Don’t be Lotto grants losers

A FORMER Oldhamer is urging the council to provide more information on funding opportunities for local groups after figures showed borough languishing near the bottom of the league table when it comes to netting lottery cash.

The Big Lottery Fund distributes a whopping £1billion each year to worthwhile projects up and down the country, but while Rochdale scooped £841,000 for three projects between January, 2008 and June this year, Oldham received just one award totalling £10,000.

Tameside was given £1,433,000 for seven projects and Kirklees took £1,460,000.

Now, Kenn Winter, who grew up in the borough and regularly visits family here, is calling on the council to look into setting up a phoneline to make local organisations aware of the Lottery cashpot and to provide advice on how to apply for it.

He said: “It’s a real shame to look on the Big Lottery Fund website and see Oldham getting much less than other areas of a similar size.

“It’s like leaving your house open and letting yourself get robbed — Oldham is missing out on a huge amount of cash.

“I don’t think there’s a big awareness about the existence of this fund and even if there was, applying for money is a long and complicated process.”

Mr Winter added that the council should consider employing someone, perhaps on a part-time basis, whose job it was to let local groups know about the fund and help them to apply for grants.

He said: “When I worked at Kirklees Council, it employed someone whose sole job involved helping local groups get money.

“It’s just a shame that, at the moment, Oldham isn’t taking full advantage of what’s on offer.”

A council spokesman said: “Lottery bids are well supported on the website at http://www.oldham.gov.uk/lottery-funding.”

A number of projects in Oldham have already benefited from Big Lottery grants. Here are some examples:

In May, 2007, the ACE Centre North in Delph was awarded £172,000 for a two-year project to develop technology which improves disabled children’s access to play facilities.
In December, 2006, the Oldham Children and Youth Alliance was awarded £373,771 to continue its work with children and young people.

In August, 2006, the Asian Women’s Project was awarded cash to run a series of job-seeking skills workshops.

The Friends of Dunwood Park are now almost at the end of a long and gruelling process to apply for £1m of Lottery funding. It will be told whether their bid has been successful by April, 2010.