Funding process sparks concerns
Five community projects will share more than £1m of Scottish Government grant - despite anger among councillors over the fact that winners were picked by council officers.
Presented with the winners at the West Lothian Council’s Executive Committee and asked to approve the decision, the Tory group was backed by SNP councillors in asking for a delay until they could see the details of seven applicants who failed to qualify.
And they raised concerns that a lack of feedback could be alienating community groups, while one unsuccessful bidder said it could have seen them miss out on other funding opportunities.
Head of economic development, Craig McCorriston, faced a barrage of questions from Tory councillor Charles Kennedy on why full information about the applications had not been presented to the Executive.
The Executive agreed in June to delegate the applications process to council officers but, according to SNP group depute leader Frank Anderson, councillors understood that the final decisions would be taken by councillors rather than the officers selecting winners and presenting them for approval.
Tory group leader Damian Doran-Timson asked: “Would it not have been better to include in the report the details of those applicants that didn’t gain approval. “How do we know these applications are significantly better than the ones not included?”
Mr Doran-Timson said it would be more beneficial to get sight of rejected papers.
Mr McCorriston said that the funding process accepted in June had to commit money to projects within the current financial year and said the tight timeframe had influenced the process.
He gave brief outlines of projects which had failed to win and added that he would be happy to discuss applications with applicants to help them prepare for future funding applications.
Councillor DoranTimson’s amendment calling for a delay to enable councillors to look at all the applications was defeated by one vote.
After the Executive, Councillor Kennedy said the process had alienated community groups.
He said: “We cannot alienate our voluntary groups by expecting them to spend a large number of hours preparing bids and then for council to have no follow up engagement with them and for their concerns simply to be dismissed by statements such as ‘there are always going to be some disappointed’ as we heard at the council Executive meeting.”
One of the groups which failed to win funding said: “We are disappointed to read of recommendations in a public document before any communication with our group.
“If we were discounted at an early stage due to not meeting any of the criteria, early feedback would have been appreciated.”
The successful bidders were: Craigsfarm Community Development Project which was awarded £129,602 to enhance facilities; West Calder HUB, awarded £140,265 for the enhancement of existing facilities potentially creating jobs; West Lothian College won a £493,436 contribution to construct an Eco-House education and training centre; West Lothian Foodbank was awarded £188,697 for a market garden project for the foodbank network across West Lothian, and allow the employment of a local young person and provide work placements for college students.
The final winner was Crofthead Community Education Association awarded £350,000 for the creation of new community facilities and improving and growing existing property and services, as well as enhancing its cycle track facility.
Leader of the Council, Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: “I am confident the project outcomes will benefit local communities through increased opportunities for participation in services as well as an economical boost.”