charities

Reporting local life since 1854 37pMonday, August 8, 2011

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BETTER DEAL FOR WOODY? BAC KPAG E

‘Village green’bids discussedTWO public inquiries are dueto start today to determinewhether a country park and acommunity space should beprotected from developers.

The applications for ‘villa g eg reen’ status were first lodgedin 2009 by action groupsfighting plans to build aschool at either AdderleyGreen or Park Hall.

It was later agreed to buildthe new Discovery Academy,in Bentilee.

But both village green bidsare still being pursued toprotect the land for good.

One of the sites is Park HallCountry Park and theneighbouring golf course. Theother is off Anchor Road, inAdderley Green.

Both inquiries will be heldin tandem at Stoke-on-TrentCity Council’s Civic Centre, inGlebe Street, Stoke, fromt o d ay.

The Adderley Green inquiryis scheduled for two days,while the Park Hall hearingshould run until Wednesday.

Jade in modelshow final 10FORMER student JadeThompson is aiming to be theUK’s next supermodel.

The 20-year-old fromBentilee has made it throughto the final 10 of Britain andI re l a n d ’s Next Top Model.

Jade can now be seen everyMonday night on Sky Living,in the show fronted byAustralian supermodel ElleMacpherson. She stands towin a modelling contract, acar, a holiday to Jamaica anda Miss Selfridge photo shoot.See Page 5

CHARITIES£2m OUTOF POCKET

Organisations forced to lay off workers

BY ALEX CAMPBELLalex.campbell@thesentinel.co.uk

CHARITIES and voluntarygroups across North Stafford-shire and South Cheshire havehad more than £2 million offunding cut by councils.

New figures reveal somelocal authorities have sharplyreduced their direct grants tograss roots organisations aspart of their own multi-millionpound spending cuts.

Stoke-on-Trent City Councilpaid more than £1.27 million tocharities in 2009 but providedjust £661,000 this year.

Staffordshire County Coun-cil has cut its contributions by£78,000 since 2009 to £532,000. Ithas also reduced its funding forvarious voluntary youthschemes by £175,000.

The authority has also pulled£100,000 funding for Newpak, afactory employing disabledworkers, severing a long-termagreement and leaving itunder threat of closure.

Many charities havebeen forced to lay off staffand cut services as coun-cil funding reductionshave been matchedby reductionsfrom othersources, includ-

ing the European Social Fundand central Government.

The city council said it wasswitching to commissioningservices from charities – p ay -ing them for specific workwhen it is needed – but manycould miss out.

The Citizens Advice Bureau(CAB) in Stoke-on-Trent haslost 12 workers and reducedsome services.

Its funding from the citycouncil has fallen from £418,000in 2008/09 to £306,500 this year.

Chief executive Simon Har-ris, pictured, said: “We ’re try-ing to do the same with less, butit is difficult.

“The demand for our ser-vices has been very high so thecuts generally have really comeat the wrong time.” “

Voluntary Action Stoke-on-Trent, which provides con-sultation and support for othercharities across NorthStaffordshire, has seen its

funding from the city coun-cil fall from almost£100,000 two years ago to£50,000.

The organisation hasbeen forced to make 12redundancies and intro-

duce charges for someof its services.

Figures show New-

castle Borough Council hasreduced funding from £585,000for charities and voluntarygroups in 2009 to £387,000 thisye a r.

The council said the reduc-tions were the result of aplanned programme to reducethe number of services it com-missions from local charities.

In 2010/11, Cheshire EastCouncil’s spent £5.9 million onpayments to charities for con-tracts and commissionedwo rk .

Funding allocated for 2011/12 totals £4.7 million, with 31groups waiting for news of thisye a r ’s funding, which dependson a six-month review intoch i l d re n’s services commis-sioning.

Staffordshire Moorlands Dis-trict Council paid £220,000 toeight groups and is not cuttingthe budget this year.

Stafford Borough Councilhas paid £191,000 to 10 charitiesand voluntary organisations ineach of the last two financialyears. It will make the samepayments in 2011/12.

What do you think? Email usat letters@thesentinel.co.uk

Cuts put services under threat:Page 6

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