Agenda item

Report of the CGO

The Committee considered a report of the CGO explaining a current backlog in applications experienced by City Bridge Trust which was compromising the target turnaround time of up to four months. The CGO introduced the report, outlining what remedial actions had been taken and made recommendations for further steps to enable City Bridge Trust to revert to the target turnaround times.

The Committee noted that the recommendation relating to delegated authority was subject to approvals of the Chamberlain and Court of Common Council. In relation to recommendation (d), the CGO advised that there may be a request for an uplift in the City Bridge Trust grants budget to £25million a year from next year, which coincided with the City Bridge Trust’s 25^th anniversary year.

Members were generally supportive of the proposals, but were reluctant to support the request in recommendation (d) for an uplift in City Bridge Trust’s Local Risk budget against the backdrop of the wider Fundamental Review, although it was noted that this might apply differently to Bridge House Estates.

RESOLVED – That the City Bridge Trust Committee:

a)    Agree an increase the levels of delegated authority, as set out in paragraph 19 of the report, subject to the approval of the Chamberlain and the Court of Common Council;

b)    Agree to hold an additional two CBT Committee meetings for the approval of grant recommendations during 2019/20, in order to reduce waiting times for applicants whilst the backlog is cleared; with the first of these to follow from the Member’s Away half-day on 11^th October and the second, if needed, to be arranged at a later date.

c)    Agree that future strategic reviews should build in provisions to enable a smooth transition from one set of funding programmes to another; and

 e)   Agree to increase the target turnaround times for applications from 4 months to 6 months in the light of increased demand until such time as the backlog is cleared and we can confidently reduce this target time again.