Agenda item - Environmental Improvement Budget

48.1    Hilary Edgar introduced the report, which had been discussed at the Housing and          New Homes Committee and had been well received by members. She confirmed that Ododo Dafe had been given further feedback from residents and that this would be included in a report to the Housing & New Homes Committee in January 2019.

48.2    Hilary Edgar stated that the EDB Budget would continue to exist and would remain separate from this budget.

48.3    Alan Cooke stated that he was unsure when applying for grants, whether to contact the EDB or those involved with this new Environmental Budget.  Hilary Edgar answered that the details of how the  Environmental Budget would be allocated were being worked out and that there would be more information in January 2019. 

48.4    Janet Gearing stated that in the past, fencing had been the only area that Woodingdean residents had been able to apply for EDB funding for she was concerned that this may also apply to this Environmental Improvement Budget.  Hilary Edgar stated that Simon Bannister and Matt Easteal had a great deal of experience of             working with residents in the past on bids and the Chair stated that it would be         worthwhile inviting them to a future residents meeting.

48.5    Alan Cooke stated that there was a problem with funding for verges, since residents had been unable to get funding for this area in the past, since they had been told that verges were not a part of Housing land.  Janet Gearing also stated that in the past, residents had requested grasscrete for certain areas and had also been told it was not       Housing land, and that this was a particular problem for the Woodingdean area, since they had no communal areas and therefore had not been able to apply for EDB grants.   Justine Harris stated that this Budget was created to sort out problems like this and try to resolve them.

48.6    Hilary Edgar stated that Simon Bannister worked across different kinds of land and therefore he was a very useful source of help for residents on these issues.  The Chair confirmed that within blocks of flats it could be difficult to find areas which qualified for funding but that Simon Bannister and Matt Easteal had already worked with residents on gates at Robert Lodge and on planters in Whitehawk and both had really persevered and worked hard to get projects finished and could assist residents in this area.

48.7    Janet Gearing stated that there had also been problems previously with light improvements being judged as too expensive.  Glyn Huelin confirmed that there was some flexibility this area and that Janet Gearing should contact Simon Bannister to assist with future bids. 

48.8    RESOLVED – That the Panel agreed to note the report.