 Come on in Members, officers, and any members of the public, in the public gallery. Our viewing on the livestream. Welcome to the meeting of the Grants Advisory Committee. My name is Councillor Sue Ellington and I'm usually the Vice-chair of the Grants Committee. However, the usual chair, Councillor Joe's hails is not with us today, so I'll be chairing this meeting. Those in the chamber are reminded that the meeting is being live streamed. May I ask those who are joining us remotely to ensure that their cameras and microphones remain off unless they are addressing the committee. For those of us present in the room, please ensure your microphone is close to you and speak clearly when addressing the room. Right to business. Apologies for absence. Anybody? Just the apologies from councillor Jess Hales. Thank you, chair. Thank you. I think we usually have a session where we just say who's who in the chamber, don't we? You can if you like. We have played that, but you wouldn't go around. Yes, I think it would be useful. Can I just ask the councillors to say who they are? Thank you. Good morning, chair. Good morning, everyone. Councillor Peter Sanford, one of the members for Kexton and Papworth Ward. Good morning, I'm Sunita Hansraj. I'm councillor for Hysdan and in Bington. Good morning, everybody. It's Bill Handley. I'm one of the councillors for the Villages of Over in Willingham. Thank you. Officers, can I start? Hi, I'm Emma Dyer. I'm a development officer from the community's team. Thank you. Good morning, my name is Ola Givens and I'm one of the project officers in the climate and environment team. Thank you. The two officers. Good morning, Laurence Murray-Homann, Democratic Services for the grants advisory, and to my right have Patrick Adams, who is looking after the tech today. Thank you, chair. Thanks very much. Right, moving on to, any members have got a declaration of interest in any of the, they would like to declare? Nope, right. Minutes of the previous meeting. Anybody, everybody had a chance to read the minutes and are they a correct record? Councillor Peter. Thank you, chair. Just to prove I've read the minutes. Six lines from the bottom of the first page is a type of St Nicholas crutch rather than church. You're welcome. Thank you. Anybody else? Right. I move to approve the minutes as a true and accurate record. Everybody happy? The committee therefore agrees the approval of the minutes of the meeting on the 25th of January, 24 as a true and accurate record by affirmation. There's no public questions that I've seen. Right. Oh, yes. Good morning, John. Would you like to say hello? Thank you, chair. Yes, sorry I'm a bit late. I was dealing with a local issue. Yes, good morning, everyone. I'm John Williams. I'm lead member for resources. Thanks. Thanks, John. Right, moving on to the agenda item five. Clarifications to zero carbon communities grant guidance. I think that's your wisdom to door. Yes, thanks very much. Excitingly, we're coming up to launch again our popular zero carbon communities grant. It's due to open for a sixth round of applications hopefully in April 2024. In preparation, we've been in the climate team reviewing the current application criteria and guidance that's available on the website. That's the manual as people are making their applications. So just to quickly recap the content of the report, it proposes that the grant themes and objectives will remain the same. So projects will once again be invited under those two themes of reducing carbon emissions or community engagement and promoting positive behaviour change. And the report does propose some clarifications to the guidance based on suggestions made by this committee and the lead cabinet member for resources last year. And we hope that these changes would help ensure we receive strong applications that perform well under the grant criteria and provide clear and measurable outcomes. So the first of those changes is just some recommendations around nature projects. So no nature projects were funded in the last grant cycle even though some were received. That was under the community engagement theme. That's because these applications didn't adequately demonstrate that the project was going to engage people on climate issues or promote behaviour change. Even though the application has outlined really valuable practical plans for nature recovery. So it's just recommended that we update the guidance to point in these kind of pure nature projects who have just got these practical plans for nature recovery to more suitable funding sources like our community chest by diversity port of natural temperatures under nature. And just update that guidance to emphasise that projects should define themselves kind of principally as a community engagement project or really clearly advertise their carbon reduction benefits if they're applying to the zero carbon communities grant scheme. And then secondly around solar PV projects always really popular under this scheme and members commented last time on there were some variations in costs between solar PV projects that seem to be delivering similar outcomes. And while sort of seeking multiple quotes has always been recommended before and sort of encouraged, we're now going to formally request that any solar PV projects are providing us with three separate quotes to kind of ensure that value for money. And then lastly the reports proposing more prescriptive guidance around calculating avoided carbon dioxide emissions because again while we kind of recommend they use the methodology that we provide like everybody does and then that makes it sort of more difficult to compare these projects like the like. And we do try to find a figure for the kind of carbon avoided carbon emissions they're promising per pound of funding requested. So that's a summary of the post changes in the report. Thanks very much. Can I just ask for a point of clarification? I was slightly confused that the first document in our papers had also got some yellow marking in and then this one got included that yellow marking and I was just confused as to why I've got two papers that you've got some markings in it. I can find it on page 10 and it was just a bit confusing so there was no specific reason for that. No, that was just a mistake. The current guidance without any highlighting, the second one is the changes highlighted so sorry about that. Can I open it to the members of the committee? Bill? Yes, I'd like to ask all that. The community engagement, how successful do you think it's been? Have people engaged and been you delivered on it? Is this for any particular projects that we've funded in the past or just how that category of the grant is funded? I was just interested in how the category is panned out really. I would say very well I think there have been some really positive projects that have been funded. One specific example from last year would be Cambridge Carbon Footprints Repair Cafe Network. I think repair cafes have been springing up a lot around the district very visibly and are an amazing way into talking about climate change while providing really practical support as well. I think broadly we do receive applications under that category that have outlined really valuable plans for community engagement. We're very happy that that's been functioned well and that's why we propose that it remains one of the two themes. There was nothing behind my question. I was genuinely interested that's all. I haven't heard any bad reports or anything else that I was just interested. I don't want to stifle the debate but I mean this is pretty much moving forward as we have been and it's been incredibly successful. So I don't have any real problems with continuing with this but I'll leave others to discuss it as well of course. Thank you Bill. Any questions? Thank you chair. Calculating avoided emissions seems like a pretty isoteric and possibly difficult thing for applicants to do. I'm hoping we guide them through step by step to come up with the appropriate answer. It's not just leaving them to it. So there is methodology to calculate the emissions and specific methodologies for solar panel projects as well. So they should be able to follow that through and often they do all the applications as well. Nothing in there. Do I generally get the feeling then that everybody is happy with the developments that we see in this paper? And I think the calculations are really useful for many people who are not necessarily applying but may want to know how they're progressing their own eco adventure. So this has got to go to Cabinet so it's whether we are happy to recommend that this paper should go to Cabinet. Happy for that. So can I just add one thing that I've had, applaud it, the amount of help and support people have had when submitting their applications. I think it's a little bit daunting sometimes when they look at all the hoops they've got to jump through quite rightly but the help that all and others have given has been very, very welcome. Yep, agreed. Quite happy to go forward to Cabinet. Thank you. Right, so we can move on. It has formally been agreed that it should go forward by affirmation. Right, go back to my dream. Right, we go move on to the community just grants then. Emma. Thank you, Chair. So we've had four applications this month which includes Royal Biodiversity application. They all total £8,000 and if all are funded they'll just be over £11,000 in the main community chest grant fund. Obviously we're coming close to the end of the financial year so I just wanted to highlight that. On page 49 we have our first application which is from the first Cambon Scout group. They were formed in 2002 and currently there are 88 members aged between 6 and 14 plus 22 leaders and they would like to undertake an equipment renewal project and this will help with ensuring the safety and effectiveness of their activities. So this project will have a positive effect on the personal and social developments of all sections across squirrels, beavers, cubs and scouts. Total costs are £2,344 and £2,000 has been requested from the community chest for some new camping equipment. You can see what they've requested so we have tents, hot water, gas boiler, some long handled tongs and a duty patrol box for camping utensils and cooking equipment. The remaining shortfall will be funded from a recent Christmas tree collection event so that's what will cover that. They have said that further funding will be required for more tents and that Cambon Town Council will be approached for this via their community grants but a decision on this won't be made until after their March meeting so we don't have any sort of confirmation on that at the moment. We have support from all three district councillors from Cambon. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any comments from members? It's Anita. I think this is wonderful, it gets the scouts out and about in nature and I think I fully support this. It does seem that the scouts have really developed over the last couple of years. They only start in 22, they've done quite well to collect quite so many. I'm in support. I'm in support of this. It's good to see them helping themselves, raising funding for themselves. I guess the fact that the Town Council hasn't contributed is just a procedural thing rather than anything else that you would normally expect them to support it, wouldn't you? So my view is yes it's something that we can support I think. Everybody happy? No problems from John? No, I don't have any problems with this one. Thank you. Thank you. So we will agree that this should go forward. Thank you. The next one is Camcare. Yes, on page 50 we have Camcare UK. This is a charity that was formed in 2005 that operates in Camcare and nearby counties and it promotes equality, undiversity and racial harmony. It advances the education of the public and also promotes other charitable purposes. It also helps to support those over 60. It helps with digital inclusion and it also tackles loneliness. It has 125 members. It also provides many activities and festivals we have charged throughout the year. For example, the Camborn Science Festival that you might be aware of. There's various cookery projects, elderly bus trips and the Camborn Electronics and Robotics Club, CERC, which is their academic wing. CERC has provided STEM education and mentorship for over 2,000 students locally and 4,500 globally. There's no charge for children to attend this programme. At present, they cater for students in the age group from 7 to 18. They are planning to start a new initiative with Lego designed for six-year-olds as well. At present, the club is held in the blue space in Camborn and they conduct various workshops across the Camcare region. The actual project they would like funding for is the CAMSAT Youth Satellite Project, which is aimed at secondary school students. This is a simulation of a real satellite that will be launched and data will be collected. They're planning to have 30 students in each batch with four batches running in a year and the project will start on 1 May. The total costs for this project are £2,481.67 and £2,000 has been requested from the community for materials and equipment that are needed to undertake this project and there's a whole list of various items there that you can see, including starter kits and rocket kits and oscilloscope. The shortfall of £481.67 has already been raised. They've not applied to any grant to Camborn Town Council for this project, but in the past the Town Council has provided them with free or discounted rooms such as the Camborn hub or the cricket pavilion to use for annual events and they've also printed some certificates for children's activities like the Science and Art Festival. The project will be open to all students in Cambridgeshire and promoted via various channels. There's a whole list there that won't go into detail for them, but you can see that it's quite extensive. Similarly, there's several green options that have been integrated into the project. All the equipment identified will be reusable except for one of the satellite rocket kits. Obviously you can see it's very detailed and it has support from two of the Camborn councillors, councillor Helen Neaming and councillor Drew. Thank you. Right. Any comments, Peter? I'm assuming this is the charity that councillor Bhattacharya is one of the trustees of. Yes, I believe so. In which case I think we should make that very clear. Her name is not mentioned anywhere on this application and for myself I'd actually like to see the government's arrangements for this charity attached to the application as an appendix. I don't have concerns that she misused the funds, but we would be leaving ourselves open to that kind of accusation unless we're very transparent with this application. I understand that. I did actually query this from our Democratic Services Department and councillor Williams, I think he is aware as well. I'm aware that Emma notified me of this. It's more the general public who should be aware. I think we can be happy that that will be included. Any other comments? I just wanted to ask, this robotics club is free from what I can see? Yes, it is free, yes. So could the parents not make any contribution to this satellite project? I think obviously from those low income families, I think they want to make it available to anybody that would like to attend. Thank you. Low income, okay, I don't know the statistics of this, but to give them a little contribution for... They may well have accept donations. I'm not aware at this point, but I could look into it of course. They have a lot of festivals with some of the money. I mean do we know what festivals they are and can some of the money be used for this? I'm not aware at this point, but I'm sure that they would obviously receive donations being a charity. Anything from Bill? No, I mean no, the aims of this are very good. For as I can see, I think as long as Councillor Sanford's concerns are addressed, I'm very happy to run with it. I know the electronics and robotics club got very high in a competition, as they were having to outsource more space for the children, the young people to practice with their robotics. They were going around all the village halls to try and fund more space for them. So there must be additional funding included from parents and so on to access that sort of delivery. So are we happy with this proposal? You're happy John? Yes, I'm happy Chair with this proposal. Thank you, so we say yes please to that one. Thank you. Next one, Gertan Local Natural Nature Recovery Plan Group. So page 53, this is a working subgroup of Gertan Parish Council. They formed just over a year ago and have developed a 10-year plan to encourage community awareness and inspire action to enhance and extend wildlife habitats and to increase biodiversity. They would like to refresh the Alice Hibbetware Memorial Garden. This is a two-year project including innovative garden techniques, wildlife habitat creation, paths and new signage and also offer a calm space for the community to visit. They also intend to install a thatched shelter from which the bog garden can be closely observed. Total estimated costs excluding the thatched shelter are £11,000 and £2,000 has been requested from the community chest for plants, signs and the garden arches. You can see below the picture here that the costings are very detailed. They break it down quite well, I think. Moving on further down, I just mentioned that the Parish Council have already allocated or paid the following variety of things already, just over £6,500. This is things like the design and production of the interpretation sign. Consultancy fees, higher of a scarifier, purchase of bat and bird boxes and also some costs towards year two. That's £3,800 towards that. Remaining costs will come from fundraising and other grants and £980 has already been raised from a just giving crowdfunding page. We have support from John Cornell, who is our natural environment team leader. He said it's a very good project. We might leave our support. Likewise, Eleanor Haynes, our Development Officer for Climate Environment. She thinks it presents a clear recognition of the needs to conduct their project in a manner that is mindful towards the climate emergency. She's just highlighted that obviously it would be important to have drought-resistant plants planted so that they can obviously survive the hotter summers. That's watering perhaps is delegated to named groups or people to ensure that the plants survive during these periods of low rainfall. We also have support from councillors Richard Stobart and Corinne Garvey. Thank you. I think this is a lovely project and I wish them success. I hope we approve of it. Sorry, I'm not wrong. That's all right. Thank you chair. This is a really impressive detail design. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. They know what they're trying to achieve. I also think we should support the application. I echo Councillor Sampson's nicely itemised case here. I've gone into great deal of detail, which I actually appreciate. It shows that a lot of thought has gone into this. I think it's to be applauded. An exemplar even. Absolutely fully positive about this. Good. We're happy with that one. Any problems, John? Thank you chair. No, I don't have any problems with this one. I think it's a very good project. It certainly looks if it's going to brighten that area up anyway. Yes, we agree by mutual consent. We move finally on to Hardwick preschool. This is on page 59 and the application was first presented at Grant's Advisory Committee back in April 2023. The preschool, if you remember, is a purpose built mobile classroom. It has an enclosed outdoor area within the grounds of Hardwick Community Primary School and their plans were to improve the outside area of preschool which includes a large section of shaded bare grounds. Within the middle of the resurfaced area, they wanted to include an embedded nature area for children to explore. I'd just like to... There were obviously some further questions from that meeting that we had back last year pending some information. This is whether a formal agreement between the preschool and Cambridge County Council, or the school, could be sought and whether the proposed area would be suitable for a hedgehog dwelling, given that it was enclosed within an area of tarmac and artificial grass. They've come back to us and said that consent has been given by Cambridge County Council for permission for the canopy area over digging the pits and the artificial grass. They've also said that there's no fixed home lease, but there is a formal agreement that does exist. That's important to note. They've also agreed that a hedgehog house, although lovely, would probably never be inhabited due to the hustle and bustle of about 26 children playing near it. They've confirmed that. That's interesting. They've also given us some further updates as well. They've said that due to the government's expansion of the earliest funding of that in April 2023, the preschool hasn't unprecedented a number of children on their register and a decision was made to complete the tarmac and the artificial grass areas. This was completed for just over £5,000 using some of the money that they had from their fundraising pots. This is normally reserved for the purchase of new and replacement toys. Obviously they've had to go into that. The parish council have contributed £1,000 on hills, which is a local property developer. They've provided a donation of £500. They've also adapted the project going forward to include the planting of insect-attracting plants, bug hotels and bird feeding stations. That's in the raised-bed wildlife area. They'd like to create a sensory garden. To complete the project, £2,207.63 is now required. They're still requesting £2,000. This is specifically for the creation of a wooden frame and a deck for the water and the sound walls to repair the digging pits and to complete an area with bark chippings. Also, there's two small sheds that they'd like to put in. One for nitracy and one for numeracy. Hills will be contacted again to see if they can provide any further funding. We also have support from the councillors that we had before, so that still stands there. Thank you. They've had a bit of a re-thing since we deferred, basically. Any comments? This is a re-submission. Yes. What was the committee's view? I can't remember if I was on the committee then. What was the reason? Was it deferred or refused? We just deferred it because we felt that there was some areas they hadn't really thought through. I think it's a broad term, wasn't it, Emma? I think you just wanted a little bit more clarification on the formal agreements between the preschool and the Cambridge County Council and also about the Hedgehog dwelling as well. They were developing land that was really theirs and whether the County Council would be happy of them doing that. Well, that was the one thing that I was going to raise again. Whether or not that still remains a problem. I think at the top of page 61, consent given by the County Council for the canopy area and digging pit. I guess being the County Council, they're not going to get kicked off quickly. I mean, if it was privately owned or something like that, then there's always a risk that they might get everything set up and then find themselves out of a home. I'm being cynical, sorry. But, yeah, if the County Council are happy. Can you have a comment? Are we generally happy then? Can I just say, chair? I think on balance I will go with this. But I think we have to bear in mind that presumably this is a grant-maintained school. It's not an academy. But should it become an academy and primary schools are becoming academies, they've only got to get a poor off-steadful pool and they are forced into becoming an academy. Although the County Council own the land, I think we must have some assurance from the school that should they become an academy, that that land will still be available for the preschool to use. The thing that worries me a little bit is the line that says the head. I think it says the head teacher is aware, which is not, to my mind, is not strong enough. I think the head teacher needs to be part of the agreement that going forward, if there ever was to be a situation where the school became an academy, then the academy would be obliged to continue leasing that land to the preschool or allowing the preschool to operate on school premises. I think we need that assurance. The amount of money involved, £2,000, to be honest, it's not a deal breaker to me and I think this is a very worthwhile project and I would like to see it happen. I think though some sort of acknowledgement from the school and I don't think we need to defer this. I think maybe Emma can get something from the head teacher just to say that she supports this project and that we'll do all she can to ensure that it continues should the state of the school change. But to just say that she is aware, just worry me a bit, it tends to suggest that there's not much communication between the preschool and the head teacher. Don't know what the rest of the committee think. I think that's a good way forward that we agree it subject to a letter on the lines of what John just said. Are we happy with that idea? John, sorry. Bill, Peter, sorry. To John's point it's not really clear who the application is from. Is it the governors of the preschool? It's obviously not from the head. I think we need just a little bit of tightening up the proposal itself seems very worthwhile being supported on that basis. But the various players I think need to make clear what they're doing and not doing. Okay, sorry. Yeah, I mean John, my concerns were same as John was I think he put it far more eloquently than me. I think your suggestion chair of a letter of support is a good one because I think that will allay a lot of my concerns, our concerns I think. Okay, happy with that. We are all happy with that. Good. So that draws us to the end of the business on the agenda. And the next meeting of the grants committee is on the 28th of March. And we move forward slowly. Thank you very much everybody for coming. We didn't quite make it. Thank you John. And thank members, thank you. We didn't quite make the 10-15 that we had.