More than £120,000 in funding will be awarded to three organisations for sustainable community projects after elected members gave the go ahead.
Renfrewshire Council officers recommended grants were allocated to Loud n Proud (£80,000), Thorn Athletic Community Trust (£24,840) and Your Community Your Space (£20,000). The move came after they made applications to the sustainable communities fund which supports projects that promote or improve community collaboration, health and wellbeing, local spaces, economic development, biodiversity and the environment.
Laura McIntyre, head of policy and partnerships, told Tuesday’s communities and housing policy board: “The board are being asked to consider three applications recommended for award, seven recommended to be deferred at this time…and eight that are not recommended for award at this time.
“As previously mentioned at board and noted within the paper, a recommendation not to award is no sort of judgement in terms of the overall project or the organisation that’s involved. It primarily relates to the funding criteria and the extent to which that funding criteria has been met or demonstrated that that can be met.”
The pot was created after it was agreed in March last year the council should combine remaining monies from the community empowerment and climate change action funds. It was further bolstered by cash from the UK shared prosperity fund.
Three types of awards are available through the process, including small (up to £10,000), intermediate (£10,000 to £25,000) and large (up to £100,000) amounts. Applications were assessed in September and earlier this month by a cross-service panel of officers established to consider the bids against funding guidance and criteria.
A report to the meeting explained: “The sustainable communities fund has been very popular since its launch and has attracted a significant number of applications. As the fund has now been in operation for one year, it is recommended that a formal review of the guidance is carried out.
“This review will provide an opportunity to reflect learning points from the first year of operation, and clarify guidance to support applicants as well as officers applying guidance when developing recommendations. This will be critical to ensuring that the remaining funding can be targeted to ensure maximum benefit for all local groups and organisations.”
Councillors rubber-stamped the latest awards and agreed the fund itself will be paused to new applications for a time as the review of the guidance is completed.
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