Agenda item

(a)  That the expenditure to date from the Community Investment Fund 2019/2020 be noted; and

(b)  That it be agreed that any unused funding from 2019/20 would be rolled-forward into 2020/21 and allocated on the basis of Cabinet requests in line with the scheme as set out in Appendix B, with any residual sum being available to ward members from the revised fund.

(c)  That the Cabinet receive a report in September 2020 to consider any further CIF allocations to respond to emerging Covid-19 issues that were in scope of the purpose of the fund.

The Lead Member for Governance & Customer Services and the Service Lead Finance introduced a report that updated the Cabinet on the 2019/20 Community Investment Fund (CIF) and sought agreement to allocate some of the 2020/21 funds.

Each councillor had £25,000 (£20,000 capital and £5,000 revenue) allocated to them for the year to invest in projects in their ward and a summary of spend in 2019/20 was set out in Appendix A.  It was noted that the revenue allocations had not been fully spent during the year as these sums had been frozen part way through 2019/20.  Any unused funding could be carried forward into the new financial year.

The CIF scheme would continue with the same level of funding provided in 2020/21.  This included £210,000 of capital for the Cabinet to allocate.  Appendix B to the report proposed the following:

2019/20 Underspend

·  Allocate £100k of 2019/20 CIF revenue underspend towards offering continued support to rough sleepers who’ve been involved in the ‘all-in’ hotel scheme beyond the end of June.

·  Allocate £30k of unspent CIF Cabinet capital from 2019/20 to help enable repairs work to make 3 voids ‘habitable’ for their use.

·  Allocate £25k of unspent CIF revenue from 2019/20 towards work of our partners (East Berks College and Slough Aspire) in measures to help the recently unemployed (jobs clubs, skills retraining etc) and to assist ‘one Slough’ organisations in their responses.

2020/21 Cabinet CIF capital

·  Allocate £50k of capital towards measures to promote social distancing and safe behaviour as covid lockdown arrangements ease (e.g. new High Street lamp-post banners, bus shelter or other adverts/notices, paint reminder discs on busy areas of walkway/park entrance gateways etc.).

·  Allocate £60k to support temporary improvements to enable safe walking and cycling routes etc, and measures to ensure our green/outdoor gyms can operate safely (including ordering additional temporary railings/barriers/route markers for busy public spaces).

Due to the ongoing concerns about the impact of Covid-19, the Cabinet would receive a mid-year update in September 2020 to enable it to respond with any further measures for potential CIF allocation.

The Leader highlighted that the package of measures proposed would help respond to the Covid-19 crisis by providing further direct support to rough sleepers to help them into longer term accommodation; help local people reskill and find new employment; and put in place temporary measures to promote social distancing and safe behaviour.

The Cabinet noted the CIF spend in 2019/20 and agreed the initial allocations for 2020/21 as set out in Appendix B to the report.

Resolved –

(a)  That the expenditure to date from the Community Investment Fund 2019/2020 be noted; and

(b)  That it be agreed that any unused funding from 2019/20 would be rolled forward into 2020/21 and allocated on the basis of Cabinet requests in line with the scheme as set out in Appendix B, with any residual sum being available to ward members from the revised fund.

(c)  That the Cabinet receive a report in September 2020 to consider any further CIF allocations to respond to emerging Covid-19 issues that were in scope of the purpose of the fund.