- Area:
- South East England
- Programme:
- Big Local Trust
- Release date:
- 29 2 2012
SIX communities in the South East 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 the Conniburrow Estate in Milton Keynes; Central Chatham: Luton Arches in Medway; Heart of Sidley in Rother; Leysdown, Warden and Eastchurch in Swale; north east Hastings; and the Prospect Estate in Rushmoor will get to decide how to spend £1m Lottery funding to improve their local areas over the next 10 years. This 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 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.
Fiona Dempsie, Head of the South East 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 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 South East to benefit from the first wave of the scheme in 2010 was Northfleet North in Gravesham, Kent.
Northfleet is steeped in history – once a Roman settlement, part of the famous Canterbury pilgrimage and the home of numerous successful shipyards.
In more recent years it was known for cement production, but following the closure of this industry it became an area of fragmentation, flanked by the Ebbsfleet Valley and affluent Eurostar railway, and surrounded empty chalk pits and bounded by the River Thames. The additional decline of a once thriving high street has subdued North Northfleet’s vibrant community. Following news of the £1m funding, local schoolchildren helped kick-start the consultation process by creating a 3D model of the area to help residents identify what and where they would like to see improvements and issues they would like to address. The residents now have a core hub of 16 people and attracted over 100 people to celebrate their first year as a Big Local area at Ebbsfleet United Football Club.
One of the biggest issues for residents is a lack of park and play areas for children and young people. With the aid of their local MP Adam Holloway, the community are now in talks with a company regarding the possibility of accessing some of their disused land. The community is now developing its improvement plan and an online map of their progress.
North Northfleet Big Local ideas include:
- A Community land trust to manage land obtained in future for a park/play area.
- Allotment scheme and creation of green spaces
- Social enterprises and job creating initiatives
- Creation of sports and leisure activities
- Explore possibilities of the right to challenge suppliers to local authorities, for example explore whether unemployed residents could deliver waste disposal and fly-tipping services rather than external companies.
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
Further Information
- 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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