Leisure, Arts And Communities Committee - 24/06/2002

At a SPECIAL MEETING of the NEIGHBOURHOOD RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 24th June 2002.

Present:-

COUNCILLORS

Councillor WRIGHT, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 10th June 2002 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I SOCIAL INCLUSION PARTNERSHIP - ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES 2002/2003

There was submitted Report No 550-2002 by the Director of Neighbourhood Resources and Development bringing forward proposals for the further allocation of Social Inclusion Partnership II revenue funding and awards from the Social Inclusion Partnership I and II Small Grants Fund.

The Committee approved the following recommendations:-

(a)to note the recommendations of the Dundee Partnership Community Regeneration Group in the further allocation of Social Inclusion Partnership II revenue funding for 2002/2003 as detailed in Section 6.0 and Appendix B of the report; and

(b)to agree the award of Social Inclusion Partnership I and II small grants as detailed in Appendices C and D of the report.

Councillor FitzPatrick declared an interest in this item and took no part in the discussion.

II DISCOVERY CREDIT UNION PROJECT

Reference was made to Article II of the minute of meeting of this Committee of 12th November 2001 when the Committee agreed to:-

(a) support the strategy for developing a city-wide Credit Union in Dundee;

(b) continue to resource credit union development in Dundee at its current level; and

(c)support the strategy for targeting external funding to meet the start-up/development cost over an initial three year period.

There was submitted Agenda Note AN135-2002 advising the Committee of further progress as follows:-

(a)pending registration, a decision had been taken to call the city-wide initiative the Discovery Credit Union Project;

(b)the Project Steering Group had adopted a constitution and elected office bearers and now existed as an independent voluntary organisation supported by Dundee City Council: the Steering Group were currently engaged in a training programme to meet the regulations laid down by the Financial Services Authority (FSA);

(c)a submission to establish Discovery Credit Union Limited with a "live or work in Dundee" common bond has been approved by the FSA and the Steering Group had since been invited to apply for registration; and

(d)the Steering Group had entered into negotiations with the Neighbourhood Resources and Development Department to establish city centre premises in the Wellgate Library and local collection points in neighbourhood centres and libraries across the City of Dundee.

A Social Inclusion Partnership award had been recommended by the Dundee Partnership to meet some of the start-up/development costs over the first three years. The Scottish Credit Union Partnership (SCUP) had awarded the project an additional 12,000 for city-wide Credit Union Development.

The Committee approved an extension to the twenty hours a week sessional contract for the part-time credit union research worker to the end of November 2002, by which time Discovery Credit Union Limited should be operational.

The Committee noted that the Director of Personnel and Management Services had been consulted on this proposal and was in agreement.

HELEN WRIGHT, Convener.