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Voluntary and community groups and organisations in Thanet have been asked for their views on how the council believes it could support them in the future.

Thanet District Council has been looking at its process for allocating grants and has now put forward a series of proposals, which if accepted by the voluntary sector, will then go forward for approval by the council’s Cabinet.

The proposals would see grants for events considered separately, with concessionary rents phased out. Support would be given to voluntary and community groups through Community Partnership Agreements. These would set out what groups could expect from the council and vice versa. Amongst the support the council would be offering would be meeting rooms, help with printing literature, access to a web based grant finder site and officer time.

In order to qualify for a Community Partnership Agreement, organisations would need to have policies in place, covering areas such as health and safety, evidence of sound financial management, support from ward or parish councillors and would need to be signed up to the Thanet Compact, which provides a clear framework for how the council works with the voluntary and community sector. They would also need to demonstrate close collaboration with other organisations working in the same sector.

Cllr. Jo Gideon, Cabinet Member for Safer Neighbourhoods, Health and Communities, said: “It’s been clear for some time that we need to change our grants process. Put simply, it takes up a huge amount of time for our community partners to complete the paperwork and for us to administer the system. Everyone involved in the process previously has also acknowledged how difficult it is to deal with the diverse range of requests for funding that we get. There is simply no easy way to compare the work of different organisations and that puts all of us who have to make decisions on grants in a very difficult position. Many applicants are disappointed each year and feel let down by us. My priority since taking responsibility for our community partnerships has been to identify a fairer and more beneficial system for the many organisations which work with our residents to make Thanet a better place. The result is a radical rethink of our relationship and a recognition that we have a major role to play in supporting each other’s work, but this needs to be in a different way from the past.

“In the current economic climate, the amount of money the council has to allocate in the future is diminishing. We need to work smarter and more effectively. That’s why we’ve come up with these proposals, which look at different ways we can support voluntary and community groups. It’s important to stress that only if these proposals meet with the voluntary sector’s approval will they then go on to Cabinet for a decision. They’re intended to benefit voluntary and community groups and we want to ensure that happens.”