Agenda item

The Director of Neighbourhood Services submitted for the Committee’s consideration a report providing details of the initial assessment of applications which had been received under the Summer Community Diversionary Festivals Programme for 2023 and seeking approval to award funding. The report provided details also of the eligibility criteria, the two-stage eligibility assessment process and the overall process.

July Programme

For the July programme, for which £250,000 was available, eight applications had been received, with a total funding request of £409,521, which was an oversubscription of £159,521.

            He provided a brief summary of the projects and officer scores for Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the assessment process and pointed out that, after allocations had been made to those organisations which had passed both stages, £47,745 remained within the budget for the Committee’s consideration.

August Programme

Three applications had been received for the August programme, for which £250,000 was available. He provided details of the projects and officer scores for Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the assessment process and confirmed that the total amount being requested was £256,935, which was an oversubscription of £6,935. To address this, it was proposed that the organisations would be allocated the same amount as in 2022, totalling £250,000.

Accordingly, the Committee:

                                 i.          agreed to award funding for the 2023 Summer Community Diversionary Festivals Programme as set out below, with any funding awarded being subject to further engagement with groups and an analysis of projects and associated budgets, in line with the Council’s due diligence procedures, including any outstanding financial and monitoring returns in respect of other Council funding and funding not to be awarded until approved contracts are issued and signed;

July Programme

August Programme

                               ii.          agreed, given the timescale for events, that officers engage with groups in advance of decisions on allocations and budgets being ratified by the Council on 2nd May;

                              iii.          agreed that groups in receipt of funding be also asked to work with an appointed external consultant with event management expertise to ensure that they had the necessary procedures in place to run events, in line with Health and Safety and legal requirements;

                              iv.          granted approval for those organisations being funded to use the Council’s Parks for their event or activity and delegated authority to the Director of Neighbourhood Services to negotiate satisfactory terms and conditions of use, via an appropriate legal agreement prepared by the City Solicitor, including managing final booking confirmation dates and flexibility around ‘set up’ and take down’ periods and booking amendments, subject to:

·        the completion of an appropriate management plan; and

·        the promoter resolving any operational issues to the satisfaction of the Council and meeting all the statutory requirements of the Planning and Building Control Service, including the terms and conditions of the Park’s Entertainment Licence; and

                               v.          agreed, in terms of allocating the underspend of £47,745 in the July Programme, that Council officers would, in the first instance, meet with the five unsuccessful groups to discuss their requirements in terms of capacity building, with the outcome to be presented to a special meeting of the Committee;

                             vi.          agreed that a review be undertaken of the Summer Community Diversionary Festivals Programme moving forward; and

                            vii.          noted that the Interim City Solicitor/Director of Legal and Civic Services would provide a Member with clarification directly on an issue which he had raised around the equality screening process referred to within the report.