Removal of remaining funding supporting neighbourhood action

We asked

We asked you for your views on proposed changes to the funding Bristol City Council offers to support neighbourhood action which would reduce the budget for this service by £257k in 2018/19.

This proposal was part of £52m of proposed savings across the council’s activities identified for the year 2018/19. You can see the full list of proposed savings over the next five years as part of our Corporate Strategy and Budget Consultation 2018-2023.

You said

The consultation on removal of remaining funding supporting neighbourhood action closed on 17 December 2017. We received 239 responses to this consultation, the results of which are available in appendix C of the Corporate Strategy 2018-2023 and Budget consultation report.

We did

The consultation feedback was taken into consideration in developing final recommendations for how to deliver the service in future. The proposals were put to the Mayor and Cabinet on 23 January 2018 to make a decision. The proposals and the Cabinet decisions are available in full in the Cabinet agenda papers.

Details of the Cabinet decision on removal of remaining funding supporting neighbourhood action are listed below.

Cabinet agreed:

• To make a saving of £257k by withdrawing the small grants fund.
• To make available one-off budget of up to £50,000 to help mitigate the impact on areas which face greater challenges of inequality and deprivation and where there is limited access to community and voluntary organisations which can help. This funding will be used to increase social action and support communities to become more self-sufficient in identifying funding and accessing resources. How this budget will be allocated will be agreed with the Exec Member.
• When the Bristol Impact Fund small grants process is reviewed in 18/19 consideration will be given to the impact of removing the neighbourhood action fund.