08 September 2006
The future of more than 50 pan-London community services remains in doubt, as the Association of London Government examines proposals to cut grants to voluntary and community organisations by up to a third.
The proposal was put forward during the first meeting of the ALG's grants committee after the May local elections, in which the Conservatives gained six borough councils and took overall control of the grants committee.
Tania Pouwhare, the co-chair of the London Voluntary Sector Forum, told Public Finance that any cuts to the £27m budget 'will have a significant adverse effect on vulnerable Londoners and also the infrastructure of London's voluntary and community sector'.
She also expressed concern that a number of Conservative councillors had made what she termed 'inappropriate comments' about equalities groups and had questioned the merit of funding organisations targeted at minority rather than generic groups of London citizens.
A spokesman for the ALG told PF that no decision had yet been reached on the proposed grant cut.
Instead, the decision had been made to examine first which services the committee would in principle like to continue and to then look at different funding options — including cuts of 10%, 20% or 33% — for each service.
At a September 5 meeting, the ALG's grant committee gave its approval in principle to funding 55 out of 80 community and voluntary projects.
Those 'priority areas' will now be forwarded to the Leaders' Committee in October to decide whether their levels of funding will continue or be reduced.
PFsep2006
