Supporting Communities Fund - Monitoring of Projects Funded
Argyll and Bute Council · 12 March 2024
Back to Helensburgh & Lomond Area Committee — 12 March 2024 and its agenda
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL HELENSBURGH AND LOMOND AREA COMMITTEE COMMUNITY PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 12th MARCH 2024 SUPPORTING COMMUNITIES FUND - Monitoring of Projects Funded 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide monitoring information on the funding given to community projects from the council’s Supporting Communities Fund. 1.2 12 constituted, not-for-profit community organisations were awarded funding in the 2022/23 round of funding. Organisations were required to spend their funding within 18 months and to submit an End of Project Monitoring Report outlining the project’s projected costs, actual costs incurred and beneficiaries. 1.3 Members are asked to consider the content of the report showing a summary of the information supplied by organisations in their End of Project Monitoring Reports. Members are asked to note the return of unspent funds of £1675.50 and agree for this to be made available to fund projects in Helensburgh and Lomond within the 2024/25 Supporting Communities Fund.
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL HELENSBURGH AND LOMOND AREA COMMITTEE COMMUNITY PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 12th MARCH 2024 SUPPORTING COMMUNITIES FUND - Monitoring of Projects Funded 2.0 INTRODUCTION 2.1 This report highlights the positive outcomes for communities in Helensburgh and Lomond through the allocation of the Council’s Supporting Communities Fund (SCF) in the 2022/23. 2.2 A total of £23,326.48 was awarded to 12 organisations in 2022/23. Organisations have up to two months from the end of the project to complete and return a project monitoring report. 2.3 A total of £1,675.50 in unspent funds has been returned. 3.0 RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended that the Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee: 3.1 Note and consider the positive contribution of the Supporting Communities Fund detailed in section 4 and the attached table. 3.2 Note that a total of £1,675.50 in total has been returned, and agree this be included in the distribution of the SCF for 2024/25.
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4.0 DETAIL 4.1 The funded projects supported over 650 people to participate in a variety of activities including outdoor, sports, music and activities supporting positive mental health. Highlights include: • The maintenance and upkeep of 12 defibrillators in the Garlochhead area and Rosneath peninsula – providing access to vital equipment and peace of mind for residents. • 40 community arts workshops in Helensburgh – increasing access to art, and addressing mental health and wellbeing by offering targeted group activities across the community. • Litter bins and support of community initiatives to address litter on Loch Lomond side. This involved community groups working in partnership with the national park and council. • Small repairs and maintenance to a local youth club. 4.2 The attached table summarises information received from each project. 4.3 12 grant recipients have submitted an End of Project Monitoring Report. 4.4 £1675.50 of unspent funds has been returned. The return of funds is a combination of projects under budget or funds unable to be spent.
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2022/23 SCF Round of Funding No Organisation Project Funded Award End of Project Achievements No. of people in communities benefitting 1 Argyll & Bute Befrienders 34 sessions of therapeutic and personal development activities for young people £614.00 We met the aims of the project in that we provided opportunities for disadvantaged children and young people to experience a range of recreational and therapeutic activities with the support of their befriender. The main activities undertaken were various sports including climbing, swimming, cycling and minigolf, arts and crafts activities such as pottery painting and felting and several of our young people benefited from horse-riding in small groups to build their confidence and help them learn to regulate their emotions. 19 (A&B wide ) 2 Cove & Kilcreggan Youth Café Repairs to youth café. £664.09 The CKYC with the partial award of £664.09 undertook some repairs to the former tennis pavilion from which they run the youth café. This included repairs to decking, re-glazing a broken widow, simple re-wiring, and installation of two new heaters for the centre. The work was carried out as an in kind donation from a local qualified handyman with the award covering material cost for the repairs. 25 young people per session 3 Friends of Loch Lomond & The Trossachs support to assist with weekly/bi-weekly collection and recycling of litter from 20 bins and bin signage and poster campaign £2,500.00 The siting and emptying of 20 litter bins alongside the A82 between Arden and Tarbet have made a huge difference to the litter situation. 25 tonnes of litter was collected (equivalent of 6,000 bin bags) over the course of a year. Supplementary litter picks by the Council’s Community Services Team, National Park staff and volunteers participating in special ‘Make a Difference Days’ and community led litter picking initiatives have also contributed to the transformation along the Difficult to estimate
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2022/23 SCF Round of Funding busy A82 tourist corridor. A great collaboration between public sector agencies, local communities, businesses and volunteers and making a major positive impact 4 Fun First staff costs and venue hire for the provision of a six week programme of art and mindfulness workshops £2,500.00 This funding provided a partnership opportunity with Albatross Arts who planned and delivered a creative programme. Our service in Garelochhead has also continued to successfully operate. We have continually assessed our service provision during the period of funding to ensure we are reaching those in need, but ensuring best value in terms of the increasing cost to deliver the service. We managed to extend the service to Rosneath for a short period of time. 36 5 Garelochhead & Rosneath Peninsula Community First Responders replacement pads and batteries for 16 defibrilators £2,500.00 Batteries and pads ensured that 12 defibrillators were upgraded and in full working order and 6 batteries ensured that 6 defibrillators had full extended life and were in full working order. These defibrillators are scattered across the Rosneath Peninsula and Garelochhead area and are based in primary schools, bowling clubs, village centres, and small pockets of housing. Difficult to estimate 6 Garelochhead Station Trust Provision of a monthly film club, room and equipment hire, licence to show films, hire of films and hospitality £1,539.30 Unfortunately, due to the age of the equipment we were unable to start the film group. However, we have been successful in hosting social events that have had a positive impact on the mental wellbeing of the members. The feedback from these events has been the learning of new skills and the establishment of new friendships and support groups. 96 7 Grey Matters Active Ageing 2 Gardening workshops, bulbs and seed packs, coco potting compost, biodegradable pots, gardening gloves and mini trowels. £2,345.00 We met the aims of the project and more. 154
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2022/23 SCF Round of Funding Members were brought together through a shared interest, new friends and connections were made. Loneliness and isolation was greatly reduced. It increased people’s wellbeing and improved mental health. It increased awareness about the environment. It provided members with a hobby and interest that got them out of the Covid Rut they were experiencing. It gave people a sense of worth as they were able to swap hints and tips and also produce they had grown. 8 Helensburgh Art Hub 40 community and creativity workshops £2,500.00 The Art Hub provided 63 workshops between April 2022 and September 2023. 50 with adults of which 11 workshops were free to attend, 21 workshops for children including 2 free to attend workshops for children with disabilities and additional support needs. The workshops were run in a range of places to make them more accessible to a larger range of people as well as creating links and benefitting and supporting organisations and businesses eg Hermitage Park Pavilion, Helensburgh Community Hub and Jigsaw Cornerstone as well as our Front Room Gallery. 190 9 Helensburgh Tree Conservation Trust supply & planting of 50 trees, as part of the Platinum Jubilee (project change approved – original project unable to proceed) £664.09 The original location suggested proved impossible, therefore we planted a new avenue of 20 Golden Birch trees along East Lennox Drive. These handsome trees provide colour and stature and help HTCT to increase the range of trees within the town for bio resilience. The project has made a great improvement to the street and provides a good exemplar for avenue trees other than Cherries Residents of the street and all people walking, cycling and driving along it.
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2022/23 SCF Round of Funding that form 75% of our street trees. We have taken expert advice, encouraging us to diversify the species mix and this street is a good example of this. The street trees help to promote a sense of well- being through their beauty, seasonal change and aesthetic qualities. 10 Enable Scotland - Jean's Bothy development of a play from initial script by members, to include 10 workshops, 4 development sessions with professional actors and 5 rehearsals £2,500.00 Jean’s Bothy delivered 10 workshops where members were able to explore script writing, creation of characters, exploring different issues relating to disabilities, the education system, friendships and the power of campaigning. These workshops were delivered in a safe space style anonymising any input from participants in creating the drama. This was delivered in Helensburgh and with additional external funding was taken on a short tour in Argyll, Beacon Arts in Greenock, and Glasgow. 176 11 Males Tales Helensburgh CIC Wellbeing Day £2,500.00 The wellbeing day allowed members of our community to find out a variety of support options available to them in our community. It also provided a fantastic platform for networking between third sector organisations, and permitted them to grow their local signposting network in the community. 200 12 Project 81 Youth and Community Enterprise Ltd restart café n play sessions, support for coordinator and training time and costs £2,500.00 We exceeded the number of planned sessions and provided free lunches throughout. Along with increasing confidence, positive mental health, sense of inclusion and improving parent-child learning skills/growth. In addition there was a reduction in social isolation and loneliness. We were fortunate to be able to create a strong volunteer team (including retired teachers who had invaluable experience) and also to be able to incorporate people from other programmes within Centre 81. 154
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5.0 CONCLUSION 5.1 The project monitoring form has a section asking for comments on the grant process. Not all applicants have completed this section but of those received, the comments have largely been very positive. 6.0 IMPLICATIONS 6.1 Policy: None 6.2 Financial: The report sets out the expenditure from the Helensburgh & Lomond area 2022/23 budget for the allocation of Supporting Communities Fund 6.3 Legal: None 6.4 HR: None 6.5 Fairer Scotland Duty: 6.5.1 Equalities - protected characteristics - compliant with policy 6.5.2 Socio-economic Duty - compliant with policy 6.5.3 Islands – None (No island Communities in Admin. area) 6.6 Climate Change: None 6.7 Risk: None 6.8 Customer Service: None 6.9 The Rights of the Child (UNCRC): None Chief Executive Pippa Milne Communities and Partnership Manager – Rona Gold Policy Lead Cllr Alastair Redman 9th February 2024 For further information contact: Community Development Officer David Hagerty on 01700 801088 / david.hagerty@argyll-bute.gov.uk