December 8, 2010
A Listening Lottery
Two pieces of really positive news from the Big Lottery. Two new funds are to be launched next year and the focus of both seems to reflect that they have really listened during their Big Thinking consultation carried out last year. One will be aimed at helping communities to improve their public /shared spaces – provisionally called Community Spaces. The other appears to more radical and will be delivered by a new independent Trust specially created for the purpose of investing in bottom up regeneration of some of Scotland’s most deprived communities
The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) wants to set up a new £15 million Trust in Scotland to help disadvantaged urban communities most affected by serious economic decline, market failure and disadvantage to become stronger and more sustainable, through their own efforts. The JESSICA (Scotland) Trust will invest in projects that create opportunities for local people and community-led organisations to develop locally owned, led and controlled assets that will lead to local regeneration. By working in this way BIG will ensure that change and development are strongly shaped by the communities
concerned. The JESSICA (Scotland) Trust projects will need to demonstrate that they can bring together agencies and communities to develop a common
approach to activities and funding, and to ensure that local people have a genuine say in developing their communities. The JESSICA (Scotland) Trust will invest in projects that deliver community assets or assets under
community control where they meet BIG’s outcomes agenda. Once established, the JESSICA (Scotland) Trust will be an independent body working to the stated objectives. The Trust will be governed by a Board of Trustees, who will take the key investment decisions related to its funds as
well as being responsible for the JESSICA (Scotland) Trust’s governance.
The JESSICA (Scotland) Trust is targeted at geographic neighbourhoods of greatest disadvantage (13 designated areas) in Scotland. The 13 local authority areas listed below have been identified as being eligible for support from the JESSICA (Scotland) Trust. The areas’ eligibility will be reviewed every year and any additional area that might become eligible under review may be added to the list of targeted areas. Equally, one of these thirteen
areas could be changed over the life of the JESSICA (Scotland) Trust.
Clackmannanshire
Dundee
East Ayrshire
Edinburgh
Fife
Glasgow
Inverclyde
North Ayrshire
North Lanarkshire
Renfrewshire
South Lanarkshire
West Dunbartonshire
West Lothian.
Our approach
We want to provide certainty, longevity and a model that can invest and re invest for the long-term benefit of communities. To do this we have decided to
set up a new independent Trust and give it £15 million to invest and spend
over the next 10 years. An independent Trust can plan for the long-term, get money to where it’s needed most and respond quickly to new issues. It can be flexible and respond in different ways, including giving out grants, providing loans, tendering for services or recruiting staff to carry out its
work. A Trust can also raise money from other sources to add to the funds provided by BIG.
The Trust’s powers will have a deliberately narrow focus on distribution of funds to ensure that any investment made is targeted at the designated areas, but wide enough so that the Trust can consider and support any
appropriate aspect of such proposals.