Islington Tribune - News: Primary schools to lose

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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 28 December 2007

Primary schools to lose £152,000 in the regeneration game

Funding body is warned to protect its reputation

A REGENERATION body charged with handling millions of pounds of government cash earmarked for Finsbury has had to tear up its spending promises.
EC1 New Deal for Communities (NDC) says it has received too many requests for cash and has had to slash back its spending plans.
Proposals to spend money on primary schools and youth and health services were trimmed back at its December board meeting when £400,000 of planned expenditure was cut.
Islington’s Liberal Democrat leisure chief Councillor Ruth Polling, who sits on the board of the regeneration body said that it should “stagger” the fear that spending would be reduced to protect its reputation.
Cllr Polling said: “At the end of the next financial year there will be a huge cut and the area will be really hit. We have to understand the real damage. . .
“There will be pain here and it’s about staggering that fear so we don’t take it all at once and the NDC reputation is seriously damaged,” she added.
The NDC board has £3.1 million to spend next year but bids for funding exceed this by more than £1 million.
It is to cut £152,000 from its planned spending on primary education, which funds teaching assistants and after-school projects at five Finsbury schools.
Its healthy lifestyle budget will lose £100,000.
Other areas to suffer cuts include youth services and schemes to get adults back into work and training.
Residents’ board member David Hyams questioned the long-term value of giving money to primary schools.
He said: “I’m fed up with handing money over to some schools who immediately turn their backs on the community and walk away. Some of these headteachers are not interested in the wider community development.”
An NDC spokeswoman said: “In some areas, there is a decrease in spend – this is largely due to the fact we have already successfully put a considerable amount of investment into these areas, such as our environment projects and primary education.
“All our partners are aware that EC1 NDC funding is finite, both in terms of the amount and duration, and therefore plan for ways in which their work can be sustained.”
NDC’s chief executive Andy Murphy said: “As a result of the board’s decisions, we will be able to better tackle the key problems that remain, while making sure valuable learning and services from our existing projects can be sustained.
EC1 NDC is one of 39 programmes set up by the Government to help bridge the gap between some of the poorest and most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the country.
Up to £52.9 million is to be invested in EC1 over the 10 years to 2011.
Cllr Polling said: “Priority must be given to spending on projects that make a real difference to residents in the three years we have left.”

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