Agenda item

West & Middle Play Equipment Project

The Locality Officer presented the report which asked members to consider awarding a grant of £9,996 towards installing play equipment at the recreational field.   The total project cost was £21,996 and the amount requested was 45.5%.

A member commented that the provision of play equipment was very important in the current times.

At the conclusion of the item, members unanimously approved the recommendation of the report.

Ashill Village Hall Project

The Locality Officer presented the report which asked members to consider awarding £5,946 towards removal of asbestos and the installation of a new roof at Ashill Village Hall.  The total project cost was £37,423 and the amount requested was 15.89%.

A member commented that the amount requested was a relatively modest amount in relation to the project costs.  The village hall had a very serious problem with asbestos on the roof and the work desperately needed to be undertaken.  The hall was a very well used and important facility in the village.  She said that the Village Hall Committee should be commended on raising funds for the project.

At the conclusion of the item, members unanimously approved the recommendation of the report.

Merriott Tithe Barn Project

The Locality Officer presented the report which asked members to consider awarding a grant of £8,185 towards installation of new guttering, new flooring and dampproof membrane.  He advised that the original application submitted included repointing the west side of the building but this would now be paid for by the Tithe Barn first and the other works would follow.  The total project cost was £21,391 and the amount requested was 38.3%.

The ward member expressed his support for the application and commented that the Tithe Barn was an historic building in Merriott and was very well used and a great asset to the village.  He paid tribute to the Locality Officer and the applicant who had worked hard in refining the application.

In response to questions, members were informed that:

·         The church or the diocese were not providing any funding towards the project.  The church was in need of extensive repairs and working on a very small margin in which it didn’t have enough money to make its own repairs.

·         The building was given to the church for the benefit of the church and the village.

·         The building was not listed.

·         The application had come forward to committee because the building was a community asset.

·         Merriott Parish Council were not contributing towards the project.  They were in favour of the project but due to the Local Government Act 1872 and NALC guidelines they were unable to contribute towards the project.

In view of Merriott Parish Council being unable to fund the project, members queried whether the council could also fund church buildings and felt that further clarification was needed on this point.

At the conclusion of the item, members unanimously agreed to defer consideration of the application to the next meeting of the Area West Committee to allow for further information to be obtained on local authorities funding church buildings.

George Reynolds Centre Project

The Locality Officer presented the report which asked members to consider awarding a grant of £4,675 towards the installation of four air conditioning units at the George Reynolds Centre.  The total project cost was £ £9,350 and the amount requested was 50%.

Ward member, Cllr Robin Pailthorpe commented that the George Reynolds Centre was built over ten years ago with large glass frontage to enable good views of the sports pitches below but in the summer months the rooms were extremely hot, making them uncomfortable for users.

The other ward member, Cllr Ben Hodgson said that the George Reynolds Centre was a fantastic facility, but the lack of ventilation had been a limiting factor and it would be good to see the facility reaching its full potential in summer months.

During the discussion, a member said he would have expected to see an application submitted for funding to organisations such as Sport England to off-set the costs.

In response to questions raised, members were informed that:

·    Air conditioning was never planned to be installed upstairs from the outset.  There was ventilation for the lower levels but it was always planned that air conditioning would be retrofitted.

·    The community assessment scores could not be increased anymore as the application did not have the same impact as a play area project would.

·    The George Reynolds Centre were not in a position to request funding from the users of the building as it was owned by the Town Council.

At the conclusion of the item, members proposed and seconded to approve the recommendation of the report. On being put to the vote there were 6 votes in favour, 0 against and 1 abstention.