Report – 15 minutes will be allocated for this item / discussion.

Sally Ross from Magenta Living will be in attendance to provide background to the Your Wirral grant programme.

The Chair invited Ms Sally Ross of Magenta Living to provide a brief overview on the background to the ‘Your Wirral’ grant programme.

Ms Ross informed that Wirral Council and Magenta Living agreed in 2014 that the ‘Your Wirral’ Fund be administered via the Constituency Committees, allocated on the basis of the number of housing units in each area. She explained that the structure of the 7 year programme had enabled the use of the V.A.T. element of funding to be utilised. This had allowed the allocation of £250,000 to be spent across the Wirral by the Constituency Committees in each of the financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Members noted that as a result the Wirral West Constituency Committee had been allocated £40,000 in 2014-15 and again in 2015-16 to award ‘Your Wirral’ grants of a maximum of £2,500 to local voluntary and community sector (not for profit) groups.

Magenta Living stipulated that the terms and conditions and application process should be consistent in all four areas but that the decision-making process for awarding grants had been a matter for each Committee. Members were further informed that, in 2014-15 and 2015-16, ‘Your Wirral’ also made provision for Wirral wide projects and that each year, £50,000 had been ‘ringfenced’ for projects delivered across two or more constituency areas. In these cases funding awards had been agreed by a panel comprising Constituency Committee chairs or deputies.   

Ms Ross stated that a good number of individual projects had benefitted from the fund, and it was pleasing to note how small amounts of money had made such a big difference to projects, and that it was fantastic to see what a community could do, when provided with the appropriate means.

The Chair then invited Ms Jane Morgan, Constituency Manager Wirral West to present her report detailing the specific outcomes of ‘Your Wirral’ in Wirral West over the past two years.

Ms Morgan informed the Committee that in summary the ‘Your Wirral’ funding that had been made available to the Wirral West Constituency area had enabled the following:

·  56 projects delivered by community, voluntary and faith groups and not-for-profit organisations;

·  43 community and voluntary groups involved in delivering projects;

·  Hundreds of people benefiting directly (with outcomes including improving health and wellbeing and quality of life, reducing loneliness, increasing the aspirations of young people through involvement in sport);

·  Thousands of residents and visitors benefiting indirectly;

·  13 community buildings improved, increasing their use and contributing to their long-term sustainability;

·  Local parks and open spaces improved; and

·  Valued local amenities put in place (e.g. public noticeboards).

The Chair expressed the Constituency Committee’s thanks to all the volunteers, Magenta Housing and the Constituency Manager and Constituency Engagement Officer for all the work undertaken that had allowed the success of the ‘Your Wirral’ Fund projects.

Resolved – That the report, and the outcomes of the Your Wirral projects, be noted.