Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Meeting of the Berwickshire Area Partnership.  The meeting was held via Microsoft Teams and the Chairman outlined how the meeting would be conducted and how those both in the meeting and watching via the Live Stream could take part.

Consider Minute of the Meeting held on 27 January 2022, and meeting evaluation and SBC asset availability.  (Copy attached.)

Copies of the Minute of the Meeting held on 27 January had been circulated.

DECISION

AGREED to approve the Minute for signature by the Chairman.

-        Working Group update

-        Terms of Reference for approval.  (Copy attached.)

(a)       Terms of Reference for approval
With reference to paragraph 5 of the Minute of 27 January 2022, there had been circulated copies of the proposed Terms of Reference of the Berwickshire Place Making Working Group.  The objectives of the Working Group were to consider the principles of place planning and to develop an operational framework for oversight of activities in Berwickshire and to make recommendations to the Berwickshire Area Partnership as appropriate.  Mr Dickinson presented the proposal and advised that the terms of reference covered the objectives, membership and scope of discussions.  Members agreed the terms of reference.

DECISION

AGREED to approve the terms of reference for the Berwickshire Place Making Working Group.

(b)       Working Group update
Ms Sweeney presented the working group update in place of James Lamb.  Ms Sweeney had been working in position for three months and had been immersed in Place Making during that time.  The delivery of Place Making workshops was part of the remit of Ms Sweeney.  Place Making workshops were to be facilitated by Planning Advice Scotland and invitations were ready to be sent for people to join.  A QR code would be available for people to scan and receive updates in the work of Place Making.  Ideas were being explored to engage young people in the Place Making process including use of the game Minecraft and photography competitions.  Mr Tait suggested that youth learner workers in Eyemouth High School may help in engaging young people and that Ms Sweeney may attend their community partnership meetings.  Councillor Rowley gave an example of a project where young people took control of the launch of a project so that the language and tone was in a manner relevant to them.  Ms Sweeney explained that the project aimed to connect young people in different areas cognisant of the large area that the project would cover.  The project aimed to streamline different work covered by Scottish Borders Council with partners covering areas such as land use, work, natural capital and funding streams.  Ms Sweeney advised that young families tended to be time poor instead of not wanting to be engaged in projects such as Place Making and that engagement opportunities could be achieved through bulletins or a web page interface alongside opportunities such as watching a video stream.

DECISION

NOTED the update.

Local Development Co-ordinator, Ms Jardine, presented the item and summarised work that had taken place in Scottish Borders Council that addressed equalities and diversity.  The issue had been added to the agenda following feedback received from the January meeting of the Community Assistance Hub where concerns were raised by community partners on social welfare of some Berwickshire residents.  It was acknowledged that issues that had arisen from the Covid-19 pandemic had a disproportionate impact on some communities.  It was highlighted that there was an opportunity to address the representativeness of Area Partnership meetings with the beginning of the Place Making discussions.  The Scottish Borders Council director-led Equalities and Diversity Forum had been re-established.  As part of the forum, staff were assessing service delivery.  Scottish Borders Council had eleven equality and diversity outcomes and a commitment for the Communities and Partnership team to report on progress on activities.  Three outcomes were highlighted that were Scottish Borders Council services meeting the needs of, and being accessible to, all members of the community; everyone having the opportunity to participate in public life and the democratic process; and working with other agencies and partners to ensure there were fewer people living in poverty.  In the Scottish Borders Council Plan for 2022-23, a priority outcome was for Scottish Borders Council to ensure the Council was effective, sustainable, responsive and aligned to the needs and priorities of communities.  Ms Jardine highlighted the work of Berwickshire Association for Voluntary Service (Bavs) which had an open-door approach for community drop-in sessions throughout Berwickshire for people to discuss issues they were having.  There were opportunities for Scottish Borders Council to work with Bavs to feed issues to the Berwickshire Area Partnership to address issues in communities.  Ms Jardine advised that she would circulate information on an upcoming equality and diversity training day following the meeting.  Other areas of work highlighted by Ms Jardine were to look at alternative way of engaging people beyond those that attend the Area Partnership and profiling funding going to communities.

DECISION

NOTED the update.

With reference to paragraph 9 of the Minute of 27 January 2022, CLDS Youth Service Work Team Leader, Mr Tait, presented an update on issues discussed at the Community Assistance Hub.  Recent issues raised included people struggling for food and the cost of living (Bavs had considered holding an open meeting to form a plan for food security and fuel poverty); the cost of compliance with new fire safety system regulations for housing; and Eyemouth Gateway to Good Health which had a lot of community members participate in various activities including orienteering, parkrun and outdoor cooking.  Mr Paterson of Berwickshire Housing Association highlighted the issue of fuel poverty noting that people would soon feel the effects of rising prices.  Mr Paterson informed attendees that much of Housing Association stock was older buildings that did not make the installation of community heating viable and that Place Making discussions may need to look at a sustainable route map to tackle fuel poverty.  Ms Jardine advised that £100,000 was received from the financial inclusion fund with £60,000 going to Citizens’ Advice Bureau and £40,000 to have gone to a support fund.

DECISION

NOTED the update.

An overview of community funding available in Berwickshire.  (Copy attached).

The Locality Development Coordinator, Ms Jardine presented the funding table for grant funds available in Berwickshire.  Ms Jardine advised that the Build Back a Better Borders Recovery Fund had four applications tabled at the meeting, which would oversubscribe the fund by £1,500.  Eighteen applications had been assessed by the Berwickshire Community Fund panel which totalled £74,000 and would oversubscribe the fund by £35,000.  Ms Jardine highlighted that £7,000 was available in the welfare grant which may be awarded before the financial year end.

DECISION

NOTED the update.

Papers to follow.

7.1       There had been circulated copies of the recommendations of the Berwickshire Community Fund Assessment Panel that outlined the Panel’s review of applications submitted to the Fund.  The Funding Panel had held its third meeting on 17 February 2022 to review eighteen funding applications which totalled £75,000 with under £40,000 available within the Fund.  The paper outlined the process the Panel undertook and the Panel members.  The paper presented a summary of recommendations for organisations to be awarded funding and for changes to the guidance and notes and application forms for future cycles of the Community Fund.

7.2       Mr Dickinson, Chair of the Assessment Panel, presented the report and explained that the Panel wanted to demonstrate that the process had been fair, rigorous and consistent.  Seven attendees of the Berwickshire Area Partnership were members of the Panel.  Applications were initially blind marked individually by panel members and then submitted to the Locality Development Coordinator and the Community Engagement Officer.  This process showed that there were consistent differences amongst the markers between applications though the scores were between each panellist.  Discussion in the Panel meeting focussed on the applicants that were scored between the highest and lowest markers.  All awards were agreed by consensus and endorsed by all panellists.  Elected Members of Scottish Borders Council were in attendance and participated in discussions but did not take part in final decisions on recommendations.

7.3       Mr Dickinson highlighted the Panel’s request for consent to make changes to the guidance notes and application forms.  Panellists felt that many applications need not have been as long as they were.  One applicant had submitted an application 150 pages long.  The Panel felt that a new starting question should be added for a 50-word summary of what the project would achieve and how much it would cost.  The Panel also felt that the questions should be more closely matched to the funding criteria.  Mr Dickinson stressed that the Panel was not suggesting changes to the funding criteria.

7.4       The applications to the Community Fund were considered:

7.5       Mr Dickinson summarised the decisions made by the Assessment Panel which attendees discussed.  The Locality Development Coordinator explained that the two Horse Time applications were accepted with the caveat that the Resilience Workshop would be funded after receiving an evaluation of phase one of the Individual Therapy project.

7.6       The Assessment Panel’s recommendations, which were detailed in Appendix 2 to the report, were as follows:

(a)       Berwickshire Youth Piping
It was agreed to recommend that Berwickshire Area Partnership award a grant of £5,000.

(b)       Berwickshire  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Consider the following BBBB applications for consideration:

(a)       Eat Sleep Ride

(b)       Volunteer Centre Borders

(c)       Duns Tennis Club

(d)       Chirnside United Football Club

(e)       Eyemouth and District Community Trust

Photos of BBBB funded projects: BBBB Fund Awards 2021/22 | Flickr

8.1       Copies of the summary of applications to the Build Back a Better Borders Recovery Fund had been circulated which outlined the grant applications and value of each project.  The Locality Development Coordinator explained that the total of each grant application made the Fund oversubscribed by £1,500.  The Chair welcomed Danielle Mckinnon (Eat Sleep Ride), Cath Booker (Duns Tennis Club), Duncan Morrison and Gavin Yuill (Chirnside United Football Club) and Susie Hopewell (Eyemouth and District Community Trust) to the meeting.

8.2       The Community Engagement Officer, Mr Purves, presented the summary of applications received.

(a)       Eat Sleep Ride
An application had been received for £15,000 to help cover the costs of running two new projects focusing on health and wellbeing, social isolation and the environment to support people in their recovery from the pandemic.  Weekly group sessions, of 10 hours per week over a 6 month period, would be delivered in a workshop format engaging with 25 young people; and one-to-one sessions would be delivered over an 8 week block with 15 primary school aged children and 6 young people.  The funding would be used for project costs including staffing, workshop facilitator fees, venue hire, horse hire and equipment.  The application was assessed as medium, noting that Eat Sleep Ride aimed to work with young people and families, from disadvantaged communities who were in need of support and who have been impacted negatively by the pandemic.  The Chairman asked Ms Mckinnon whether the project would accept a reduction of £1,506.60 in their application which was accepted by the applicant.

DECISION
AGREED to award Eat Sleep Ride the sum of £13,493.40, subject to the following conditions: 

(i)        Scottish Government coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance must be adhered to with a protocol for safe participation in the programme and use of resources developed;

(ii)       and all participants agreeing to adhere to this protocol.

(b)     Duns Tennis Club
An application had been received for £3,000 to cover the cost of treating the Club’s three all-weather courts so that they remained safely playable.  Duns Tennis Club intended to improve the condition of the courts by treatment and repainting which would help maintain the courts until a proposed total resurfacing took place in 5 years’ time.  The application was assessed as medium noting that the Club would be able to organise ‘have a go’ sessions after the surface had been upgraded.

DECISION
AGREED to award Duns Tennis Club the sum of £3,000, subject to the following condition, thatthe applicant must follow Scottish Government Covid-19 guidance.

(c)     Chirnside United Football Club
An application had been received for £5,000 to obtain a Building Warrant in pursuit of their proposal to build a new pavilion for the football club to accommodate changing facilities, a social hall and new practice grounds.  The application was assessed as high noting that the funding of a Building Warrant would enable the project to then move on to the next step and apply to funders to start the build by the target date of November  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Next meeting: 9 June 2022, agenda issued 26 May 2022.

Are there any items you would like to propose for the agenda?

Please contact your local councillor or the Communities & Partnership Team.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Berwickshire Area Partnership was 9 June 2022 and the agenda would be issued on 26 May 2022.

Councillor Rowley gave thanks to the Chairman, Councillor Fullarton, for his chairmanship of the Berwickshire Area Partnership.

Attendees concluded the meeting with submission of meeting evaluations using the software Menti.