Agenda and minutes

Members of the Council should declare any interests which fall under the following categories:

a)   disclosable pecuniary interests (DPI);

b)   other significant interests (OSI);

c)   voluntary announcements of other interests.

There were no declarations of interest at the meeting.

To consider and approve, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 20 April 2023.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 April 2023 were submitted, approved and signed by the Leader.

This report sets out the performance, achievements and closure arrangements for the Folkestone Community Works CLLD programme which is due to end 30 June 2023.  The council has been the accountable body for this European-funded programme since 2017.

The report set out the performance, achievements and closure arrangements for the Folkestone Community Works Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) programme which will end 30 June 2023. The council has been the accountable body for this European-funded programme since 2017.

A member raised concerns that funding had been given to a dormant company. He advised on the response from officers, which is set out below:

Purpose of the SME Business Grant

In November 2020 an application for an SME business grant was received from the applicant during his receipt of 12 hours business support provided through Social Enterprise Kent’s Enterprising Opportunities project which was also supported through the FCW CLLD programme.

The company sought a capital equipment grant to purchase a ‘live demonstration’ cooking unit that would enable the company and small/micro hospitality/catering clients to deliver professional food demonstrations, educational content and cookery classes.  Other uses indicated that this would act as a central point of focus for pop-up restaurants, be a live kitchen for focus groups involved in recipe and concept creation and be a centrepiece for video and photography shoots suitable for digital content.  This was to be a fully portable kitchen unit that could be transported easily and safely for corporate events.

Due diligence on Application 

An assessment of the application was completed by the PMT assessor on 12 January 2021 and the recommendation was to approve the grant subject to satisfactory checks, which included, amongst other things, clarifying the relationship between the company and its holding company. There was concern that there might be a breach of the linked company rules for ERDF funding.

Subsequently the application was discussed at the Local Action Group (LAG) meeting on 20 January 2021 and it was agreed that for the LAG to make a recommendation for approval, the relationship between the company and holding company needed to be clarified and whether a dormant company with no trading activity (although with an Active status) was eligible for ERDF funding. Consequently, the LAG gave approval subject to the assessor’s recommendations being met and these points being clarified. 

In a subsequent conversation and email exchange with the ERDF contract manager in the Managing Authority, the Programme Manager raised questions about whether the relationship between the companies breached linked company rules, particularly because information on both was limited due to appearing dormant in relation to filing accounts, but nevertheless had ‘Active’ status.  An email received from the ERDF contract manager indicated that after liaising with the Greater South East Growth Delivery Team’s Compliance Team, their view was that there was no issue with eligibility.

Subsequently the company requested additional funding due to a cost increase to £8,850 for the equipment arising from a fall in the Pound: Euro exchange rate.  This increase was approved by the LAG through email exchanges.

The Local Decision Panel considered the LAG’s recommendation to approve the application at the meeting on 19th October 2021. The programme manager reported that the due diligence undertaken by the finance team suggested a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.