Community Action Northumberland | CANNY News January 2012

'CANNY NEWS' bulletins are sent each month, between the quarterly hard copies of CAN News.
As always, if any of the information included might be of interest to your colleagues and friends, please forward this bulletin to them.
We also always welcome any feedback so feel free to contact us.

Contents
An Introduction to Planning
Young People in Our Communities Conference
Rating Relief
County Council Budget 2012-13
Community Sustainable Energy Programme
Places for Everyone
Northumberland Residents' Festival
Saving Energy: Saving Money
Specials Laboratory Fund
Coming Soon - The LDF
Community Buying Challenge Launched
Community Regeneration Toolkit
Congratulations to Hexham River Hydro
Community Resources National Circular
Forum Focus

An Introduction to Planning
The events begin on 24 January so please contact us urgently if you are interested in attending……
A series of events in Northumberland to help people understand about the planning system, and to prepare for the new opportunities offered by the Localism Act 2011.

At each of 5 venues, between 24 January and 21 March, there will be two evening events:

An Introduction to Planning
The Localism Act and Neighbourhood Planning

The events are being sponsored by the Government, via the DCLG Supporting Communities and Neighbourhoods in Planning initiative, which is being administered by CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) and NALC (National Association of Local Councils).

The events are free of charge, and are open to a wide range of interested participants: parish councils, community groups, CPRE members, charities…. and so on.

Each event will run from 6.30pm—9pm, with a light buffet.

Click here for more details

Young People in Our Communities Conference
Urgent Reminder - If you are interested in attending please contact us as soon as possible
Young People in our Communities Conference
Thursday 23^rd February 2012
At Stannington Village Hall
9.30am – 3.30pm

A conference is being organised jointly by CAN and Northumberland Clubs for Young People. For further information and to book a place, please contact Louise Currie or Carol Davison - Tel. 01670 517178 email caroldavison@ca-north.org.uk or louisecurrie@ca-north.org.uk alternatively complete the booking form on CAN website

The event is aimed at people NOT currently engaged in developments that support young people – the target audience is members within the CAN network. This includes members of parish and town councils and committee members and volunteers of village halls/community buildings and Community Associations and groups.

The purpose of the event is to update the CAN network on the exciting developments at NCYP and provide an update on wider work with young people across the county. The day will also provide an opportunity to engage in discussion around providing local solutions to the needs and aspirations of young people.

We do hope that you will be able to attend.

Rating Relief
Since its establishment in April 2009, the new County Council has operated a system to give full or partial relief from NNDR (National Non-Domestic Rates). This relief is available to charities, certain sports clubs, other voluntary sector premises, and certain small businesses in rural areas. The County Council is currently conducting a review of its discounts. The main proposals include:

a ‘lighter-touch’ process for village halls, leisure centres, youth groups and RNLI premises
the ending of discretionary relief for academies and certain other schools
not awarding discretionary relief to any future transfers to the VCS of NCC property
extending Rural Rate Relief.

Any comments should be sent to dale.kirk@northumberland.gov.uk before 6 February.
The proposals will be able to be viewed at http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=6270&article=1778 soon.

County Council budget 2012-13
The County Council has published for consultation a set of budget proposals for the forthcoming year.
As expected, the next several years will see further reductions, of about £10 million pa. This is challenging, although not as severe as the cuts of the last few years (£46 million, £17 million and £29 million).

Adult social care is facing a significant cut, to be achieved largely by the renegotiation of external contracts. Other activities, such as local services, (Highways, Waste, Planning, Property etc) are facing much smaller proportional cuts this time. As we have reported previously, there will be no surprises (ie unexpected whammies) for local councils, and the County Council is also seeking to retain their VCS funding at the same level as the current year.

Cross party discussions are currently ongoing on the merits or otherwise of accepting the Government offer of a one off payment of a 2.5% council tax grant

Following consultation, the full Council will meet on 22 February to finalise the budget and the precept.

Although time is tight, the County Council would welcome comments before 6 February. The proposals can be viewed at http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=6270&article=1778

Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP)
Another (final) round of funding open
Due to the success of the previous 11 rounds CSEP has opened for one more capital funding round.

Applications will be accepted for heat generating technologies and energy efficiency measures only.

CSEP has to date awarded £8.5 million to community-based organisations for the installation of microgeneration technologies, such as solar panels or biomass boilers and energy efficiency measures including loft and cavity wall insulation. It has provided £1 million for project development grants that have helped community organisations decide if they could benefit from a microgeneration and energy efficiency installation.

Deadline for the receipt of completed applications is 5pm Friday 29 February 2012.

For full details visit our website

Places for Everyone – online course in capital development
Are you a North East voluntary or community group or organisation exploring the option of buying, building or redeveloping your own building? If so, don’t miss out on your chance to access an online course offered by Places for Everyone.

The course, which takes approximately eight hours to complete, has been designed to help organisations understand the capital development process and how to overcome any barriers. You will gain a better understanding of what is involved in the process from start to finish including:

Identification of need
The design and building process
Business planning – making the building work for you
Funding – where to start?
Who can help?
Case studies

The course is full of information and advice around all aspects of capital development and is a great way to help you think about how to get your own project off the ground. Places on the programme cost £50+VAT (£60).

The Places for Everyone project is due to come to a close in March 2012 so don’t miss out on your opportunity to access expert support at an extremely low cost.

For more information or to book your place on the course, visit http://www.placesforeveryone.org/course, telephone 0191 438 7999 or email development@pne.org

Places for Everyone is an innovative partnership project developed and delivered by PNE Development, Locality, Mosedale Gillatt Architects and the Pentagon Partnership.

The project is sponsored by One North East's Third Sector Capacity Fund.

Northumberland Residents’ Festival
The date has been set for the Northumberland Residents’ Festival which will take place on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25^th March, 2012.

Over the festival weekend, local residents will be able to enjoy free or discounted entry to many of the top attractions across the county including castles, gardens, stately homes and museums.

Event organiser Northumberland County Council is hoping that residents will take the opportunity to explore the wonderful attractions the county has to offer by putting the date in their diaries now.

The festival aims to give something back to people living in the county and comes at a time when money is tight for so many. Residents will need special vouchers to receive free or discounted entry to the attractions and these will be available from local libraries, council offices, tourist information centres and sports centres from mid-February onwards.

For further information and to find out which attractions are taking part in the festival you can also log on to http://residentsfestival.northumberland.gov.uk or ring 0845 600 6400

Saving energy: Saving money
Over the past two years a part-time case worker with West Tynedale Citizens’ Advice Bureau’s has been employed, with funding from the ScottishPower Energy People Trust, on a fuel efficiency project that has helped local people to secure over £270,000 in benefits and energy saving measures in tackling fuel poverty in the area.

Full story on our Website Forum

Specials Laboratory Fund
The Specials Laboratory fund at the Community Foundation makes grants to support community groups in Prudhoe and surrounding areas which provide activities that focus on health, well-being and social care.

Groups can apply for up to £2,000 for support but general running costs or management overheads; trips abroad, funding for individuals; sponsorship or funding towards large project costs are not permitted.

More information including details on how to apply can be found on our Website

Closing date for the next round is 10 February 2012

Coming Soon – The LDF
The LDF (Local Development Framework) is the main set of planning policies for the area. The County Council, having inherited 6 different LDFs from the predecessor district councils in 2009, is preparing a new LDF. This will not only reconcile any differences between its 6 predecessors, but will also take account of new government thinking, and changing local circumstances. Once adopted, it will cover most of Northumberland, and will sit alongside the LDF which covers the National Park area. The latest LDF is due to be published, for consultation, in April. Watch this space!

Community Buying Challenge Launched
A £60,000 initiative has been launched by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Co-operatives UK to promote community buying models.
Community buying involves groups of individuals combining their buying power to purchase goods or services together and get better deals from shops and other suppliers.
The competition is open to groups and organisations within the public, voluntary or business sectors. Awards will be made to support training, mentoring and seed funding for stand out projects, with a £15,000 prize available for an overall winner.
The prize fund will open in January 2012.

Interested applicants can register for information and learn more about the Challenge from the Forum section of our Website

Community Regeneration Toolkit

The Government has updated and re-published what it describes as a toolkit for community regeneration. It is a handy compilation of a range of government initiatives which impact in various ways on local areas.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/regeneration/pdf/2064899.pdf

Congratulations to Hexham River Hydro
The joint initiative by Hexham Community Partnership and Transition Tynedale aimed at developing a 100 kW community hydro power generation plant on the River Tyne – which has WON the ‘large category’ in the final round of the British Gas/Energyshare poll to secure £100,000 of funding.

The full story at http://www.energyshare.com/hrh/

Community Resources National Circular.

The magazine provides community sector organisations with free advertising and it also aims to signpost to free or low cost resources.

The mailing list exceeds 10,000 organisations across England and includes regional voluntary hubs volunteer centres and local government agencies.

For full details go to www.communityresources.org.uk

Forum Focus

Comic Relief Local Communities Programme
Up to £10,000 for Community Projects, deadline noon on 13th February 2012

Win a Box!
Win an executive box at an NUFC game for charity use.

Youth Mental Health First Aid Course
Supporting young people who might be experiencing mental and emotional distress.

Village SOS National Conference
On Monday 27 February the National Conference for Village SOS will take place in Birmingham.

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