DECISION

1.     To agree the principles to be applied to leases to be issued to tenants in council-owned community buildings, set out in section 9 of the report;

2.     To agree that the basis for charging for these premises should be the open market rental value, for D1 use, subject to any recognition of community benefit;

3.     To note that a proposed methodology for assessing and quantifying said community benefit will be presented to the Mayor in Cabinet, in a further report, to be considered no later than May 2016; and

4.     To note that a property-by-property review of council-owned community buildings, as described in section 12.1, is taking place and the outcome of the review will also be presented to the Mayor in Cabinet.

Action by:

CORPORATE DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT AND RENEWAL (A. DALVI)

(Service Head, Corporate Property and Capital Delivery (A. Sutcliffe)

Councillor David Edgar, Cabinet Member for Resources, introduced the report. He highlighted the wide variety and condition of community buildings and the need to develop a fair and consistent charging policy that took account of the community benefits provided by many organisations using the buildings.

During discussion Cabinet Members noted a number of issues including that:

·         Many small groups may need support when applying through a more formal process.

·         It was important to distinguish between businesses and community groups operating in the same field.

Councillor David Edgar also noted that the areas of responsibility of many Cabinet Members (for example, children’s and adults’ services, faith groups and more) would be impacted and that he would look to work with all relevant Members to address issues of concern.

The Mayor welcomed the report as a way of providing clarity and certainty to organisations. He also noted that decisions should reference any grant giving to the same organisations.  He agreed the recommendations as set out in the report.

RESOLVED

1.     To agree the principles to be applied to leases to be issued to tenants in council-owned community buildings, set out in section 9 of the report;

2.     To agree that the basis for charging for these premises should be the open market rental value, for D1 use, subject to any recognition of community benefit;

3.     To note that a proposed methodology for assessing and quantifying said community benefit will be presented to the Mayor in Cabinet, in a further report, to be considered no later than May 2016; and

4.     To note that a property-by-property review of council-owned community buildings, as described in section 12.1, is taking place and the outcome of the review will also be presented to the Mayor in Cabinet.