Cuts to funding for community projects in West Sussex opposed as crowdfunding system branded '˜rubbish'

Cabinet member Debbie Kennard has been urged to drop the cuts to Community Initiative Funding

West Sussex County Council has been asked to hold back on plans to cut a community funding grant in half.

The Community Initiative Fund (CIF) allows the 11 County Local Committees (CLCs) to give cash to community projects – and the county wants to cut its budget from £280k to £140k.

The CIF looks set to be the latest victim in West Sussex’s battle to cut its spending by £145m over the next four years – and the plans divided opinion at a select committee meeting in Chichester on Monday (January 14).

While some members called for the CIF budget to be cut completely, others were furious with the whole idea.

Daniel Purchese said: Theres a lot of organisations that are after small amounts of money who dont necessarily have the time, ability or whatever to go through a crowdfunding process."

George Barton (Con, Sompting & North Lancing) said: “Why is it always the customer that suffers? We’re always taking something away from them or charging them more for something. There are other ways of saving £140,000.”

In April, the council changed the way groups applied for CIF grants, introducing its own crowdfunding platform – West Sussex Crowd – through which all applications were processed.

The system, which is due to be reviewed in the spring, allows businesses and other organisations to pledge their own funding to the projects.

While £118,000 has been contributed, figures put before the committee showed that the number of CIF applications received and funded had fallen significantly.

Questions were raised about the difficulty of using the new system, especially for smaller groups.

Daniel Purchese (Lib Dem, Rustington) said: “There’s a lot of organisations that are after small amounts of money who don’t necessarily have the time, ability or whatever to go through a crowdfunding process.

“And quite frankly, if they did they would do it through one of the mainstream providers and not have to jump through our hoops.”