Grants shake-up to help poor

A new "community chest" system for allocating one-off grants to local groups could inject cash into the borough's most deprived wards.

From April 1 wards will be weighted according to social need, putting Bury areas such as Redvales and East Ward at the top and the more affluent Unsworth and Tottington at the bottom.

A total pot of £5,000 is being set up, although it could be more depending on how this year's budget works out. From that, each ward will get a basic £200 and the more deprived areas will then get a top-up amount, taking the largest allocation to £705.

There will be £2,000 for borough-wide applications and a contingency fund for emergencies. This replaces the current system for awarding one-off grants to groups and charities such as OAP associations and youth projects. Last year Bury Council handed out more than £7,000 of such grants ranging between £100 and £300.

The community chest is just one new idea in a complete shake-up of the way the council issues grants and will reward voluntary organisations who help the community.

However, money will still be available for borough-wide initiatives.

Councillor Pam Walker, grants sub-committee chairman, said: "Giving money in grants is a very emotive subject and it is hoped this will make the system fairer: various wards do need more money because of social needs."

The cash could also be dished out in future by each of the six area boards which which the council aims to set up in the next few months.

However, she added: "A review of the whole grants system is taking place and the community chest is only a small part of this.

"Nearly one million pounds is handed out in grants in Bury and at the moment these go out through education, the environment and the grants sub-committee.

"Sometimes these overlap and the whole review will make it easier to see what is going where."

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