Funding fears: 'Decades of work are being undermined'

IT is claimed adhering to guidelines set out in the Fairer Scotland fund will have a devastating effect on some of Edinburgh's poorest communities.

Failure to meet the criteria laid down means that many voluntary groups face having their funding axed or substantially reduced. It could not come at a worse time as the council has already cut funding to many organisations throughout the city which provide valuable services, particularly in less well-off areas.

Hard though it will be for many organisations to continue to provide the level of service they have been used to, the harsh reality is that many have already fallen by the wayside buried in the shifting sands of how cash to tackle deprivation and encourage regeneration has been allocated in recent times. Edinburgh has not always fared well in these shake-ups.

Only two years ago many groups were dealt a hammer blow as the Scottish Executive sought to redefine what deprivation meant. As a result the Capital – which was overall deemed to be more prosperous than many parts of the West – lost out on £30 million of funding for vulnerable people at a time when Glasgow was awarded an extra £22m.

The Executive claimed the new system was "fairer" and ensured money was given to parts of the country where it was most needed. But it seemed to fly in the face of research conducted through The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation which showed that Edinburgh – at seven per cent – had a bigger share of Scotland's most deprived neighbourhoods than it did in 1994.

Certainly, claims that millions of pounds being pumped into the city's deprived areas were being squandered were given some credibility by Paul Nolan, the head of the agency charged with tackling poverty in Craigmillar. He admitted the Craigmillar Partnership, which had spent £20m in ten years trying to improve life in the area, had wasted millions on paying wages and fees to middle-class professionals who had made little difference to the quality of life.

But critics of the Fairer Scotland fund claim there is now a risk that funding will be withdrawn from organisations that really are making a difference on the ground. And while some of the aims, such as supporting initiatives which improve prospects for children and reduce crime are laudable, decades of work to encourage regeneration are being undermined by the switch in emphasis.

Certainly it is vital that all monies available are put to the best use. But if the Government and council ever wish to see deprived communities standing on their own feet, ending a system which has seen them come to rely for decades on hand-outs, it is vital that funding for programmes which help break this circle are not withdrawn solely on the grounds they do not meet rigid criteria.