West Lothian voluntary sector seeks more than £1m funding
Bids from voluntary groups seeking help from West Lothian Council topped more than £1m – three times the £372,000 the council had to give – councillors heard.
Out of 34 charity groups which bid, only 15 were awarded funding.
And with more than half the Third Sector services total budget of £944,000 going to just five organisations there have been calls from the local Voluntary Sector Gateway for the budget to grow to meet rising demand.
The bulk of the budget funds direct services for the council.
The council's Economy, Community Empowerment and Wealth Building PDSP heard that five organisations have been awarded Service Level Agreements to deliver services.
These are West Lothian Youth Action Project £190,000 for community youth services; HcL Transport £182,119 for community transport; Voluntary Sector Gateway West Lothian £63,770; Citizen's Advice Bureau £76,266 to provide additional advice services across West Lothian; and the Bennie Museum £51,142 for the provision of Museum Services in Linlithgow and Bathgate Linlithgow Heritage Trust.
In the Third Sector Support Fund 19 organisations lost out this year. They had bid for £501,312 of funding. Among the organisations which lost out are Fauldhouse Community Development Trust, the Food Train, KidzEco, West Calder Hub, West Lothian Race Forum and Smile
In a report to committee Clare Stewart, the Community Wealth Building Manager said: 'In total 34 applications were received totalling £1,003,449.97 with an available budget at the time of £362,613.
'An additional £10,000 was allocated as part of the process for funding that is available to West Lothian Council from the Lintel Trust to support a community project. This brought the total available to £372,613.'
Among the winners were: Linlithgow Young People's Project, £36, 052; The Vennie, £33,157; Boghalll Drop in £37,043; Stoneyburn Future Vision Group £20, 600 and Armadale Playworks £35,272.
All applications were assessed by a panel composed of representatives from the NHS, Voluntary Sector Gateway, and a range of council services including Anti-Poverty, Community Regeneration and Community Wealth Building. Following the assessment of all applications, the panel made recommendations to the Head of Planning, Economic Development and Regeneration that the £362,613 be allocated to 15 organisations.
All 19 groups which did not receive funding this year have been offered guidance for future applications.
The report added: 'The panel took into consideration a number of matters in assessing all applications including the quality of the application against the criteria for funding, the provision of support in the areas of identified deprivation, match funding, the outcomes that would be achieved by the investment and the potential for some projects to source funding through other funds, in particular the availability of local mental health funding.
'Officers contacted all unsuccessful applicants and offered a series of dates to give more detailed feedback on their application on a one-to-one basis either in person or via teams. To date eight organisations have requested feedback.'
Stuart Barrie, the Operations Manager with the VSG, welcomed the feedback offered to the groups, saying it was helpful to organisations in seeking funding in future from both from the council, and other sources.
And making a plea for growing support for the VSG Mr Barrie said: 'The continued financial support from the council the Third Sector is welcome and makes a huge difference to organisations and to communities in West Lothian
'However, the overall £944,000 has remained static for a number of years now. The sector is facing significant financial pressures like everyone else and given the council receives an uplift to its annual budget could an uplift to this funding be considered in the future for the Third Sector?'
Councillor Susan Manion, chairing the PDSP, said: 'We can happily have a discussion about that in relation to the financial position in what we do going forward and looking a future budgeting arrangements for the next year.'
By Stuart Sommerville Local Democracy Reporter
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