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MINUTES OF COMMUNITY REGENERATION FUNDING INFORMATION MEETING HELD ON 4TH MAY 2006 IN MERKINCH COMMUNITY CENTRE COMMENCING AT 5:30PM

PRESENT:

Peter Corbett, Ross MacGillivray, Alistair Locke, Colin Downie, Anne Sutherland, Jamie McJimpsey, Bob MacKinnon, Graham Strachan, Catherine MacNeil, Dell McClurg, Anne McCreadie, Clair Pieraccini and Ian Clyne.

APOLOGIES: Fiona Robb and Olga Silcock

• Welcome and Apologies
   
  
• Introduction to Community Regeneration Funding

  The Merkinch proposal of spend has been approved by Resources Committee and has been referred back to Communities Scotland.

  The Merkinch Community Plan has been circulated to community groups and agencies. J McJimpsey and A Sutherland are working on a summary of the Plan, which will be circulated to the wider community in the form of a leaflet. The Plan will be the basis for the allocation and spend of CRF in Merkinch.

  There will be certain requirements from Communities Scotland regarding paperwork. All CRF areas in Highland will need to work together to meet the Monitoring requirements. CRF application templates were circulated.

• Project Updates Merkinch Community Centre - Gym Hall Development.

  The funding for this project has been approved - the Community Centre will contact the LEC and City Partnership to request letters of offer of funding. The Common Good Fund has allocated £15,000 to the project and has also agreed to cover any shortfall.

  Recruitment will start shortly for the 12 hours Centre co-ordinator's post and the Community Centre is applying for funding for a part-time Development Officer's post. It was agreed that the project could approach the Partnership for financial assistance with this post - a job description would have to be included in any application to the Partnership.

  South Kessock Environmental Co.

  Initial architect's sketches for the Waterfront Centre will be presented to the directors at a meeting to be held on 5th May.

  Arts In Merkinch

  The 2006 Arts Festival programme is in place, awaiting finalisation.

  Highland 2007 funding for the festival has been approved.

  The Reminiscence Project will focus on inter-generational work.

  Merkinch Enterprise

  Further discussion will be required regarding the relationship between the Project Officer's post and Merkinch Partnership.

  R.E.A.L. - Inverness High School

  I Clyne handed out copies of the most recent newsletter.

  The project has various elements - educational visits, mentoring, leadership and training.

  The fact that only 50% of the total school role resided in the Merkinch area was highlighted.

• Application Process

  The application form itself is relatively straightforward, further information e.g. Business Plans can be attached if necessary.

  The following points were highlighted:

  • Projects receiving funding will need to fulfil the CRF criteria
  • One-off projects will not require evidence of sustainability
  • Groups should consider if they can contribute financially to their own projects
  • Letters of offer/confirmation of funding should be included in the application - a template of offer for CRF will be drawn up
  • Projects/groups should have Equal Opportunities, Environmental and Health & Safety policies in place or in process of being developed ; any available policies should be enclosed with applications
  • Applications can be submitted with further information to follow
  • CRF funding for existing projects has been approved and these groups can now begin the application process
  • Before funding is released groups must show that they can deliver projects effectively and safely.
  • Application forms will be available on-line, possibly on the Community website
  • The 4 groups represented at the meeting agreed to complete the application forms by 24th May and present them to the Partnership at a meeting to be held on Tuesday 30th May at 1:00pm in Merkinch Community Centre.
  • A Sutherland can assist groups with application forms if required.

  It was agreed that the Partnership will consider new applications for funding once the allocated groups have gone through the funding process.

  The role of the Partnership in the application process was discussed and it was agreed that completed application forms will be forwarded to A Sutherland, P Corbett and G Strachan - the original signed copies will be held by G Strachan.

• Reporting/Monitoring requirements

  B Mackinnon handed out copies of the document "Outcomes and Outputs-Merkinch CRF" and confirmed that a Regeneration Outcome Agreement is in the process of being finalised with Communities Scotland. He clarified the 2 terms:

  Outcome - what is achieved
  Output - how it is achieved

  It was confirmed that some CRF spend in Merkinch will be for capital costs and therefore not recurring and that there was still an amount of CRF unallocated.

  Timescales will be an important part of the application and delivery process for projects as Communities Scotland need to be aware of any unspent funding.

  Groups will produce reports which will then be presented to the Partnership, probably on a quarterly basis. This will allow the Partnership to keep track of progress and highlight any potential problems, delays, etc.

  B MacKinnon handed out copies of the "Project Summary" document.

• A.O.B

  Community Voices funding can be accessed by community groups for educational visits, capacity building, IT training, etc. £5,000 has been allocated to the Merkinch area.

• Date and Time of next meeting

  Completed CRF application forms will be presented to the Partnership on Tuesday 30th May at 1:00pm in Merkinch Community Centre.

This project is being part-financed by the European Union under the Inverness and Nairn CED programme.