Bids open for North Warwickshire community groups

Community groups and voluntary organisations across North Warwickshire are invited to bid for funding to help their work.

Warwickshire County Council’s North Warwickshire Area Committee are encouraging groups to bid for a share of £45,000 from the Community Development Fund. The fund has been made available by County Councillors of the North Warwickshire Area Committee for one-off projects that address issues of local concern.

Last year 16 local groups received funding including Atherstone Young Firefighters Association, The Friendship Project for Children and Water Orton and District Tennis Club were just some of the lucky organisations to benefit from the fund.

Organisations must make their bids with the support of their local County Councillor. Applications are welcome from 28th July and must be received by the deadline of 16 September 2011.

The fund is run by Warwickshire County Council to help communities, particularly in more deprived parts of the county, address issues of local concern to them.  Once the bids are in, County Councillors in North Warwickshire will pick the successful applications at their Area Committee meeting on 19 October 2011.

Cllr Shaw, Chair North Warwickshire Area Committee says: “Community groups in North Warwickshire now have a fantastic opportunity to bid for funding for projects and initiatives that support local communities to help themselves and build the Big Society. We are encouraging groups to come up with community focused projects that make a real difference to people’s lives. With competition for funding likely to be high advice is available to local groups to help complete their applications on time.”

Last year, Atherstone Young Firefighters Association received £3,420 to set up the new group and purchase uniforms and equipment. Fourteen teenagers from Queen Elizabeth School took part in the 15-week course to learn more about the fire service.

The Friendship Project for Children received £2000 for two additional posts to assist with the increasing numbers of referrals of vulnerable children in North Warwickshire requiring a mentor. The Project matches children with suitably trained adult mentors for days out and friendship building.  £3,000 was also awarded to the Water Orton & District Tennis club to help towards funding for new fencing around the tennis courts.

Application forms, which include details of local County Councillors, can be obtained from the North Warwickshire Area Team.

Contact Alistair Rigby, Localities and Communities Officer, North Warwickshire Area Office (WCC), C/o North Warwickshire Borough Council, Council House, South Street, Atherstone, CV9 1BD. Telephone: 01827 719409.  Email: alistairrigby@warwickshire.gov.uk

To find out more about Warwickshire County Council’s North Warwickshire Area Committee, visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/grants or email northwarkwickshire@warwickshire.gov.uk.

Tackling child poverty has not ‘stalled’ in Warwickshire

Claims that progress on tackling child poverty has ‘stalled’ has been condemned by a leading local politician. 

Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families, Cllr Heather Timms, has hit out at national claims that progress on tackling child poverty inBritainhas ‘stalled’. 

Cllr Timms said: “We have just launched our Child Poverty Strategy, which sets out clear aims to reduce and alleviate the impact of child poverty in Warwickshire by 2020.

“We are committed to tackling child poverty and the strategy sets out clear aims to move people out of poverty; break the cycle of poverty; and mitigate the effects of poverty. 

“We recognise that tackling child poverty is not just about throwing money at families, it is about working with communities, boosting the local economy through regeneration projects, supporting families, and even reaching families as they are about to become one, by working with pregnant mums. 

“Couple this with improved housing, and financial guidance, and we are taking real steps towards breaking the cycle of child poverty.” 

Cllr Timms stressed that the strategy was not just words and would have real measures, such as: the take up of free school meals; reducing the number of teenage pregnancies in Warwickshire; improving educational attainment in areas where it is low; and increasing the numbers of mothers and fathers attending ante-natal care.” 

Cllr Timms was responding to a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based international think tank of largely developed nations. 

It stated that between 2003 and 2007, theUKstrengthened its position as one of the biggest investors in families among developed countries, according to the authors of a new report, Doing Better for Families.

“Early-years spending rose substantially, driven by new cash supports for children around birth and increased investment on childcare services,” one of the authors, Dominic Richardson said. 

In 2007 theUKspent more on children than most OECD countries, at just over £138,000 per child from birth up to the age of 18, against an OECD average of just under £95,000. 

Before the financial crisis, and during a period of increased investment (1995 to 2005), child poverty in theUKfell more than in any other OECD country. In 2005 it was 10.5%, down from 17.4% in 1995, compared to an OECD average of 12.7%.

In the same period the growth in average family income was third highest in the OECD. 

Mr Richardson said: “Progress in child poverty reduction in theUK has stalled… and so social protection spending on families – particularly via family service provisions, as a longer-term solution to poverty risks – needs to be protected.”

 He added that childcare costs can remain a barrier to work for better off parents, adding: “There is room inUKpolicy for an effective childcare supplement for working parents.”