Council applies for up to £170k funding to support community projects across Scarborough

Scarborough Council has signed off on an application for up to £170,000 of funding that could be provided to enhance the work of eight community, voluntary and social enterprise organisations in the borough.

The eight organisations that expressed an interest and were selected are Sparks, Futureworks, Go 4 It, The Opportunity Centre, Beyond Housing, Yorkshire in Business, Construction Skills Village, and Age UK Scarborough.

According to a council report, the organisations will deliver events, workshop sessions and one on one support to help build life skills, confidence, social skills, and overall well-being.

They will also seek to support personal development in order to help eligible residents make positive changes to their lives and engage with their communities to gain and sustain employment.

The project budget will include the provision of up to £157,000 in grant funding and £13,000 towards staff salaries in support of administering the project.

This includes funding for a community regeneration officer to work in Eastfield until March 31 2023.

The money, which is being distributed by North Yorkshire County Council, comes from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The short-term grant funding will be given to the selected organisations including those whose delivery is at risk due to the European Social Investment Fund-funded Community Led Local Development programme coming to an end this year.

Since 2018, the EU-funded programme has provided close to £6m in “the most disadvantaged communities” in Scarborough, Filey, and Bridlington by helping people move into work and supporting businesses, according to the council.

The new Shared Prosperity Funding is part of the Government’s Levelling Up agenda which aims to “build pride in places and increase life chances across the UK”.

As part of the scheme, North Yorkshire’s allocation of funding is £16.8m with £2.6m planned for the 2022-25 period.

However, the Local Government Association has said that a funding gap between the two schemes “will likely lead to a reduction of capacity and provision in both councils and their partners, including the potential permanent loss of vital expertise built up over many years”.

Scarborough Council is hoping to have its application approved and to finalise funding agreements with the selected organisations before the end of the year, with plans for delivery to commence on January 2, 2023.

The application was approved by council leader, Cllr Steve Siddons, on Friday, December 16.