Decision(s) taken:

To offer immediate financial support to Visit Cambridge and Beyond, comprising a three-month rental holiday worth £9,000, plus an initial sum of £43,000 to provide urgent support to VCB to enable payment of creditors and running costs. This is in order to avoid insolvency whilst a business plan can be developed.

This sum provides for 50% of VCB’s costs from April to the end of June 2020.  Other VCB members have been contacted to request payment of the remaining 50% (£52,000), but the Council has budgetary provision to meet this if required. 

The first payment is to be made as a grant, on condition that the VCB Board and Managing Director work with partners to develop a medium-term plan for consideration by the end of May 2020. This will allow for consultation of staff if necessary and implementation in July 2020, if appropriate.

Decision of:

Strategic Director 2

Date of decision:       

13 April 2020

Matter for Decision:

To consider the request of the VCB Board for urgent support to prevent insolvency.

To determine the appropriate level of support to be offered, and the terms on which support if offered.

Any alternative options considered and rejected:

Other options rejected are included in the briefing paper.

The decision allows for additional payments by other stakeholders to be agreed.

Reason(s) for the decision including any background papers considered:

An urgent decision under paragraph 2 of section 9, Council Procedure Rules was necessary as there are no meetings of the Environment and Community Scrutiny Committee or Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee within a reasonable timeframe and taking into account the current national situation it is unclear when this could be possible.  It was imperative to respond to the VCB request to prevent immediate insolvency and allow time to develop options.

Conflicts of interest and dispensations granted by the Chief Executive:

None.

Other Comments:

The Chief Executive and Leader of the Council were consulted prior to the decisions taken. In addition, the Executive Councillor for Environment and City Centre was consulted. The spokes for Environment and was advised.

The budgetary implication of this decision falls within the current budgetary framework of resources allocated to Tourism in 2019/20 (carried fwd) and 2020/21. There may be future implications as VCB develop their business plan: when officers are in a position to report further on these, they will be reported to city councillors for decision at the earliest opportunity.

.

Reference:

2020/OfficerUrgent/EnC/11

Contact for further information:

Suzanne Hemingway, Strategic Director suzanne.hemingway@cambridge.gov.uk

Decision(s) taken:

To award a grant of £20,000 to the Cambridge Community Foundation Coronavirus Fund.  The funds are to be taken from the Anti-Poverty Fund.

Decision of:

Strategic Director 2

Date of decision:       

30 March 2020

Matter for Decision:

To agree a donation to Cambridgeshire Community Foundation so that small grants can be made to support local groups working to alleviate hardship issues linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Cambridge Resilience group has been established, to connect, advise and support fourteen ward-based organisations. Each ward has an organisation identified able to receive funds, and there may also be city-wide calls on the funding, to support work relating to coronavirus.

This money was set aside in the Anti-Poverty Strategy for emergencies, but has not been allocated to any projects in 2019/20. Its intended use was the prevention and alleviation of poverty. There is now an urgent need to alleviate risks to people.  Making the fund available as grants through CCF will be an effective way of targeting people in crisis in the city.

Allocations of the anti-poverty grants are normally made by the Executive Councillor for Communities (with committee scrutiny) but these exceptional circumstances require an immediate response. Allocating funding to CCF means that funds can be made available quickly to groups to run mutual aid efforts across the city.

Any alternative options considered and rejected:

Officers considered the alternative option of running the grants programme ourselves, but decided that to combine funds with CCF allows more resource to be deployed and more quickly.

Officers considered whether this was an appropriate use of the anti- poverty fund reserve.  I decided that in these exceptional circumstances this is an appropriate response to immediate need. 

Reason(s) for the decision including any background papers considered:

An urgent decision under paragraph 2 of section 9, Council Procedure Rules was necessary.  The Executive Councillor for Communities was consulted and the Communities spokes was advised.

Conflicts of interest and dispensations granted by the Chief Executive:

None.

Other Comments:

None

Reference:

2020/OfficerUrgent/EnC/07

Contact for further information:

Suzanne Hemingway, Strategic Director 01223 457461 suzanne.hemingway@cambridge.gov.uk

Decision(s) taken:

To take various actions, as detailed in appendix 1 below, to support market and street traders during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Decision of:

Strategic Director 1

Date of decision:                                           

31 March 2020

Matter for Decision:

To revise previously agreed wording around interim support measures for market traders; and agree interim support measures for street traders, in response to changes in Government Covid-19 measures and to ensure consistency in our policy approach to traders.

Any alternative options considered and rejected:

The decisions are based on an earlier decision taken to support market traders and in the light of the subsequent Government announcement to:

·    close non-essential retail and other defined services; and

·     launch the  Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, which will not be available until June 2020, even where market and street trader businesses are eligible to apply.

Reason(s) for the decision including any background papers considered:

An urgent decision under paragraph 2 of section 9, Council Procedure Rules was necessary to enable street traders to be advised urgently of the Council’s position regarding rent and fees.  All decisions were based on the latest guidance and information resulting from the Covid-19 situation. 

Conflicts of interest and dispensations granted by the Chief Executive:

None.

Other Comments:

The Chief Executive and Executive Councillor Climate change, Environment and City Centre, were consulted the spokes was advised.

There will be budgetary implications of these decisions which will fall outside of the current budgetary framework. Estimated budget impacts are outlined in the ‘Financial Impacts’ section of the paper at appendix 1 below.

Reference:

2020/OfficerURGENCY/Council/03

Contact for further information:

Fiona Bryant, 01223 457325 fiona.bryant@cambridge.gov.uk

Decision(s) taken:

To take various action to support market traders.

Decision of:

Strategic Director 1

Date of decision:                                           

23rd March 2020

Matter for Decision:

To agree some interim measures relating to market traders as set out in detail in the briefing paper attached.

Any alternative options considered and rejected:

The decisions are taken based on the latest guidance and information at 20^th March and will be kept under review.

Reason(s) for the decision including any background papers considered:

An urgent decision under paragraph 2 of section 9, Council Procedure Rules was necessary to enable market traders to be advised urgently of the Council’s position regarding rent and fees.  All decisions were based on the latest guidance and information resulting from the coronavirus situation. 

Conflicts of interest and dispensations granted by the Chief Executive:

None.

Other Comments:

The Chief Executive and Leader of the Council were consulted prior to the decisions taken.  In addition, the Executive Councillors for (i) Climate change, Environment and City Centre, (ii) Finance and Resources (iii) Transport and Community Safety were all copied into the officer briefing paper.  The spokes for Strategy and External Partnerships was advised.

There will be budgetary implications of these decisions which will fall outside of the current budgetary framework.  Some budget implications are given in the broadest terms in the officer briefing paper.  When officers are in a position to report further on these, they will be reported to city councillors for decision at the earliest opportunity.

Reference:

2020/OfficerURGENCY/Council/04

Contact for further information:

Fiona Bryant, 01223 457325 fiona.bryant@cambridge.gov.uk