Appendix Two / Current structure

Permanent groups                                                            Service improvement groups

Task and Finish Group                                                                       Sub Groups                       

Appendix Two - Proposed Structure

Equalities / Identity Groups                                                     Service improvement groups

Interest Groups

Task and Finish Groups                                                                     Sub Groups                

Appendix 3 - EDB Tables

Recommendations from 2018 EDB review

To be introduced in time for the 2020/21 EDB Programme
1	Improve the information and guidelines for residents making EDB bids, including information from Neighbourhood Action Plans and the new process for progressing with environmental improvements.
2	Offer applicants who want to know more about EDB and how to make bids appointments with officers.
3	Set up a separate EDB budget from the citywide allocation for Seniors’ housing; to be trialled for one year.
4	Decisions on Seniors’ bids to be made by the Sheltered Housing Action Group.
5	Bids for fencing to be restricted to communal areas.
6	Carry out a review of new fencing installations and repairs.
7	Introduce an improved online EDB application form.
8	Aim to increase the number of decision points in the EDB cycle for main bids, to at least two a year.
9	Increase the maximum value of quick bids from £750 to £1,000.
10	Reduce the number of EDB Panel meetings from 10 to 6 per year.
11	Performance on the EDB programme to be reported twice yearly, including an end of year report.
12	Improve communications between the council and applicants at each stage of the EDB cycle.
Requiring further work
13	Consider setting up a ‘community chest’ for community wellbeing projects funded from the grants to residents’ associations’ budget as it is regularly underspent.
14	Review maximum value of bids, for anticipated reduction of funding in 2021/22.
15	Review the decision making body for EDB bids.
16	Review how EDB funding is split between areas and/or property types.

Table One: Implemented changes to the EDB program

1.	Improve the information and guidelines for residents making EDB bids, including information from Neighbourhood Action Plans.	An applicant guide has been produced which outlines what can and cannot currently be funded through EDB, with examples of each type of bid under each criterion. A new bid evaluation criteria has been produced (available in the appendixes), which the EDB panel refer to when voting on bids. This will be available for bidder’s reference when completing applications. Bids for projects which benefit council residents on land owned by other parts of the council are considered for EDB funding, providing they have permission from the relevant directorate. Four Neighbourhood Action Plans (NAPs) have been published (East Brighton, Hangleton and Knoll, Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, and Portslade). Where appropriate, information from Neighbourhood Actions Plans will be used to inform residents when designing EDB projects, and will be taken into consideration when deciding upon EDB bids.
2.	Offer applicants who want to know more about EDB and how to make bids appointments with officers.	Residents can have appointments in person or over the phone with their local Community Engagement Officer (CEO) or the EDB Assistant to discuss EDB generally, to receive information on how to make bids, and to find out information on local community groups/associations which can offer further support in their application.
3. 1	Set up a separate EDB budget from the citywide allocation for Seniors’ housing, to be trialled for one year.	EDB panel review meeting in March 2020, it was agreed that EDB would not be split between citywide and Seniors’ Housing for the following reasons: A new clear process and criteria for bidding and evaluating bids has been developed and all bidding needs to remain in line with this for equity. The budget split for Seniors’ Housing based on the proportion of properties would be £26,500 per annum (8% of £320,000). This would limit the number of main bids to two per year for Seniors’ Housing city-wide. The issue of age being a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 was considered at our last meeting, and questions raised as to the extent to which if Seniors’ receive a separately controlled part of the budget, then why would this not be available to other protected groups across the city. It was also raised that people with protected characteristic may have greater needs than others, so to split the budget by population data did not seem a sophisticated method.
3. 2	Decisions on Seniors’ bids to be made by the Sheltered Housing Action Group.
4.	Bids for fencing to be restricted to communal areas.	This has been implemented. Individuals in need of fencing need to contact Housing Customer Services and will be advised on a case-by-case basis.
5.	Introduce an improved online EDB application form.	An online application form was introduced in June 2019, however, the application form had several issues. Most notably, the questions on the online application form did not require bidders: to outline how their bid will improve the quality of life of council tenants; to detail thoroughly how they have consulted with other residents; or to consider how they will evaluate success of their project. This meant that many of the applications did not appropriately meet key social value and evaluation criteria, which was highlighted as a crucial element in the EDB Audit 2017-2018. It was also requested that residents can use the form as a ’work in progress’ as they complete different stages of the application. However, this was not an available feature which led to some confusion and frustration. Therefore, the online application has been closed until the questions can be changed to adequately reflect the social value criteria.
	Defining the clear differences between spend from the Environmental Improvement Budget (EIB) and the EDB.	The two funds are complimentary we have implemented a process to link any unsuccessful EDB bids to be passed to EIB if appropriate. To also look at funding separate parts of a single project using both funds to provide both capital and revenue. We will be producing communications to promote both funds and how to use them either separately or jointly.
6.	Review the value of main bids. Increase the maximum value of quick bids from £750 to £1000.	As the amount of money available for EDB has not significantly reduced, the main bid maximum value will remain at £10K. The maximum value of quick bids has been raised to, and remains at, £1,000 per bid.
7.	Reduce the number of EDB Panel meetings from 10 to 6 per year.	This has been implemented. The panel now meets on the last Wednesday of May, July, September, November, January, and March.
8.	Improve communications between the council and applicants at each stage of the EDB cycle.	Bidders are now notified and acknowledged when their application is received, they are informed on the outcome of their bids, and they are given a follow-up on reasons for the outcome of their bid by the Community Engagement Team.
9.	Decision making – how are bids decided upon?	The review group felt that the way of deciding on EDB bids encouraged ‘Eurovision Syndrome’ where residents voted for bids based on familiarity rather than the quality of bids. Community Engagement Team have now introduced an evaluation framework that the EDB panel, and those who attend the end of year EDB Area Panel, will use to judge bids. This will help to mitigate the possibility of residents voting on bids due to familiarity with the bidder, it will offer a ‘paper-trail’ of how decisions were made, and will act as further guidance for bidders when completing their application.
10.	Evaluation of EDB	From April 2021, an end of financial year report will be produced. This will involve all stakeholders of the year’s program and will include: the number of bids, what was funded, impact, and changes needed to the guidelines for the following financial year. This evaluation will also include qualitative information on how residents have measured the social value of their projects.

Changes requiring implementation 

3.1 There were further changes discussed during the EDB review that have yet to be made.

1.	Changes to capital only EDB projects	EDB funding is not restricted to capital work. Allow for revenue projects, to be funded from EDB.
4.	Review the decision-making body for EDB	Further work is needed to develop methods of widening the decision-making processes of EDB. It is proposed that the EDB panel with co-opted reps from the current task and finish group continue to work on options that form part of wider consultation e.g. through Homing-In and the Council’s online consultation portal to move towards a wider ‘participatory budgeting’ style voting system, to be approved by Housing Committee before implementation.

Table 3: Changes to the use of funds which require Area panel approval

1.	A clear definition between an ‘improvement’ and ‘repair/redecoration’	The EDB stipulates that the fund is to be used for an ‘improvement’ to estates. Area Panel we define the definition between a repair, maintenance and an improvement to elevate the current confusion.
2.	Review how EDB funding is split between areas and/or property types	The annual EDB fund is split between the 4 areas according to the number of properties in each area. This does not take into account the amount of common land, property types, the need for improvements, and historic spend. The EDB panel, with the current task and finish group need to continue to work of options for the funding split, which will be reviewed and approved by Area Panel.
3.	Increase the number of bid cycles	The review group have advised that the long timescale between a bid being approved, and the project delivery has led to a loss of faith in the council. To mitigate this, the main bid cycle should be increased to two per year (with the main bid funding for the financial year being split into two rounds). The deadlines for applications would be January to be voted on in April, and July to be voted on in October. There was a significant underspend in the West and North areas on main bids for the financial year 20/21 and having a second bidding round in October 2020 to spend the remaining funds would be beneficial as a ‘test-run’.
4.	Ongoing costs	The current EDB guidelines stipulate that an EDB bid cannot incur ongoing costs. However, this creates limitations to certain projects, such as the installation of Wi-Fi in community rooms. A review of this would allow groups to bid for an amount of money which could be split over a period of time in order to facilitate a broader range of projects.
5.	Evaluation process	Work needs to be done on reinstating the ‘Resident Inspectors’ programme to tie in with the end of year evaluation report, reviewing the delivery of some projects and meeting with residents who have engaged with the EDB process. This needs to be designed by the EDB panel, with the current task and finish group, and reviewed and approved by Area Panel.

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