Lottery boost for White City
Thursday, July 19, 2010
White City residents have hit the jackpot after a £1 million cash boost was announced by the Big Lottery Fund.
H&F Council applied to the fund, in April 2010, to be part of the first wave of the new ‘Big Local’ initiative – which will see fifty areas across England, including H&F’s Wormholt and White City ward, benefit from a minimum of £1 million for local community projects.
Russell Darbon, spokesman for the Big Lottery Fund, said the programme aims to help people in disadvantaged communities to meet their needs and make their neighbourhoods better places to live in, now and in the future.
Big Local funding will be given out via a new Charitable Trust that will work closely with local people in each of the 50 areas to decide how best to use the funding.
Russell said: “We deliberately selected communities which have been overlooked for funding from the Big Lottery Fund in the past. The money is ready and once the Trust is set up it will be over to the people of White City to decide on exactly what projects they would like to see benefit. We target the areas but local people decide on the projects.”
The cash will be awarded over a long period of time – up to ten years – and it will take around 15 months to set up the Trust before payments can be made. The money is expected to start flowing from autumn 2011, according to the Big Lottery Fund.
Cllr Joe Carlebach, Cabinet Member for Community Care says: “This is a fantastic boost for the people of White City and the council is delighted that the team at the Big Lottery Fund looked so favourably on our bid. But this is only the beginning.
“This will be a truly locally driven project and it is now up to the people of White City to come together and work in partnership with the council, the Big Local Trust and other groups in the area to decide how we spend the money to get the maximum benefit for all the residents of White City.”
Harry Audley, Chair of the White City Residents’ Association, said he was ‘highly delighted’ by the news. “A grant of this size has the potential to do real, long term good and reinforce our commitment to the White City community,” he said. “Obviously, it is vital that we ensure residents have the means to exercise control over how the investment in the neighbourhood is made to ensure the best possible outcomes.”
