Councillor Pat Hackett, having declared a prejudicial interest, left the room whilst this item was considered.

Further to minute 8 (25/6/15), the Constituency Manager introduced a report which set out the details of applications made to Your Wirral (Wallasey) fund of £50,000, with applications invited from voluntary and community sector (not for profit) groups for bids of up to £2,500. 

Of the 33 applications received two were deemed ineligible as the respective applicants were based in Liverpool (albeit to deliver projects within Wallasey Constituency); the terms and conditions stated that grants would not be awarded to organisations based outside Wirral. Following submission, three applications were revised by the respective applicant and the amount of funding sought reduced and these were detailed in the report.

The 31 eligible applications were seeking a total of £59,912.68; this meant that the fund was oversubscribed by £9,912.68. Each application was summarised in an appendix to the report which contained a scored assessment of the content of each application against the set criteria (i.e. impact on themes; evidence of need; measuring success and an assessment of value for money). She gave details of those involved in the assessment and how the bids had been ranked, which was set out in a further appendix to the report. 

It was recommended that 24 projects were fully funded and one partially funded to the amount of £1,189.82 (the shortfall to be supplemented by the Committee’s 2015-16 allocation for Christmas lighting), bringing the ‘Your Wirral’ budget to full spend. It was therefore further recommended that the four lowest scoring projects were not funded. Applicants were required to deliver projects within one year of receipt of the funding.

Responding to comments from a Member, the Constituency Manager reported that all the assessments on each bid had to be based on what was detailed on the application form and that this had to be an objective process.

Councillor Janette Williamson expressed her disappointment that the project, Mersey Counselling and Therapy Centre, was not recommended to receive funding

A Member suggested that those bidders which had not been recommended to receive funding should be helped in their quest to secure alternative funding.

The Constituency Manager responded that help had been available from the Constituency Engagement Officer over the submission of applications and that feedback would be given to those unsuccessful in their bids. They would work with the four unsuccessful bidders, if Committee were minded to agree the recommendation, in their quest for alternative funding.

Resolved –

That this Committee, having reviewed the applications, detailed in the appendices to the report, and having given consideration to the evaluation conducted by officers, awards the total funding of £50,000 to the following projects: