Agenda item

Councillor J. McIlroy

To consider the Community Asset Policy and any recommendations arising from the Extraordinary Overview and Scrutiny Committee which is considering this matter at its meeting on 22nd September 2020.

Cabinet considered a report on the proposed Community Asset Policy which set out how the Council will advertise any opportunities which arise for the use of its assets to organisations and community groups, and how applications would be assessed in an open and transparent way.

The Leader invited Councillor V.J. Leighton, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to address the Cabinet on the recommendations from the extraordinary meeting held on 22 September 2020. The recommendations were:

1.    This Committee invites Cabinet to order a reconsideration of the policy taking into account Overview & Scrutiny Members' views and come back with a revised report and score card, to better reflect supporting organisations, including small and young organisations, of value to the community, giving Overview & Scrutiny members 10 days to make submissions.

2.    That further work is done to collate a full list of all assets to which this policy relates and that this will be appended to the policy.

Councillor Leighton reported that the principle of the introduction of a policy for open and transparent assessment of the borough's municipal assets was welcomed across the Committee. 

However, the Committee expressed concern that the points-based system of evaluating applications for leases of assets was weighted towards established organisations with existing funding.  Whilst the committee understood the need for a proper assessment of the potential viability of applicants to ensure best use of the Council's assets and resources, smaller or newer organisations with potentially much to offer would not fare so well if the decision rested on the matrix result. The committee therefore felt that score should be balanced by greater weight being placed on criteria such as value to the borough. Councillor Leighton explained the request that Overview and Scrutiny Committee might have an additional opportunity to make submissions before a final decision was made by Cabinet, reflected the depth of concern. 

The Committee also agreed that for clarity and transparency, the list of assets should be updated to include all community assets owned by the Council and that this was appended to the policy. 

The Deputy Leader, Councillor J. McIlroy, who had attended the Overview and Scrutiny Committee welcomed their comments and agreed they were valid points for consideration.

He was content with the second recommendation which would ensure everyone understood which of the Council’s buildings would be offered out to the community.

He agreed there was an opportunity to refine the policy and the scorecard to better reflect supporting smaller and younger organisations of value to the community. However, he felt it was not necessary for the revised policy and scorecard to then be re-circulated back to Overview and Scrutiny Committee members for their views as he and the officers were confident they understood what changes the Committee was seeking.

He said it was important that the policy (as revised) was implemented as soon as possible so that community groups could start to bid for and access these opportunities as soon as they arose.

Councillor McIlroy recommended that the Cabinet did not make a decision on this report at this meeting and instead agreed for it to be deferred.  

Resolved to defer the item to the next Cabinet meeting on 4 November 2020.