LYME REGIS: Councillors have awarded the Hub a £10,000 grant for the next two years.

The news comes after a grant of £10,000 was made to The Hub in a drafting error after the service level agreement with the Lyme Regis Development Trust had already finished.

In the 2014/2015 budget, funding was approved for the Hub at £10,000 per year payable quarterly.

Three quarterly payments totalling £7,500 have already been paid.

And at last week’s strategy and policy committee meeting, councillors were asked to instigate the proposed new grant agreement for the Hub which would cover the years 2014/2015 and 2015/2016.

After the town council sought legal advice, it was ruled nothing illegal had taken place in the drafting error.

The solicitor advised that rather than put in place a retrospective extension of the previous agreement, it would be better for the council to set up a new arrangement that takes into consideration the £7,500 already paid to the Hub.

Cllr Michaela Ellis labelled the committee information given as a ‘slap dash’ report and said the town council could find itself in ‘huge problems’.

She added: “Someone at the Development Trust should have realised the error. If they wanted it granted they should have applied through the grants process.

“Either they didn’t want it or they didn’t need it.

“Are we going to give this money to every organisation that comes forward?”

However, Cllr Rikey Austin, left, said the Hub was an important asset for the young people of the community.

She added that it would be very easy to lay blame after the drafting error but the new agreement would be the right thing to do.

Cllr Terry O’Grady added to the support for the Hub, saying: “I propose we award the new grant agreement; we are quite a well off town council.”

Cllr Sally Holman said: “We need to see this out properly and see it through until the end of next year.

“I am in favour of the recommendation and will support it.”

Cllr George Symonds raised concerns that there was nothing included in the report on what the Hub will be spending the money on, and Cllr Anita Williams agreed, adding that the town council ‘could put money into an organisation that fails tomorrow’.

She added: “This is a considerable amount of money with no idea what it’s going to be spent on.

“I propose we continue this agreement for one year until April 2015 and by that time we should have in place a major grants process.”

Councillors voted to approve the report recommendation, which was due to be discussed at last night’s full council meeting.

 

  • THE council also received a letter from LRDT chairman Wendy Davies asking them to support the Hub until March, 2016. It said: “This support is greatly valued at many levels – the young people of Lyme appreciate their council doing something so effective.

“Your support has enabled us to raise the substantial funding from elsewhere which has so improved the facilities; and of course the money keeps us going on a daily basis.