Content

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:
 
 

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;
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.
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