New community fund to launch

Half a million pounds could be allocated to help support community projects.
It has been recommended that Lincolnshire county councillors back plans to allocate a total of £500,000 towards supporting local schemes and grassroot organisations across the county, writes Local Democracy Reporter Oliver Castle.
Officials said the Councillor Community Grant Fund will help councillors to deliver initiatives which will benefit local residents.
Councillors have broadly welcomed the proposals, but some have raised concerns about the perception of political bias surrounding which projects are awarded the money.
At a recent scrutiny meeting Coun Danny Brookes said: “I welcome this. This is going to help all the residents in certain areas that achieve this.”
Coun Brookes (pictured) went on to question how the money will be fairly distributed to ensure that “coastal areas like Skegness” are not left behind.
Christopher O’Rourke, head of communications and engagement at the council, said: “Councillors can support multiple applications to the strategic fund.
“With those multiple opportunities to bring it through this chamber, plus publishing all the details of all the accepted grants online, we hope to make it as transparent as possible in where that money is going.
“This committee can then discuss areas that might be left out as it were – areas that may not be receiving as much funding as others – and we can suggest steps that we might take to be able to do that.”
Coun Brenda Collier also backed the proposals, saying: “It’s brilliant that we’re getting this money for our communities.”
But Coun Ian Carrington was concerned about alleged political influence associated with this funding.
“I am uneasy about the councillor involvement element. It may be completely unjustified – and I’m not casting any kind of aspersion – but I think setting that up as a system, does that not create the risk that there will be allegations of political bias – however unfair and however unjustified built into the system? Because we’re talking about large sums of money here that people are going to be very keen to get for their communities. I’ll listen carefully to the rest of the debate, but I did want to express some considerable unease about that aspect – although the general principle is one that I would support.”
The fund will be split into two separate funding streams.