This report seeks approval of the five decision making panels made up of Elected Members from each of the sub-areas convened in January to consider the Making a Difference applications and to assess their merit against the grant criteria (Annex A of the report).  Key decisions for both grant programmes have been documented and a final set of recommended applications is presented at Annex C of the report.

In approving the recommendations, Cabinet will approve the grant allocations proposed in Appendix C of the report and the carry forward of 7 grants from 2021/22 into 2022/23 as proposed in paragraph 4.1 of the report.

The subject of the decision:

This report sought approval of the five decision making panels made up of Elected Members from each of the sub-areas convened in January 2022 to consider the Making a Difference applications and the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and the Director of Leisure and Communities convened in February to consider the Bounce Back fund applications and to assess their merit against the grant criteria.  Key decisions for both grant programmes had been documented and a final set of recommended applications was presented at Annex C of the report.

Alternative options considered:

None.

The reason for the decision:

Cabinet was satisfied that approval of the applications for both grant programmes would contribute to the economic recovery of the market towns.

The decision:

That Cabinet approves:-

(1)    the grant allocations proposed in Appendix C of the report; and

(2)    the carry forward of 7 grants from 2021/22 into 2022/23 as proposed in paragraph 4.1 of the report.