PRESENT: Councillors Christine Bateson (Chairman), Clive Bullock and Philip Love.

Officers: Harriet Baldwin, Liz Hornby and Harjit Hunjan.

01/12 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

None were received.

021/12 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Mrs Bateson – Declared a Personal and Prejudicial interest in the Sunninghill Victoria Street Fayre due to being a committee member of The Ascot Day Centre, a recipient of funding from the event.

03/12 APPLICATION FOR BIG SOCIETY PROJECTS LOCAL AREA AGREEMENT FUNDING

Members noted the applications for funding that had been received.

Application from Ian Rennie Grove Hospice

Members considered an application for £1,000 of funding from the Ian Rennie Grove Hospice and noted that the Hospice was not located in the Royal Borough and that only one or two residents could potentially be assisted. After a short discussion the Panel agreed not to award any LAA funding that the project was not located in the Royal Borough and would not help local residents. The Panel recommended that the Hospice approached the Berkshire Community Foundation.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended not to award Ian Rennie Hospice at Home Big Society LAA funding as this project was not located in the Royal Borough.

Mossy Vale Jubilee Party

Members considered an application for £100 of funding from the Mossy Vale Jubilee Party and noted that this event had already taken place and therefore monies would have already been spent.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended not to award Mossy Vale Jubilee Party Big Society LAA funding as this project had already taken place.

Application from Oakley Green, Fifield and District Community Association

Members considered an application for £200 of funding from the Oakley Green, Fifield and District Community Association and noted that this event had already taken place and therefore monies would have already been spent.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended not to award Oakley Green, Fifield and District Community Association Big Society LAA funding as this project had already taken place.

Application from SMILE

Members considered an application for £8,640 of funding for SMILE and noted that the application was to encourage physical activity for older people, provided with sensitivity to personal safety issues, ethnic background and gender. The application was for swimming lessons for adults, expanding on existing provision to due demand. After a short discussion, the Panel agreed not to fund the application due to the funding being required for paid staff. It was noted that one of the criteria when making a decision was not to fund any paid positions.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended not to award SMILE Big Society LAA funding as this project was for paid staff.

Application from Street Angels, Maidenhead

Members considered an application for £6,500 of funding for Street Angels, Maidenhead and noted that this project was to increase their work in Maidenhead to include a Saturday night as well as a Friday and sought funding until the end of 2013.

Members agreed that the project met with the following Big Society Criteria –

1) increase volunteering
2) putting in place a community project
3) supporting the Borough’s Big Society projects.

Following a short discussion, Members agreed an amount of £6,500 be awarded and agreed that this scheme was extremely positive in the Borough.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended to award Street Angels, Maidenhead £6,500 of Big Society LAA funding.

Application from Sunninghill Victoria Street Fayre

Members considered an application for £1,000 of funding for Sunninghill Victoria Street Fayre and noted that the funding was to pay the AA to close local roads adjacent to Sunninghill High Street for their event on 18 November 2012. However, Members agreed that this was not a suitable use of Big Society funds and recommended that the organising committee be requested to contact the Royal Borough’s Community Wardens and Community Safety Team for advice as well as the Town Centre Managers. It was also agreed that the Volunteer Ambassadors be involved and that the committee be put in touch with the Visitor Manager in Windsor.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended not to award Sunninghill Victorian Street Fayre Big Society LAA funding as this project was not in line with Big Society criteria.

In accordance with section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman has agreed to consider this item as an urgent item at this meeting due to the need to consider all the received applications due to the amount of funding being available as it was believed once these decision were made, the funding would cease.

Application from Windsor & Maidenhead Community Forum

Members considered an application for £3,500 of funding for Windsor and Maidenhead Community Form and noted that this was to celebrate Diversity and Inter-Faith week in November. It would include an inter-faith cricket tournament, visits to faith centres and a dinner and diversity day.

Members agreed that the project met with the following Big Society Criteria –

1) increase volunteering

2) develop and put in place a community project

After some discussion, Members agreed to fund £2,000 of LAA Reward money.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended to award Windsor & Maidenhead Community Forum £2,000 of Big Society LAA funding.

Application from One Borough Initiative: Do-eat then Do-nate

Members considered an application for £5,000 of funding for One Borough Initiative: Do-eat then Do-nate and noted that this would continue and develop the Mayoral initiative set up by Councillor Majeed when he was Major of the Royal Borough along with Maheed Majeed, last year. The scheme was founded to facilitate the introduction of local charities to local businesses for them to support their chosen charity through fundraising and volunteering. The aim was to establish the scheme as the One Borough initiative with the aim of creating a new charity or social enterprise, establishing branding and intellectual property and setting up and launching the website.

Members agreed that the project met with the following Big Society Criteria –

2) develop and put in place a community project and

4) working with and securing the support of local businesses to engage in volunteering or community projects

After some discussion, Members agreed to fund £1,000 of LAA Reward money towards the setting up of their website. The Panel also recommended that the name should be changed as it could potentially be confused with the One Borough Initiative Panel.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended to award One Borough Initiative: Do-eat then Do-nate £1,000 of Big Society LAA funding.

Application from Friends of RBWM Libraries

Members considered an application for £8,500 of funding for Friends of RBWM Libraries and noted that this would help in setting up a Friends of RBWM Libraries charitable organisation. The funding requested was for administrative start up costs including legal advice for the Trustees, publicity and membership. (

Members agreed that the project met with the following Big Society Criteria –

1) increasing volunteering
2) development of a community project
3) supporting the Borough's Big Society projects
4) involving businesses
5) setting up and development of a voluntary organisation or community enterprise

After a short discussion, Members agreed to fund £3,375 of LAA Reward money towards the setting up of the Friends of RBWM Libraries.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended to award Friends of RBWM Libraries £3,375 of Big Society LAA funding.

Application from Housing Solutions: Aspire Programme 2013

Members considered an application for £10,000 of funding for Housing Solutions: Aspire Programme 2012 and noted that this was to run the successful Aspire programme again in 2013. This programme was run by Housing Solutions and Aspire and provided a programme of workshops and mentoring support for Housing Solutions residents (and in this 2nd programme 5 RBWM residents) to learn how to develop and set up their own businesses.

Members agreed that the project met with the following Big Society Criteria –

2) development of a community project
5) setting up and development of a voluntary organisation or community enterprise

After a short discussion, Members agreed to fund £4,375 of LAA Reward money towards the setting up of the Housing Solutions: Aspire Programme 2013.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended to award Housing Solutions: Aspire Programme 2013 £4,375 of Big Society LAA funding.

Application from Swop a Job

Members considered an application for £20 of funding for Swop a Job and noted that the application was to develop a website with job swaps (eg plumbing for ironing). The website was national but it was intended that there would be local area parts of the site.

RESOLVED: That the Big Society Panel be recommended not to award Swop a Job Big Society LAA funding as this project was for paid staff.

Following the awards it was noted that there was now no money left to allocate and it was requested that the website be changed to reflect this. It was recommended that the website be amended to reflect that there was no further funding available and to quote the number of successful applicants there had been. It was hoped that further funding would be sought and that the Big Society Sub-Group be put on hold for the time-being.

04/12 MEETING

The meeting, which began at 9.00am, concluded at 9.50am