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Jargon-busterThis is a glossary of words and phrases on the site which have a technical meaning or have not yet made it into everyday language. If you find any terms which could do with a definition, please let the webmaster know. You can also find a very useful glossary of European Funding terms if you visit the ESFVON site.
The Community Chest is project-based, aiming to allow communities to develop small projects at a local level. Payments from £50 - £5,000 can be made to support projects or activities, seen to be important to the community. This fund can be used to support a wide range of activities which encourage greater involvement, improve the management of community services or which help improve the neighbourhood or otherwise assist the regeneration of the local area. Projects can therefore include things like: childcare allowing people to take part in local activities; funding for community events; printing community newsletters; buying basic IT equipment; paying for training; assisting with maintenance of play facilities and other community facilities etc. It is not a replacement for funding for staff positions, facilities or other materials. It should also not be viewed as a source of funding for small projects or initiatives. Education Action Zones have been set up by the DfEE
to raise educational standards through the application of a “whole community
approach”. There are five key areas for development, these are; raising
achievement, promoting social inclusion through early intervention, developing a
rewarding and creative environment, supporting school staff and management, and
embedding ICT into the curriculum. Under round two of the EAZ programme Easington
District was awarded two EAZs, one in Easington and Seaham, and the other in
Peterlee. As a Round Two zone, each EAZ receives £550,000 per annum, plus
matched funding for any private sector sponsorship attracted, up to a maximum of
£250,000. Round Two zones started in 1999/2000 and will run for 3 years, with
the potential for an extension to 5 years. The key activities of the Peterlee EAZ are to
improve basic skills, attainment, self-esteem, motivation, and transition
between primary and secondary schools. Involving parents and the community is
also seen as important. The Easington and Seaham EAZ has set out the
following activities; raising standards, developing learning cultures to raise
motivation and expectations, developing innovative use of ICT, and developing
industry links with the EAZ and schools. Employment Action Teams currently operate in 40
areas across Great Britain. Their end date has been extended from October 2001
until March 2004, and the total sum of funding invested over this period is
likely to be just under £170 million. The Easington Action Team for Jobs has approximately £1.5 million available for projects up until mid October, and from them the annual budget will be £790,000. The Action Team targets any jobless person between the ages of 16 and 65 and can offer assistance to overcome barriers to employment such as lack of childcare provision or people required to act as carers for relatives. Support may take the form of grant funding for interview clothing or driving lessons and training courses covering personal development and interview preparation techniques. The Action Team originally covered 5 wards, but their area of operation has been extended to take in 17 out of the 26 wards across the District. The Action Team has comfortably exceeded their targets in the first year and confident of meeting their year two targets. NEIGHBOURHOOD
MANAGEMENT PILOT Neighbourhood Management
aims to help disadvantaged communities and providers of local services to work
together to improve and ‘join up’ services at the community level.
It aims to make services more responsive to local needs and to make sure
that community priorities for improvement are recognised through better
services. Neighbourhood management
will be run by a local partnership with local residents and community groups at
its heart. Local service providers
and businesses can also be involved. The Government has
identified 24 areas across the country which will act as pilots for this
approach. The Coastal Area - Easington Colliery and Horden , has been selected
as one of the pilots. NEIGHBOURHOOD
RENEWAL FUND (NRF) The Neighbourhood Renewal Fund has been set up to
assist the 88 most deprived authorities in England to improve their services and
reduce the gap between themselves and the rest of the country. A total of £200
million in 2001/02, £300 million in 2002/03 and £400 million in 2003/04 has
been set aside to tackle deprivation. A series of floor targets have been created and
authorities are required to make progress towards these targets. The floor
targets set out to increase the educational achievement rate of pupils; increase
the employment rates of the 30 authorities with the poorest initial labour
market position; reduce the domestic burglary rate to less than or no more than
3 times the national average; improve life expectancy rates; reduce teenage
conception rates; and improve the standard of social housing. It is stipulated in the guidance that where service
quality is at risk, then NRF funding is to be used to improve mainstream
services such as schools, providing there is a resulting positive impact on
deprivation. NRF priorities must complement those of the Local Strategic
Partnership. Easington District has been awarded £2.2 million for 2001/02, £3.3 million for 2002/03 and £4.4 million for 2003/04. On Track is a Home Office scheme targeted at
children between 4 and 12, at risk of getting involved in crime. It was
introduced at the end of 1999 across 24 areas in England and Wales defined as
high crime and high deprivation locations. Each area is eligible for £450,000
per annum over seven years. The Easington On Track programme is a partnership-based system that is project managed by the Youth Offending Service. The scheme covers the three wards of Dene House, Acre Rigg and Eden Hill. Broad strategic activities include home visits, pre-school support, parent support and training, home school support workers, family therapy, mentoring, specialist services and home school partnerships. Examples of positive outcomes may include a reduction in the number of unauthorised absences or exclusions from school, and a reduction in the incidence of anti-social behaviour. Rural priority areas can access funds available via the England Rural Development Programme, which aims to tackle social and economic disadvantage in rural areas. Rural Priority Areas have been designated using 10 key indicators of economic and social disadvantage. Initiatives undertaken include ensuring an adequate supply of workspace, providing rural coverage of business support measures, stimulating voluntary action, developing green tourism initiatives and raising the level and quality of rural services to combat isolation. SETTLEMENT
RENEWAL INITIATIVE (SRI) SRIs emerged
from a 1988 appraisal of the East Durham Coalfield, which recommended
concentrating improvement to specific settlements through Village Renewal
Projects. The purpose of SRIs was to provide a focus for integrated regeneration
initiatives comprising a range of projects. These could include capacity
building, environmental improvements, access improvements and community
development. The total funding available at the beginning of the project was
estimated at between £130,000 and £200,000 per annum. Wingate and Station Town was one of the first SRIs established, followed by Murton, Easington Colliery, Horden and Blackhall. The Wingate/Station Town SRI received £300,000 over 3 years, plus a further £200,000 to ensure consistency with the other Easington SRIs coming on board. SINGLE
REGENERATION BUDGET (SRB) SRB was introduced in 1994 with the aim of
integrating a number of different Government Departments in order to simplify
and streamline regeneration support across England. The objective of SRB is to
improve the quality of life of local people by reducing the gap between deprived
and other areas, and between different groups. Bids that attract support will
tend to include some or all of the following elements; improving employment
prospects, improving educational achievements and local skills; reducing social
exclusion; promoting sustainable regeneration through environmental, housing or
infrastructure means; growing local businesses; and improving community safety. Under SRB rounds 1 to 6, over 900 schemes have been
approved representing in excess of £5.5 million of support over the 7-year
lifetime of the schemes. Up to £10 million of additional funding is expected to
be attracted via private sector investment and European funding. Within Easington District £4.6 million was
secured from the SRB 1 scheme during 1994. Once combined with other public and
private investment this provided a pot of £13 million over 7 years. The SRB 1
scheme runs between the August 1995 and March 2002 and prioritises the
regeneration of Seaham and Murton. In September 1999 £26 million was secured for a
county-wide SRB 5 scheme. Easington District received £4.69 million (or £20
million including additional public and private investment) to spend over 6
years. Key project areas for this scheme are Dawdon and Parkside. A further £3.24 million has been secured via SRB 6 and scheduled projects include environmental improvements in Dawdon and Community Safety Partnership schemes. Sure Start is a National Government scheme targeted
at children before and from birth up to the age of 4. By 2004 there will be
approximately 500 Sure Start local schemes operating across England in areas of
high child poverty. £452 million has been invested between 1999/00 and 2001/02,
with a further £580 million set aside for 2001 to 2004. The Sure Start scheme aims to improve social and
emotional development; improve health; improve children’s ability to learn and
strengthen families and communities. Programmes may include reducing the number
of pregnant women who smoke or increasing the use of libraries by families with
young children. Sure Start schemes are operating in Peterlee (Eden Hill, Acre Rigg and Dene House wards), Seaham and Easington (Easington, Grant’s Houses and Horden North and South). The Urban II programme involves the application of
European funds towards tackling urban deprivation and decline. 13 communities
across the UK are eligible for support receiving a total of £70 million. A successful bid (Connecting The Coalfield) was submitted from Easington District Council, City of Sunderland Council and Durham County Council in July 2000 to secure £6 million from the Urban II scheme for regeneration activities within the coalfield areas of Hetton le Hole, Haswell, Murton and South Hetton. The strategic priorities of the scheme include entrepreneurship and employment (e.g. concessionary travel using smart-cards and community businesses), transport and communications, health (e.g. a healthy living centre), and environment and culture. |