How Much will New Councils Fund Community Development?

• Community Support Programme

As the new ‘super' councils have been announced the team at Grant Tracker have compared the current community support programme budgets of the all councils that will merge. Will the new councils agree on the level of grant funding that community organisations in their area will receive? How great is the difference in funding commitments to the voluntary and community sector in the new councils.

Based on figures obtained by NICVA last year from all 26 local councils in Northern Ireland, NICVA created a table of the most - and least generous councils in terms of their financial commitment to the community support programme. From this table we have compared the budgets of merged councils looking at the amount each council contributes from rate payers in its own area and the amount it then provides in an open grants programme to community and voluntary organisations.  Derry for example will merge with Strabane - one of the least generous contributors from rates with one of the most. How will the new council when it merges affect contributions to support communities in their boundaries?

Castlereagh Borough Council did not provide any funding in an open grants programme in 2008 however Lisburn provided 28%, worth £273,800 of their overall budget in this way. How will the new council choose to manage grants?

For a summary of how the merged councils community support programme budgets compare see the list below. The full table of CSP budgets is attached.

Belfast City Council

Belfast City Council will remain on its own in the new council structure. In 2008 it was ranked the 7th highest contributor from rates to the Community Support Programme. Its grant programme totalled £2,311,589.

Derry and Strabane District Council

Derry City Council was ranked 20th for its contributions to the community support programme in 2008 - matching the grant from DSD by 138%. A grants budget of £306,000 was however one of the highest percentages of total allocation to a council grants programme (27%). Strabane District Council was the 2nd most generous council in 2008 contributing £1,604,877 on top of a DSD grant of £209,401. Their grant programme totalled £103,498 (65).

If Strabane and Derry were to combine their total it would make a grants budget of £409,498.

Armagh City and Bann District

The Armagh City and Bann District council will combine the councils of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon. In 2008 they were ranked 25th, 14th and 12th respectively in terms of generosity from rates to the community support programme.

Armagh provided a grants programme worth 7% of their budget of their overall budget  of £186,503. Armagh matched the DSD grant by only 109%. Banbridge and Craigavon proved more generous matching the DSD grant by 255% and 333% respectively and each contributing 8% and 7% respectively to a grants programme. The combined total if Armagh Craigavon and Banbridge were to combine their current grants budget would be worth £121,400.

Lisburn City and Castlereagh District Council

Lisburn City Council were ranked 16th and Castlereagh 23rd in the amount of contribution from rates to the Community Support Programme. Castlereagh provided no budget for grants (the only council to do so) in 2008 whereas Lisburn provided 28% (£273,800) of their overall budget to a grants programme - the joint highest percentage.

Newry City and Down District

Newry were ranked 10th and Down District 5th for overall contributions from rates to the community support programme. Newry provided £100,000 for a grants programme (10%) and Down £110,000 (16%) making a combined total of £210,000 for their grants programme if they were to simply combine these programmes.

Antrim and Newtownabbey District Council

Antrim were ranked 3rd overall and Newtownabbey 6th both contributing over 5 times the amount of grant received from DSD. Of this total Antrim provided 10% to a grants programme and Newtownabbey 19% making a combined total of £259,558.

Ards and North Down District Council

Ards provided £400,979 from rates to more than match the DSD grant of £114,912 (349%). North Down were ranked even higher than Ards' respectable 11th place in 4th for contributing £712,489 from rates to the Community Support Programme. Both councils contributed 4% of this total to a grants programme making a combined total of £54,195

Causeway Coast District

The Causeway Coast District will combine the councils of  Limavady, Coleraine, Moyle and Ballymoney ranked 24th, 8th, 18th,  and 15th respectively. Only Limavady council didn't double or more the contribution from the DSD grant. Limavady provided 19% of their overall programme to a grants programme (£26,373), Coleraine 9% (£48,960), Moyle 3% (£3,500) and Ballymoney 14% (£16,500). This would make a combined total for the new council of £95,333.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council

Fermanagh were ranked 19th in 2008 and Omagh 17th for their contribution from rates to the community support programme. Both just about doubling the amount received in grant aid from the Department of Social Development. Their grants programme from the overall budget amounted to £46,000 (16%) and £95,000 (22%) respectively making a combined total of £141,000

Mid-Antrim District

Mid-Antrim District will bring together the councils of Ballymena, Larne and Carrickfergus (although Antrim is in the name it is not in the council). Ballymena were ranked 13th, Larne 22nd and Carrickfergus 1st* for contributions to the community support programme from rates. Ballymena provided 3% of their total in a grants programme while Larne provided 17% and Carrickfergus 9%. When combined this provides a total figure of £97,637

Mid-Ulster District

The Mid-Ulster District combines Magherafelt, Cookstown and Dungannon who respectively were ranked 26th, 21st and 9th among all the councils for contributions to the community support programme from rates. Figures provided by Magherafelt should a match of only 59% which we didn't think was possible as councils were expected to at least match the grant from DSD. Of the budget available to them in the community support programme councils provided a grants programme of £20,000 in Magherafelt (19%), £37,500 in Cookstown (22%) and £30,000 (10%) in Dungannon. This would make a combined total of £87,500 for all three councils.

All figures were requested from each of the 26 councils (some requiring reference to the freedom of information act) When the list was compiled it was shared with each of the councils and DSD. DSD queried the final table but were unable to provide an alternative table or to exemplify any areas of inaccuracy.

*Carrickfergus disputed the figures quoted in the table (even though it was them who gave them to us) but would not or could provide us with what they considered the correct figures.