Members were reminded that the Brentwood Community Fund was set up to give Brentwood’s communities the opportunity to provide local initiatives to improve the quality of life for local people living in the borough. The fund had £50,300 available in total in the current financial year, and grants of up £3,500 were available for applicants, the application period having lasted from 1 April until 1 September 2014. A total of 24 applications were received requesting a total of £60,778.65 of funding.

Appendices to the report informed Members of the application process, the scoring system and officer’s recommendations as to how the funding should be awarded.  If Members approved officer’s recommendations, there would remain a balance of £8055.35 which it was proposed should be divided equally between all Members’ Ward Budgets.

Cllr Chilvers MOVED and Cllr Parker SECONDED an amendment to the recommendation and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that:

1.   Members agree to fund from the Community Fund those projects highlighted in green as outlined in Appendix B to the Agenda.

2.  Any unspent budget from the Community Fund is allocated to the ward budget allocation for 2014/15 and be equally split between all Councillors.

3.    Feedback to be given to all applicants.

(Cllr Barrett declared a non-pecuniary interest since a family member was involved with the Scout movement; Cllr Carter declared a non-pecuniary interest since he was involved with Brentwood Fairtrade; Cllr Reed declared a non-pecuniary interest due to being a Trustee of Brentwood Leisure Trust and left the Chamber, taking no part in the discussion on this item).