ALMOST 20 projects for elderly or vulnerable people in the borough are set to miss out on funding.
From the East London and West Essex Guardian.
7th September 2010.
“Redbridge Council was hoping to receive a total of £5.8 million from the Government to help fund vital projects in the borough but the council is now likely to receive just under £3 million.
Tonight Redbridge Council’s cabinet is due to meet and one of the items up for discussion is the Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA).
Under the LPSA a host of projects were started in the borough last year and as they proved a success it meant the council became eligible to receive a substantial Government grant, in total £5.8 million.
The first payment, of £2.3 million, was made to the authority in March and the rest of the grant was due to be paid in March next year.
In total 19 projects are in need of funding but the grant has been scaled back by Government as it attempts to address the nation’s deficit.
One of the projects which is set to be hit by the Government decision is the Age Well initiative which provides exercise classes for the elderly, run by Age Concern.
Gary Heather, a senior manager with Age Concern in Redbridge, said the application for £50,000 was to help keep the Age Well initiative running at its current level.
Council officers have looked at what the authority can afford and it had been recommended the project receives £25,000 instead of £50,000.
Mr Heather said: “We assumed we were getting it and we had hoped for more initially.
“On paper the project doesn’t work without the funding, it’s future will depend on whether our board would want to carry on supporting it through our reserve funding, which in today’s climate there might be other calls for that money.”
Mr Heather said Age Well is run across the borough and provides health promotion advice and exercise classes for the elderly.
He said: “It’s very social and we have about 100 older people who benefit from classes which include tai chi, line dancing, walking, chair-based exercises and more.”
Mr Heather said £25,000 has been spent on the project since the start of the year so if another £25,000 is given by the council it will cover the next six months but classes would face an uncertain future after that.
Another service likely to be affected is Redbridge Concern for Mental Health‘s new programme Befriending Service for People with Dementia.
The initiative is at the centre of an application for £60,000 and it has been recommended that £30,000 is given.
The project, which has been running for about six months but it is in its infancy, aims to recruit and train volunteers who befried elderly residents in the borough who are alone and living with dementia……”
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