Further to a brief discussion on wilmslow.co.uk about the Town Council's allocation of grants, one member of the Council has questioned whether it is currently within their remit to make these donations which amount to about 25% of their total budget.
Speaking at the Town Council meeting on Monday, 19th December, Councillor David Jefferay said "I am increasingly finding it difficult to justify the grants against our terms of reference".*
He added "On the website we have got five duties and I'm struggling to see which one the awarding of grants that we give, or most of them, would fall under."
He requested whether the matter could be discussed further by the Finance Committee to decide whether they should change their terms of reference saying "I do think it is a great thing we do, giving these grants, but I think at the moment it is outside our remit."
In Wilmslow Town Council's first year they set a budget for grants of £20,000 but did not actually pay any.
In 2011/12 they exceeded their budget of £25,000 by paying £43,410 in grants which included £20,000 to the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), £10,750 to Friends of the Carrs to protect the riverbanks from further erosion, £5000 to fund a new sound system at St Bartholomew's Church, £4060 to fund a Strong Mums course, £1650 to fund a number of Incredible Edible projects in Wilmslow, £1200 to support Food Friend Food Bank and £750 to Cycle Wilmslow towards the costs of a 'Get Wilmslow Cycling' initiative.
In the financial year 2013/14 Wilmslow Town Council set a budget of £100,000 for grants, of which £82,293 was paid out. These grants included £29,000 for CAB, £10,000 to Food Friend, £7000 to Wilmslow Business Group, £5000 to Wilmslow Animal Sanctuary, £5000 to Alderley & Wilmslow Theatre Company, £4767.50 for the Open Arms Project, a £4000 Wilmslow Motor Show grant, £2675 for the Wilmslow Show, £2500 for Wilmslow Music Festival, £2216 for a Strong Women course, £1682 to Wilmslow Clean Team, £1665 for Incredible Edible, £1480 to the Combined Charities Christmas Shop, £1440 to Wilmslow Rifle Club and £1000 for the Wilmslow Scarecrow Festival.
In 2014/15 Wilmslow Town Council spent £67,130 of their £80,000 budget on grants. Amongst these were £29,000 for CAB, £9000 for the events team at Wilmslow Business Group, £7500 for the Wilmslow Show, £5000 for Food Friend, £5000 for The Clink Charity, £2636 for Incredible Edible planting and sculpture, £2000 to Transition Wilmslow, £1500 to Wilmslow Guild, £1375 to Wilmslow Clean Team, £1040 to Friends of Lacey Green Park and £1000 to the SK9 Young People's Fund.
Last year (2015/16) the Council allocated £68,618 worth of grants from a budget of £80,000. These included £29,000 to CAB, £10,000 to the Wilmslow Show, £5000 to Food Friend, £3762 to Alderley & Wilmslow Theatre Company, £3000 to Snow Angels Cheshire, £2100 to Lindow Scouts, £2000 to Lindow Cricket Club, £1871 to Incredible Edible, £1684 to the SK9 Group's Tatton Show garden, £1643 to Wilmslow Coderdojo, £1500 for the Junior parkrun and £1000 each to Wilmslow Scarecrow Festival, Handforth Church Hall, Handforth War Memorial, TEMPO and Wilmslow Library.
So far in the current financial year, grants for a total of £51,550 have been given from the budget of £70,000. Amongst the recipients are CAB who received £29,000, Wilmslow Business Group's events team were paid £12,000, Hampers of Hope received £4700, £2000 went to Cheshire Youth Panto, £1200 to Bushido Ju-Jitsu Academy and £1000 each to the Time Out Group and Wilmslow Guild.
Since their formation five and a half year's ago Wilmslow Town Council has given grants totalling just over £314,000.
Speaking about the giving of grants at the Town Council meeting on Monday, 19th December, Councillor Martin Watkins said "The amount of grants which this Council gives is about 25% of our precept and in my experience over the whole life of this Council this is a real opportunity for the Council to contribute to the activities of local organisations who need a bit of help. These are areas where we wouldn't dream of actually getting involved ourselves - we'd have neither the expertise or the time. This is where the local organisations can ask us for some help.
"As to the regard the concern about grants at the moment the system has changed and we have got grants being considered in the first place by the Finance Committee, other councillors are more than welcome to come along and they do to consider and actually contribute to some of the decisions.
"I need to make it clearer, this is a huge responsibility which is placed on councillors. Councillors have to read these applications, they have to take to the people who come along and make presentations and at the end of the day those councillors have to make a judgement and the judgement in the Finance Committee is then taken as a recommendation to full council because full council has always said at the end of the day it wants to be the full arbiter as to whether grants are made or not."
Cllr Watkins added "There are going to be some people in the community who do not like the decisions we make, just because they don't like them it doesn't mean to say our decisions are wrong. The whole question of grants has been looked at by the Finance Committee and by this Council and as recently as September has agreed on the position that it was going and quite frankly I don't think there is a real prime need at this moment in time to go and change the decisions that have been made. It can be reflected, as we should always do in period of time but I don't really see this is necessary at this moment in time."
Councillor Viveene Brooks added "I do feel that a big part of the Town Council is to be helpful to local people after all we are Wilmslow Town Council and people will be asking what is your purpose and I think if we can help struggling, quite often voluntary groups, who need a helping hand.
"They're helping the youth, they're helping the elderly and if they are willing to give their time and they require some funds to continue doing so and they are Wilmslow based I think it's our duty as a town council to consider that seriously and to help them."
Councillor Angela McPake said "I think the point was the terms of reference, as far as he's (David Jefferay) concerned don't cover grant giving or at least he can't see where. So surely that's a case of us looking at our terms of reference and whether they need to reflect better that 25% of our income is being spent on grants. Not to say we don't do it but should we be clearer that's one our remits."
Councillor Gary Barton said "It's almost a shame that we haven't had the debate about the latest batch of grant applications ** at this meeting because I think actually it would seek to address some of the points that Councillor Jefferay rightly raised. I think the discussion we've had shows it took a while for the culture of the council to change in terms of how we approach grants. We set the £2000 cap."
He added "Councillor Jefferay has recommended that this is reviewed at Finance Committee another time and I agree with him and I agree it is a duty of the Council to constantly review our policy giving out this money but the increase in our Council Tax level isn't to meet further grants, it isn't to increase our budget in that area. it is to meet other aspects of this Council's expenditure and to support a more ambitious programme going forward."
Do you agree that giving these grants is a valuable and worthwhile use of the precept? Or do you feel Wilmslow Town Council should not be spending resident's Council Tax on helping to fund local organisations, event organisers, charities and groups? Share your views via the comment box below.
* Wilmslow Town Council's duties include:
• To support and encourage community initiatives.
• To support the economic vibrancy of the town
• Review and comment on planning applications within the Parish
• Liaise with relevant authorities regarding infrastructure /policing/community issues to represent your views and get the best advantage for the local area
• Engage with all interested parties regarding current and future shape of life in the local area
**The latest batch of grants to be considered in January 2017 include a request for £109 from Friends of the Carrs to cover their insurance; £1600 from Churches Together in Wilmslow who are setting up a weekly Dementia Cafe; £3262 from Alderley & Wilmslow Theatre Company to a meet a shortfall from their recent production of White Christmas and a £10,000 request from St Bartholomew's Church to go towards the cost of replacing their 150-year-old organ. The total cost of which is £250,000 and they have raised £193,000.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Re the £10,000 pound request from St Barts: It is appalling that the church should even consider spending £1/4 million on an organ. What has happened to their sense of responsible priorities? A perfectly functional, AND presentable, electric organ could be purchased and installed for a fraction of the cost. WTC should not make a donation to this folly!
Badly wrong, I would say.
I would think that this grant was illegal. Since when has local government supported a church infrastructure? People who make a difference in the community, yes, of course, but a church organ?
Spend the money on cleaning and repairs to our pavements.
KEITH CHAPMAN, Town Councillor, Wilmslow East.
What readers of this, our news letter, is that the Cheshire Record Office, a shared service with Cheshire West, receives at least £300,000.00 from Find My Past , and probably others, for having nearly all the Church Registers of Parish Churches in Cheshire, and gives none of this back to the churches at all. These registers belong to each church, and they do not receive a penny. All churches were emailed about this, but quite a few were not on email at that time, and only given 2 weeks, to say yes or no, that if they did not reply, they were going on the internet.
Do not forget that one can view these registers online, and Cheshire Libraries pay a lot for this service, as all council tax payers pay towards this, which is only of benefit to those who are interested.
It may make puffed up councillors happy to play at philanthropy but its tax payers cash.
St Barts gets a new sound system? Lets see the church accounts, I bet it has thousands spare. If not put up the fee for weddings. Centrally heated rabbit hutches costing thousands, rabbits live i the wild without double glazing. Firing range improvements for a private facility that is not even in Wilmslow used by a handful of members.
And now a theatre group wants WTC to fund a shortfall on an am dram production.
I dont blame the organistions for coming forward it seems like an easy pitch.
All of these organisations may be worthy causes but they should be responsible for their own funraising.
And now the cheeky councillors want to raise taxes to fund more pet projects.
I would like to know what projects have been turned down for funding by WTC. AND how many and which councillors are members of the St Barts congregation and what roles they played in the grant funding.
Since when is a grant for a new sound system not supporting religious objectives and/or infrastructure?
Lets start by telling the truth. Its clear that WTC is awash with cash and short of ideas on how to spend it.
The recent announcement of a rise in council tax completely failed to mention that the percentage of grant giving would also be set to rise.
This whole process needs truth and transparency with full disclosure of councillors interests.
I look forward to this 'oversight' being rectified.
While our councillors revel in spending our money as grants, the whole town infrastructure is crumbling around them. Nero and Rome ring a bell anybody?
Maybe we should start a new group - Concerned Residents of Wilmslow Annual show, arrange a get together and apply for a grant for our meeting costs?
and any other disclosable interests that are referred to in your council’s
code of conduct within 28 days of becoming a member of the council. The
monitoring officer will make a register of your interests available to the public
– usually on the principal authority’s website. This rule on disclosure also
applies to your spouse, civil partner or cohabitee, as if their interests were
yours. You should be aware that the register of interests does not distinguish
between a councillor’s interests and those that are held by your partner." Cant find this list on the WTC website, looks like WTC may have overlooked publishing a list of personal interests too.
When it comes to the Church organ, much as I love the concept of contributing to it, is it something which can be justified in the remit of the Town Council?
KEITH CHAPMAN, Town Councillor, Wilmslow East
Its not about whether causes are deserving or whether charity giving is good or bad. Its about governance of public money.
We are talking about over £300,000 of grants with scant information shared with residents and WTC not even keeping its own promise to publish applications.
If WTC is struggling to keep to its own rules on disclosure then residents have a right to question whether the process is working overall.
There is simply not enough evidence of the rules being followed and little transparency or disclosure.
There has been NO disclosure of the applications which should include accounts and NO disclosure of councillors interests.
There is a good number of these awards that appear to have little or no benefit to the people of Wilmslow. This could make the grants illegal. It may be that publishing the applications will shed light on what benefit residents receive from the grants so the sooner WTC keeps its promise to put the applications on the website the sooner this arguement can be settled.
If the charity giving from taxpayers funds is to go ahead and also increase then it is perfectly reasonable for residents to access the information WTC has already said it would publish on its website.
Nobody is suggesting that residents will always agree with funding decisions but what we should all be able to agree on is that...
1. Councillors personal and partners interests are maintained and published annually (this is the law alread)
2. Grant funding applications are published alonside any supporting documents such as accounts (this has already been agreed by WTC but seemingly not implemented)
3. Grants should only be given to causes that directly benefit 'human' residents of the parish and are not disproptionately costly. (I am paraphrasing but this is already the law so hopefully once 2 has been implemented we will see that it has been rigoursly followed)
Thanks for the invite to a meeting but open meetings are not a replacement for full disclosure.
KEITH CHAPMAN, Town Councillor Wilmslow East
KEITH CHAPMAN, Town Councillor Wilmslow East.
I feel as though I ought to contribute to this thread as I am, in part, responsible for kicking it off.
Following a brief exchange of comments with Oliver Romain on an earlier Wilmslow.co.uk article I raised the subject of the grants at the December Town Council meeting as part of the discussion on setting of the budget for next year.
I raised it not because I believe we are giving it to the wrong causes but because I’m not convinced that that all of grants we award fall within the current duties of the Town Council. Some fall within the “support the economic vibrancy of the town” duty and some fall under the “support and encourage community initiatives”. However, there are some which do not sit naturally within the stated duties of the Town Council. This does not however mean that I don’t think they are worthwhile causes which enrich the town and make it better place to live or that we shouldn’t support/ encourage them.
My view is that the duties of the Town Council should be extended to include “supporting the social vibrancy of the town” (or words to that effect) as well as the “economic vibrancy”. I think we are often so preoccupied with money, prosperity and “growth” that we forget that towns are about people living together and I believe the town council should be about helping to make it a great place to live. In that context, I think it is valid for the town council to use some of the precept to support and encourage volunteer and social groups in the town. That is not to say of course that it should be given away to any group that asks (like the “Concerned Residents of Wilmslow Annual show” group!) but I would like to think that the Councillors get it right most of the time.
There is also the other conversation about whether the process is appropriate.
I believe the process we have is appropriate. Applicants complete an application form which asks for all the relevant information; who they are, what they do, how much they are applying for, what it is for, how much the project total cost is, where else they have tried to get the money, have they previously applied to WTC, etc.. They are also required to submit a copy of their accounts.
The application is then reviewed at a WTC finance committee meeting (to which the applicant is invited) and that committee makes a recommendation to full council which then decides whether to accept the recommendation of the finance committee and award the grant. This process is all open to the public (the agenda is published in advance and anyone can turn up to the meetings), the decisions and rationale is recorded in the minutes of the meetings (which are on the website), and, as Keith has explained, any Councillor who has a conflict of interest has to declare it at the beginning of the meetings (as well as having to make the general declarations on being elected as a Councillor, which are on the website). I think that is a pretty robust and transparent system. Where we do seem to have fallen down though is that we have said we would post the completed grant applications on the WTC website. I can’t find them so I will make the Town Clerk aware of that and I’m sure it will be addressed (if he isn’t already on with it).
Cheers
David