Agenda item

The Area Board considered 1 application for funding, from the Aldbourne Youth Council and Marlborough Youth Centre. The Community Area Manager introduced the application, commenting that, if approved, the funding would come from the Board’s Youth budget of £5,676 for 2012/13.

Jan Bowra presented the application, explaining that the project sought to provide a programme of activities for young people through the summer holidays. These programmes had been provided in previous years, but budget cuts meant that funds had to be raised from new funding streams in order to continue to provide the service.

While the principle of the project was generally supported, concerns were raised in relation to a number of points:

·         To fund the amount requested would leave £501 in the budget for the remainder of the financial year.  As such, it was proposed that 50% of the amount requested could be awarded, leaving more money available for the Christmas and half term holidays.

·         It was noted that the funding was for one-off events, and that this may not leave any lasting benefit.  Andrew Jack commented that other Boards had spent their Youth budgets on similar one-off events, so there was a precedent.

·         Reference was made to the plan to target children from families on low incomes, but also to allocate places on a first come first served basis.  Jan clarified that this was the fairest way to offer the places, adding that the service worked with young people from across the Community Area, including street-based teams in some of the villages.

·         It was noted that some activities had a maximum of 10 places, and so concern was raised that the money would not benefit a significant number of young people.  Jan responded that the limit on the number of places was purely due to the limited transport availability.  It was suggested that, if the funding was agreed, the project could provide a list of names and numbers of the young people participating and benefitting from the project, to give an overall view of the numbers benefitting.

Responding to a question, Jan explained that if the funding was only awarded in part, then the project would have to be run on a smaller scale, or with higher costs to the participants.  It was also noted that the project sought to offer the activities at a much lower cost than they would normally be for families, and that the project offered an opportunity for fun and social days out for young people during the holidays.

It was suggested that the Area Board could match fund the existing project funding of £3,500.  It was noted that, if this was awarded, some of the m ore expensive trips could be removed, and that Parish Councils could also be approached for funding.

Decision

Aldbourne Youth Council and Marlborough Youth Centre were awarded £3,500 (from the Area Board’s Youth budget) towards a programme of activities for young people from across the Marlborough Community Area during the summer holidays.

Reason – The application met the criteria for this budget and would help provide opportunities for fun and social activities during the summer holidays.