Agenda and minutes

Councillor Richards welcomed attendees to the Meeting and explained that the Meeting had been convened to consider applications to the Teviot and Liddesdale Community Fund for pots A and B.

(a)          Hawick Community Council – two applications for consideration (to follow)

                 i.       Hawick Saxhorn Band (to follow)

                ii.       Hawick Youth Rugby (to follow)

(b)          Newcastleton Community Council – one application for consideration

                 i.       Copshaw Gardeners (to follow)

(c)           Southdean Community Council – one application for consideration

                 i.       Southdean Village Hall (to follow)

The Locality Development Coordinator, Ms Jardine, introduced application recommendations received into Community Council Pot A funds.

(a)          Hawick Community Council

(i)        Hawick Saxhorn Band
Hawick Community Council recommended that Hawick Saxhorn Band be awarded £420 for the purchase of practice trombones and mutes.

DECISION
AGREED to award Hawick Saxhorn Band a grant of £420.

(ii)       Hawick Youth Rugby
Hawick Community Council recommended that Hawick Youth Rugby be awarded £936 for the purchase of medical equipment and a new medical room.

DECISION
AGREED to award Hawick Youth Rugby a grant of £936.

Note:  Councillor McAteer had left the meeting during the above discussion having experienced IT issues, but would have declared an interest should he have been present.

(b)          Newcastleton Community Council

(i)        Copshaw Gardeners
Newcastleton Community Council recommended that Copshaw Gardeners be awarded £1,413.60 for the purchase of planters and flower tubs within Newcastleton.  It was noted that 4 of the current planters were being replaced with planters made from recycled materials.  Normally funds for these replacements were raised via an annual plant sale but that event had not been possible due to Covid restrictions.

DECISION
AGREED to award Copshaw Gardeners a grant of £1,413.60.

(c)          Southdean Community Council

(i)    Southdean Village Hall
Southdean Community Council recommended that Southdean Village Hall be awarded £2,159.52 for the purchase of audio/visual equipment and to extend broadband internet usage.  It was noted that this would improve facilities at the Hall and make it more attractive for groups and local people to use, while at the same time reducing isolation in the community.

DECISION
AGREED to award Southdean Village Hall a grant of £2,159.29.

Five applications for consideration:

a)         Survivors Unite (to follow)

b)         Wilton Park & Hawick Tennis Club (to follow)

c)         Escape Youth Project (to follow)

d)         Hawick Reivers Festival (to follow)

e)         Hawick Rugby (to follow)

3.1         Duncan Taylor, Community Fund Pot B panellist, presented recommendations for applications to the Community Fund Pot B.

(a)          Survivors Unite
Survivors Unite was a Borders-wide organisation for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.  An application was received for £5,000 to fund administration salary costs.  The panel recommended that the applicants approach Community Funds of other Area Partnerships due to their being a Borders-wide organisation.

DECISION
AGREED to:

(i)        award Survivors Unite a grant of £5,000 for administration salary costs; and,

(ii)       recommend the applicant explored other funding sources including the Community Funds of other Area Partnerships in the Borders.

(b)          Wilton Park and Hawick Tennis Club
The Community Fund Pot B panel recommended to award £4,000 to Wilton Park and Hawick Tennis Club to fund Summer of Tennis taster session for community groups of varying ages and disabilities.  The Locality Development Coordinator clarified that the applicant was applying for funding from other sources for 2 separate projects, including making up the difference for the total cost of this project, and that did not conflict with the project submitted to the Community Fund.

DECISION
AGREED to award Wilton Park and Hawick Tennis Club a grant of £4,000.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

Councillor Ramage declared an interest in the following item of business in terms of Section 5 of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct and left the Meeting during the discussion.

(c)          Escape Youth Project
An application from Escape Youth Project was received for a games hall upgrade.  The Panel requested that further quotes for the games hall works be sought. It was noted that 2 elements of work were due to be carried out with the first element able to be carried out by local contractors, but the second element requiring quite specialised input.

DECISION
AGREED to award Escape Youth Project a grant of £4,990.36, subject to the following condition:

(i)        The applicant obtained further quotes for the games hall work in respect of the first element of the work involved.

MEMBER

Councillor Ramage re-joined the Meeting.

(d)          Hawick Reivers Festival
The Community Fund Pot B panel recommended to award a grant of £5,000 to Hawick Reivers Festival for the delivery of the Hawick Reivers Festival.  In response to a question about the possibility of funding for the Reivers Festival from the Council’s wider Festivals Grant budget, the Clerk to the Council advised that this was currently fully committed and it would be a matter for SBC Elected Members to increase that budget at the Council meeting in February 2022 when the budget for 2022/23 was agreed.

DECISION
AGREED to award Hawick Reivers Festival a grant of £5,000.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

Councillor McAteer declared an interest in the following item of business in terms of Section 5 of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct and left the Meeting during consideration of the following application.

(e)          Hawick Rugby Football Club
The applicant submitted a request for a grant to fund coaching equipment, an e-sign and a mascot outfit.  In response to questions from attendants,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Copies of the balance of funding available in Pot A (£18,970.48) and Pot B (£709.60) had been circulated.  The Locality Development Co-ordinator advised that a review was needed at this time in the financial year and consideration given to whether the funding in Pot A would be spent by the end of the financial year.  Mrs Elborn advised attendees that there were a number of local challenges currently being experienced due to recent weather events, and suggested that a fast track process be established for the Community Fund Pot A to meet urgent, local resilience matters.  The Locality Development Coordinator advised that a fast track process would require panel members to be available at short notice and for the Communities and Partnerships Team to score applications.

DECISION
AGREED to establish a fast track procedure to Community Fund Pot A for the purposes of funding urgent, local resilience matters.

MEMBERS

Councillor Ramage left the meeting during consideration of the above item of business, and Councillor McAteer re-joined the meeting.

Philip Kerr advised the Meeting of the local impact of Storm Arwen in Southdean and the actions they had undertaken to resolve infrastructure disruptions.  Mr Kerr had been in contact with Openreach and Scottish Power Energy Network to address local disruptions to power and broadband.  Barbara Elborn of Newcastleton Community Council updated the Meeting of disruptions caused by fallen trees.  There was further discussion on the potential issues of moving IT connections to digital, “not spots” for mobile signals, and the impact of moving to heat pumps and electric cars which required power sources which could be knocked out in extreme weather events.

DECISION

NOTED the update.