Issue - meetings

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Matter for Decision

The Council uses S106 contributions paid by developers to mitigate the impact of development on facilities and amenities in Cambridge. As part of its 2021 generic S106 funding round, the Council has invited grant applications from local groups for improvements to their community facilities (to be made available for wider community use). This has focused on those parts of the city where community facilities generic S106 funding is still available.

All six community facilities grant applications received have been assessed against the Council’s S106 selection criteria. Officers recommend two proposals for a grant based on generic S106 funding, while another proposal qualifies for funding from an already agreed specific S106 contribution. Other proposals are either not yet ready for consideration (and could be developed further ahead of the next funding round) or would not be eligible for S106 funding: in the case of the latter, alternative sources of funding have been suggested to the applicants.

The use of generic S106 contributions for sports facilities is managed separately from the annual S106 funding round (that is, without an application process) because funding is normally focused on needs identified by the Council’s sports strategies. This report recommends allocating outdoor sports S106 contributions to several projects which could be taken forward soon.

Decision of Executive Councillor for Communities

  i.  Agreed the following community facilities S106 grants and funding allocations, detailed in paragraphs 4.5 and Appendix C, subject to business case approval, project completion or significant progress within 18 months and the signing of a community use agreement (see paragraph 6.1 of the Officer’s report):

Table 1: Recommended uses of community facilities generic S106 funding

  ii.  Deallocated community facilities S106 generic funding from the following two projects (see paragraph 4.6 of the Officer’s report):

a.  £55,000 allocated to Cromwell Road community meeting space (Romsey) as part of the nursery as it is no longer viable; and

b.  £100,000 earmarked for St James’ Church community facilities improvements (Queen Edith’s) as they are not ready to progress now but have been encouraged to reapply in the next funding round.

  iii.  Agreed the following sports facilities S106 grants and funding allocations, (detailed in paragraphs 5.2-5.6), subject to business case approval, project completion or significant progress within 18 months and the signing of a community use agreement (see paragraph 6.1 of the Officer’s report):

Table 2: Recommended uses of outdoor sports generic S106 funding

  iv.  Instructed officers to place even greater emphasis in the 2022 generic S106 funding round on welcoming applications from local community and sports groups for small-scale improvements to the equipment, furnishings and equipment at their facilities, which could help them to provide additional benefit to their local communities (see section 6 of the Officer’s report).

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee made no comments in response to the report from the Community Funding and Development Manager.

The Committee unanimously resolved to endorse the recommendations.

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.