- Area:
- East Midlands
- Programme:
- Big Local Trust
- Release date:
- 29 2 2012
Four communities across the East Midlands are today being allocated £1million each to spend on making their areas better places to live as part of a pioneering Big Lottery Fund (BIG) scheme to put decision-making power in the hands of local people.
The communities of Birchwood (Lincoln), Kingswood (Corby), Langold and Carlton (Bassetlaw) and St Matthews Estate (Leicester) will get to decide how to spend £1m National Lottery funding to improve their local area over the next ten years, which could include anything from creating new community facilities to starting up training and employment schemes, tackling anti-social behaviour, or providing more activities for young people.
Residents in these areas will also benefit from a range of support, training and networking opportunities to enable them to make best to use of their funding.
The money comes from a £200m Big Lottery Fund scheme called Big Local, which aims to give communities a leading role in making decisions about how to improve their area and tackle local problems.
The communities selected to receive the £1m Lottery funding have a history of difficulty in getting support and funding - from the Lottery and elsewhere - and may face a range of issues, for example, the decline of local industry, high unemployment or low average wages, or a pressing need for new support services or activities.
The new funding comes as figures published today reveal that only 14 per cent of English adults feel that that those traditionally responsible for decision-making in local areas - including local councils (10%), government (1%) or local MPs (3%) - know best about what is needed to make their community a better place to live.
The Big Lottery Fund commissioned YouGov survey shows that the majority of people - 74 per cent - think local people and community groups (local people (55%) charities community groups (8%) or residents associations (11%)) know best.
Mick McGrath, Big Lottery Fund Head of East Midlands region, said: “This funding scheme is going to put residents in these areas at the heart of decision making and give them a real say in how to improve their local area. But more than that it’s going to strengthen these communities and help local people to build on their skills and experience so that they can continue to work together to overcome challenges, address local problems, and make a positive difference in their communities over the next ten years, and beyond.”
The Lottery funded scheme is being managed by Local Trust, a recently established, independent organisation set up by the Community Development Foundation and its consortium partners to run Big Local. They will work in close consultation with residents in each area to support them and offer guidance on their plans.
In the first instance Big Local representatives will bring residents and community organisations in each of the funded areas together to learn about Big Local, create strategies to get people involved and then begin the process of deciding what priorities local people have for the money and setting up a local partnership. They will then work with the areas to help them develop a plan to spend the £1m funding over the next ten years.
Rather than using the money to simply allocate grants for initiatives, residents are encouraged to use different, more sustainable ways of financing, for example giving loans or funding social enterprises, where money could be reinvested in the community.
Debbie Ladds, Chief Executive, Local Trust said: “Big Local is an exciting community initiative working with residents, community groups and others in the Big Local areas across England to help them make their area an even better place to live.
“Local Trust will work with communities and a range of partner organisations to help them identify what matters most to them, and to take action to change things for the better – now and in the future.”
A total of 50 communities in England are being allocated the £1m funding today, bringing the number of areas so far benefiting from the scheme to 100. A further 50 communities will be allocated funding through Big Local by the end of 2012.
One of the first areas in the East Midlands to benefit from the scheme is Lumbertubs, Lings and Blackthorn. As a result of Big Local, the Brookside Residents’ Council partnered with Blackthorn Good Neighbours organisation to create and open up contact and communications with residents of four estates in Lings and Lumbertubs.
A steering group was formed and has since been focusing on building online and offline networks of people to work together to make their area an even better place to live. In addition to involving local residents, the group also works closely with local organisations including the WildLife Trust, Indian Hindu Welfare Association and Age UK who are all on the steering group.
The group has also been running local workshops to get people involved in their own community and keep everyone informed. The project has discovered that delegating tasks and activities to members of the community is helping bring everyone together and take ownership for new initiatives and activities.
For a full list of awards announced today visit: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/blocal-phase-2-list.pdf
For a list of the first 50 areas to benefit from Big Local, visit: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/blocal-phase-1-list.pdf
Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund
Notes to editors
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
- The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £27 billion has now been raised and more than 370,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
- YouGov survey: All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1723 English adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 14th - 16th February 2012. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all English adults (aged 18+).
- Big Lottery Fund’s £200m Big Local programme was launched in July 2010 when the first 50 communities to benefit from the scheme were announced. Some 150 communities are set to receive at least £1m each over the next decade as part of Big Local. The £200m is being invested as a charitable endowment into an independent trust called Big Local Trust.
- Community Development Foundation (CDF), a charity and social enterprise passionate about helping communities, were appointed to lead a consortium of partners (Capacity Global, CCLA, Institute for Voluntary Action Research, the National Association for Neighbourhood Management, Renaisi, UnLtd) in setting up a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG), which has been named Local Trust. Local Trust will act as Corporate Trustee of the Big Local Trust.
- Local Trust will deliver the Big Local programme on behalf of BIG working on the ground in each of the 150 Big Local areas to help local people make their areas even better places to live now and in the future.
- These Big Local areas have been identified as places where many people face multiple barriers to meeting their needs, and which have a history of difficulty in accessing funding resources in the past.
- More information on Big Local is available at http://www.cdf.org.uk/content/funding-programmes/big-local
- For general enquiries about Local Trust or Big Local please call Amanda Moss, 020 7812 5448, email or Sharon Watson 020 7812 5456, or email: info@localtrust.org.uk
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