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Policy for Council community properties, rent subsidy and rate relief for the voluntary and community sector

Meeting: 20/01/2020 - Cabinet (Item 10)

10 Policy for Council community properties, rent subsidy and rate relief for the voluntary and community sector pdf icon PDF 502 KB

Officer: Jacqueline Harris Baker

Key decision: yes

Additional documents:

Decision:

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

 

RESOLVED: To

 

1.    Adopt the policy for the allocation of council community properties to voluntary and community organisations and groups providing rent subsidy and discretionary rate relief set out at Appendix 3 of the report.

 

2.    Agree that the provisions for the allocation of council community properties to voluntary and community organisations and groups is implemented from 1 April 2020.

 

3.    Adopt the framework for setting market rents in council community properties to be effective from 1 April 2021.

 

4.    Agree that the provisions for allocating rent subsidy to eligible voluntary and community organisations and groups renting community properties owned or leased by the Council are implemented from 1 April 2021.

 

5.    Agree that the provisions for allocating discretionary relief from national non-domestic rates to voluntary and community organisations and groups are implemented from 1 April 2021.

 

6.    Delegate authority to the Director of Policy and Partnership in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Safer Croydon & Communities to make the administrative preparations required to implement the policy adopted under resolution 1.

 

7.    Note the proposal to review this policy in 2023.

 

Minutes:

It was noted by the Cabinet Member for Safer Croydon & Communities that, as with the Community Fund, there was significant investment in the community sector in the borough in comparison to other local authorities. However, whilst the council invested in the community sector it was recognised that only a fraction of organisations received this support as the sector was so large in the borough.

 

Members were informed that the current agreements were historical and had no strong rationale for being in place, and so to support strong governance and to provide a rationale for the decisions being made in terms of allocating properties and subsidies the policy had been developed. The Policy was included within the Voluntary and Community Sector Strategy which had been approved by Cabinet at a previous meeting, additionally the council had been requested to develop such a policy to provide more transparency on the matter.

 

One of the key principles of the policy, the Cabinet Member stated, was to ensure that there was funding and support where the greatest impact would take place. The community sector had been consulted on the policy and it was in the Cabinet Member’s opinion an example of engaging well with the sector as not only current beneficiaries were consulted but the whole sector, and was a good example of the council listening to the sector’s request for such transparency.

 

In terms of the implementation of the policy, Members were informed that the council would seek to implement it from the next financial year so as to give organisations plenty of notice to apply and organise themselves in response to the outcome of their application.

 

Officers were thanked for their work in developing the policy by the Cabinet Member.

 

In response to concerns raised, the Cabinet Member stated that buildings used by faith groups were already exempt from business rates and that the rationale for not including organisations which exclusively undertook faith activities was due to concerns that the council would be funding an organisation which was not accessible to all residents.  

 

The Cabinet Member reiterated that she felt that consultation had been good and that while concerns were raised that only 6.3% of the community sector had responded to the consultation the council was responding to the sector’s request and was providing greater transparency and ensuring greater fairness in terms of allocation.

 

By not implementing the policy until the next financial year it was hoped that organisations would have an opportunity to plan their budgets, however it was noted that the policy would provide greater access to support as a number of organisations were not aware of the support available.

 

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

 

RESOLVED: To

 

1.    Adopt the policy for the allocation of council community properties to voluntary and community organisations and groups providing rent subsidy and discretionary rate relief set out at Appendix 3 of the report.

 

2.    Agree that the provisions for the allocation of council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10