Veolia Environmental Trust funding

Veolia are encouraging applications to their environmental trust, which supports environmental and community projects by awarding grants through the Landfill Communities Fund.  Projects supported include improving community halls, creating new play areas and skate parks, and restoring green spaces.  There is also a fund for “creative, adventurous, exciting and ambitious ideas that will make a difference to people’s lives”.

Their website clearly explains the funding process and there is a phone number to ask questions. The next funding round requires submissions by 3 August 2012 with funds to be released by mid-Dec 2012.

Be part of running Children’s Services

Over the last year the council has been working with a wide range of residents, service users and partners to develop a cooperative approach to running services in the following areas of children’s services:

• Youth centres
• Adventure playgrounds
• Stay and Play One O’clock clubs, and
• Young and Safe (a project for young people who are at risk of serious youth offending).

The next step is to set up a Young Lambeth cooperative that will oversee some services for children including play and youth. We want young people, parents, local residents, groups and organisations to help us do this.

If you are interested in being involved in the Young Lambeth cooperative and helping to run better services for children in Lambeth, please register your interest.

For more information, visit the Lambeth Council website.

Delivering children’s, youth and play services

Children’s, youth and play services are becoming some of the first to move to new models of ownership. The message below encouraging people to get involved is publicised across Lambeth over the next couple of weeks. If anyone is interested in being involved there are contact details at the end of the message. You can also find out more details about this project, and the other ‘early adopters’ on the council website.

Lambeth is becoming a cooperative council and is committed to a new way of working. Over the past few months we have been working with a wide range of partners and stakeholders to develop a cooperative approach to service delivery in the following areas:

• Youth centres
• Adventure playgrounds
• Stay and Play One O’clock clubs, and
• Young and Safe (a project for young people who are at risk of serious youth offending).

This approach will see collaboration between different stakeholders and be defined by:

• Localism – engagement and involvement of local communities
• Co–production – so that local communities and stakeholders are involved in deciding what and how services should be delivered
• Developing cooperative models for service delivery that include mutual’s, lead partner organisations, friends of groups
• Community commissioning – local people deciding which services should be commissioned to support young people.

If you are interested in becoming involved in the delivery of these services, or working with others to deliver them, please call 020 7926 3778 or email cooperativecouncil@lambeth.gov.uk by Friday 9 December 2011.