County Councillors to give out £10k of grant each

Just when we thought grants were going out of fashion in favour of commissioning and SLA's it seems that each County Councillor is going to be able to award grants of £10k pa in their patch.

Extra money is always welcome, but it's maybe interesting that the primary purpose of the new scheme is to " to enhance the role of all members, particularly frontline members, in their local communities, by providing them with a budget to make grants for initiatives in their Division which will benefit the community. "

A similar scheme in Surrey uses 5.5 full time staff to administer the paperwork. HCC propose a "light touch" - and have allocated an extra £20k for administrative overheads. From our experience of dealing with  a few grants on behalf of the Councy Council, this seems very low. Potentially it's likely that there will be around 1,500 applications accross the County.

The full in and outs of the scheme and the criteria may be seen at

http://www.hants.gov.uk/decisions/decisions-docs/070521-cabine-R0517101224.html

The HCC Press Release is set out below.

Voluntary organisations and community groups are to benefit from a new grants system being put in place at Hampshire County Council.

Every councillor at Hampshire County Council is to be allocated a budget of £10,000 to use to provide grants to help fund initiatives that benefit the local community in the area they have been elected to represent.

The grants will be available for voluntary organisations and community groups to use to initiate a project, contribute to a community based project that might otherwise be vulnerable, or to make a local organisation a grant for a specific-one off item of expenditure such as new equipment - but not for ongoing running costs.

The £780,000 for members' grants will be in addition to the other budgets that the county council has aimed at supporting voluntary organisations and community groups. The overall value of existing grants awarded by the County Council is around £3.9 million, the majority of which is to support the operating costs of organisations providing complementary services to those of the County Council.

Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, said: "Hampshire County Council recognises the vital role that voluntary organisations and community groups play in helping us deliver services to Hampshire residents. The aim of the member's grants is to give support to those groups providing projects, initiatives and facilities that benefit their local community by making them safer and more secure places to live, maximise wellbeing and enhance the quality of the local area.

"Local members should be at the heart of their communities and have knowledge of the key issues and concerns of residents in their area. By giving each councillor a budget, they can use that knowledge to benefit local people through providing grants for community initiatives."

The grants will be available from June 2007. Further details on which groups will be eligible and how to apply will be available on the County Councils grants website in near future www.hants.gov.uk/grants

Once in place organisations and groups will be able to apply by requesting an application form from their local councillor or by downloading a form from the grants website. Applications will not be accepted from individuals, political parties or groups affiliated with a political party or from lobbying organisations.

You can find out who your local councillor is by visiting http://www3.hants.gov.uk/yourcountycouncillors/findyourcouncillor or calling 0800 028 0888

The Members' grants scheme does not impact on the council tax increase for 2007/08. A large number of houses were built in 2006/07 and the occupants of these new homes are now paying council tax, as a result extra funding became available.L