Community Fund’s south-east strategy

back to the contents page

In October’s Lottery Monitor, Paul Bevan, chief executive of the South-east England Regional Assembly, warned that the CF’s draft regional strategy was at odds with the plans of other strategic bodies. Here, Dorothy Buckrell, CF South-east Regional Manager, replies

Make sure you receive your fair share of lottery cash - take out a no-obligation trial subscription today.

I was pleased that the South-east England Regional Assembly responded to the Community Fund’s consultation on its proposed strategic plan for 2002-2007. However, I must take issue with a number of Paul Bevan’s comments. 

I could not agree more with his desire to see greater coherence and joined-up think in at a regional level. I was delighted that he welcomed the settingup of the South-east Regional Funders’ Forum that I and my colleague from Lloyds TSB initiated, and which Community Fund manages and hosts. The main focus of the forum is to improve our service to potential applicants. Current membership includes representatives from the South East England Development Agency and the Government Office for the South East, all the Lottery distributors and the major trust funds active in the region. This demonstrates CF’s commitment to joined-up thinking and action. 

SEERA was disappointed that the priorities that the SE region consulted on did not reflect ‘agreed’ regional strategies already in place. He referred in particular to the assembly’s regional sustainable development framework. I have searched this document in vain to find any reference to the voluntary sector or to the Community Fund as a regional partner. If the Community Fund had been consulted, the document may have included reference to the invaluable contribution that the voluntary sector can make in tackling disadvantage, and the considerable level of funding that Community Fund contributes to the region. Exactly the same point can be made about the Social Inclusion Statement. 

The point I am making is that ‘joined up’ is both ways. In the south east, where external sources of funding are limited, strategies are being developed by agencies such as SEERA and SEEDA that do not have the funds to deliver. Every funder has its own focus and therefore needs to be engaged at an early stage in the development of regional strategies in order to identify its contribution, or to re-focus funds to meet a particular need. Good examples of this in the region are Community Fund’s involvement in developing the cultural strategy, and the participation of Community Fund in the basic skills regional coordination network. 

Regionalisation is in its infancy. Agencies are currently exploring the territory and identifying the contribution they can make to the improvement in the lives of people living in the region. We are all committed to the partnership principle. It is up to all agencies to ensure that it works.