Members considered the report of the Director – Place and Climate Change that confirmed that the Council had been successful in obtaining grant funding of £76,173.50 from the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) via the Coronation Living Heritage Fund (CLHF).  The CLHF was to enable more trees to be planted in non-woodland locations and close to where people lived, providing a visible and lasting tribute to the King’s Coronation within local communities.

The CLHF was split into two lots, Lot 1 offered capital grants to local authorities for the planting of Micro Woods and subsequent establishment costs for up to three years; Lot 2 was an onward grant scheme, enabling local authorities to provide capital grants to community groups to create Community Orchards.  

The Council had been awarded £27,149 from Lot 1 to plant three Micro Woods, within the eligible locations within the district, namely Battle, Bexhill and Rye and £49,024.50 of funding from Lot 2 for Community Orchard grants.   It was hoped that suitable training would also be provided to those groups maintaining the Community Orchards to ensure that the orchards were pruned to fruiting standard.

Cabinet approval was sought to accept the funding to deliver the three Micro Woods projects and the Community Orchard scheme in line with the CLHF requirements.  Neither scheme required additional capital investment by the Council over and above the DEFRA grant awards; any unused capital funds from the awards were to be returned to DEFRA.

Members were delighted to recommend that the grants be included within the Capital Programme which would support the Council’s commitment to protecting and enhancing the biodiversity of the District, a priority of the Environment Strategy.  

RECOMMENDED: That the Micro Woods projects and Community Orchard Grants be included in the Council’s Capital Programme with budgets of £27,149 and £49,024.50 respectively.

AND

*RESOLVED: That:

1)     the Director – Place and Climate Change be authorised to accept the Coronation Living Heritage Fund grants totalling £76,173.50 from DEFRA, for the purposes of delivering the above schemes; and

2)     the Director – Place and Climate Change be granted delegated authority to procure goods and contracts as necessary for the completion of the Micro Woods projects, and to award Grants as appropriate to deliver the Community Orchard Grants scheme, in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Holder Environmental and Climate Change issues.

*The RESOLVED parts of this Minute are subject to the call-in procedure under Rule 16 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules.