Friday 28 November 2014

Picton Panel Now Closed

The grant fund is now closed to applications.

The funding for the Picton Panel grant fund, which came from Central Government, has now ceased.

We would like to thank the dozens of organisations who have applied to the fund over its lifetime. If your application was successful, as many were, we hope that the funding has made a difference to your voluntary group and has helped you to achieve things which would otherwise have not been possible.

Sunday 30 March 2014

Seventh Panel Meeting

The seventh Panel Meeting was held at 4.00pm on 26 March 2014.

Present at the Panel Meeting: Ivan Freeman, Lindsey Guy, Vidah Owusu, Julie Aitchison
In attendance: Chris Starkey

Julie Aitchison, team leader of Liverpool City Council's ward officers, was welcomed.

The Panel was advised that the 2013-14 funding was released a few weeks ago and that applications could now be considered for funding. In addition, the applications which were approved by the Sixth Panel Meeting would now be passed on to CDF.

There have been 3 applications to the Picton Panel.

1 Merseyside Street Dancing Theatre

The application was for a project to explore the history of break dancing in the local area. The Panel believed that this project would be an excellent way of engaging with the ward's young people. Recommended for funding.

2  Growing Granby

An application to support the development of a number of community gardens in the ward. The gardens already have active volunteer support and the Panel believed that the project had a good fit with the Priority. Recommended for funding.

3  Lawrence Road Community School

An application for resources and equipment to develop the school's off-site garden, engaging children and the wider community. Recommended for funding.

Monday 11 November 2013

Sixth Panel Meeting

The sixth Panel Meeting was held at 11.00am on 11 November 2013.

Present at the Panel Meeting: Ivan Freeman, Lindsey Guy, Pearl Mann and Vidah Owusu
In attendance: Chris Starkey

Panel members were advised that the Panel meeting had been delayed owing to the 2013-14 funding not yet being released. GTDT was looking into the reason for this. Any applications recommended for approval would only be passed on to CDF once there was confidence that funding would be forthcoming.

There have been 9 applications to the Picton Panel.

1 Cullen Street Green Harmony Association

The application was to fund the construction of a pergola within the association's garden. The Panel asked for additional information about the openness of access to the facility for non-members. There was also a need to detail the proposed budget as this had not been included in the original application. Deferred, to be reconsidered once the additional information is available.

2 Proud of Liverpool

The application was for a project to encourage time-banking. The Panel was unclear why the project would have a good fit with Priority C (helping to encourage a more healthy lifestyle). Deferred, to be reconsidered once applicant has clarified.

3 Sanctuary Family Support

The application was a re-submission for residential weekends. The Panel was still concerned that the applicant had not demonstrated why the project would benefit the local area. Deferred, to be reconsidered once applicant has clarified.

4 Steve Biko Tenants Gardening Club

An application to support a local and active gardening club by providing essential equipment. The Panel believed that this project has a good fit with the Priority and will deliver tangible benefits to the local community. Recommend for funding.

5 ROOD

The Panel had two concerns with this application: first, the budget included payment for a paid facilitator which the Panel is reluctatnt to support; second, the number of beneficiaries was low and the value for money was therefore doubtful. Not recommended for approval.

6 Liverpool Community Spirit

The applicant had delivered a successful project in year one of the programme and this is essentially a repeat application. The Panel was happy to support this an to recommend for funding.

Panel Membership

It was agreed that there should be a place on the Panel for one Liverpool City Council Ward Support Officer. This would simplify liaison between the Panel and the Council regarding the risk of double funding project which have also received support from the various neighbourhood funds.

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Community First Plan for Picton Ward

http://picton.gtdt.co.uk/Community First Plan for Picton Ward.pdf
One of the tasks which the Picton Panel has to undertake is a more detailed plan of how the Community First funding is to be targeted for the remainder of the programme, ensuring that it is used to improve the local area to greatest effect.

This has entailed drawing on a range of consultations with local people and synthesising a proposition from these. This is submitted to the Community Development Foundation who review it and decide whether it satisfies the overall Community First objectives.

This plan has now been completed and approved by the Panel. It has also now been approved by the CDF.

The full text of the plan can be downloaded by clicking on the image above.

Thursday 21 March 2013

Fifth Panel Meeting

The fifth Panel Meeting was held at 11.00am on 21 March 2013.

Present at the Panel Meeting: Ivan Freeman, Pearl Mann and Vidah Owusu
In attendance: Cllr Nathalie Nicholas

There have been 9 applications to the Picton Panel.

1 Sanctuary Family Support

The application was to fund residential weekends. Whilst the Panel appreciated the merit of this, they did not believe it had a good fit with the fund's priorities.Not recommended for approval but the applicant should be encouraged to reapply.

2  Brouhaha International

The Panel supported the application but one element of the budget is for artists' fees and therefore ineligible. Recommended for approval subject to revising the budget.

3  St Anne's Catholic Primary School

This application included two elements: indoor work and outdoor work, establishing a garden. The Panel supported the latter element only. Recommended partial approval with a reduced grant amount and budget.

4  Afro-Caribbean and Friends Lunch Club

The Panel supported this application but noted that one item in the budget did not fit the priorities. However, another element was under-costed and this offsets. Recommended for approval, subject to small revision to the budget.

5  Earth Works Liverpool

The Panel supported this project which had a good fit with the priorities. However, owing to the nature and location of the project, the Panel wanted to liaise with the city council's Neighbourhoods Team to see if further assistance could be offered. Recommended for approval subject to this being satisfactory.

6  Asylum Link Merseyside

The Panel believed this application to be worthy but there were a number of issues which would need to be resolved before the Panel could support the project. These included: how to ensure that asylum seekers 'with no recourse to public funding' could not benefit from the project; and how to ensure that the support was restricted to Picton residents, given the transient nature of asylum seekers. Not recommended for approval: applicant to be contacted to see whether application can be reworked.

7  St Dunstan's Church

The Panel noted that the largest budget item was to pay an event management company, an ineligible cost. They also were concerned about potential duplication with the application from Brouhaha International. Not recommended for approval and applicant should be encouraged to work with Brouhaha International.

8  Al Ghazali Multi-Cultural Centre

The largest part of the budget was to pay for instructors' fees and therefore ineligible. Not recommended for approval.

9  Friends of Smithdown

The budget was to pay fees to a fitness coach and therefore ineligible. Not recommended for approval.

The Panel noted that applications too often included professional fees, salaries or similar and asked the Panel Partner to try to discuss these with applicants before the Panel Meeting.

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Fourth Panel Meeting

The fourth Panel Meeting was held at 12.00 noon on 29 January 2013.

Present at the Panel Meeting: Ivan Freeman, Lindsey Guy, Pearl Mann and Vidah Owusu
In attendance: Cllr Nathalie Nicholas, Chris Starkey

There have been 2 applications to the Picton Panel.

1  MEDS

This was a resubmission of an application made to the first Panel. The Panel was happy that the application had been reworked in accordance with their previous requests. There remained a small number of outstanding queries which were not covered in the application. The Panel agreed that LG should liaise with the applicant on these. Recommended for approval subject to LG being satisfied with the responses from the applicant.

2  Liverworld Community Sports

 The Panel was satisfied that thios project had a good fit with the priorities but there were a number of technical errors in the application, such as insufficient match-funding. It was agreed that CS would offer to assist the applicant with a revised application which would address the technical errors. Recommended for approval, subject to satisfactory responses on the technical errors.

The Panel noted that there was still funding to be committed before 31 March and agreed to encourage local groups to apply in time for the next Panel Meeting, to take place towards the end of March.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Third Panel Meeting

The third Panel Meeting was held at 2.00pm on 23 October 2012.

Present at the Panel Meeting: Ivan Freeman, Lindsey Guy, Pearl Mann and Vidah Owusu

There has been 1 application to the Picton Panel.

1  Lil Brazil FC

The Panel was happy with the application and understood clearly the aims of the project which had a good fit with the Panel's priorities, but would like propose a smaller grant to ensure that as many projects as possible can be funded. Recommended for approval, subject to this.