement with the relevant Ward Members, on the award of the grant funds proposed of up to £5,000.
3. authorises the Community Services Manager to make decisions on expenditure from any budgets allocated to the Local Area Committee provided that:

• The decision is taken in consultation with the Local Area Committee Chair
• Spending is in line with any specific purposes of the allocated budget
• The decision may not approve expenditure of more than £10,000
• A report detailing the delegated spending decisions taken by the Community Services Manager is presented to the next Local Area Committee meeting.

9.5

Reasons for Decision

9.5.1

The South East LAC is asked to agree the further expenditure and proposed use of funding under delegated authority outlined in the report to address the identified local priorities within the South East LAC Community Plan.

9.6

Alternatives Considered and Rejected 

9.6.1

The LAC could choose not to allocate budgets at this stage, but this would delay local projects and facilities for local communities. Decisions on grant awards could be reserved to the LAC but this would inevitably delay delivery of priority actions to address specific issues identified in the Community Plan. All decisions on expenditure to support Community Plan priorities could be delegated to officers. However, this would restrict and undermine the LAC’s ability to monitor