Gardening project hit with cuts bombshell (From Echo)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting ECHONEWS to 80360, or email us »
Gardening project hit with cuts bombshell
4:00pm Thursday 2nd September 2010 in
HUGE funding cuts have hit a popular project for people with mental health problems and seven out of eight staff must go.
The Growing Together scheme, which has been running in allotments off Fairfax Drive, Westcliff, for ten years, provides horticultural therapy to patients.
However, a £105,000 annual cut means redunduncies are now a formality.
Project volunteer Maureen Frewin has the job of securing alternative funding and identifying budget cuts.
She said: “We are very aware we are working in a climate of cuts, but we want to ensure we survive and make sure we make cuts in the right places.
“We will be making significant reductions in staff and we have served seven of the eight staff with redundancy notices, but we hope all the volunteers will still stay on.”
The project has 12 volunteers and Mrs Frewin said the only reason one staff member had been saved was thanks to a donation from Lloyds TSB.
She said: “We have just secured funding of £20,000 for two years which means we can definitely keep on a member of staff.”
The project received £70,000 a year for three years from a lottery grant, which ends in November. About £30,000 a year was supplied by the primary care trust, plus £15,000 a year from Southend Council.
Now the grant has come to an end, funding from the trust has been stopped and the council has reduced its annual sum from £15,000 to £10,000.
Running costs for the scheme total £130,000 a year, with about £109,000 spent out on staff salaries.
Mrs Frewin, of Steyning Avenue, Southend, added: “The funding we got from the trust was for two years, but we did hope it would have continued on a lower level.”
Comments(10)
SARFENDMAN
says...
5:20pm Thu 2 Sep 10
torridpiper
says...
5:23pm Thu 2 Sep 10
Colleen G wrote:What a stupid thing to suggest:
If we really must make cuts why not make the biggest savings of all by dumping the bloated, excessive and flatulant bums posing as MPs these days. If we were to nuke the houses of commons their demise would not be missed in the slightest and the savings would be grand for sure.
Nuke the MP's, get real Collon that will cause radiation poisoning for millions around Parliament.
Another idea would be brick them up inside and leave them there.
steve@eastwood
says...
7:19pm Thu 2 Sep 10
I would suggest that the governers/trustees should have people on board that have enough drive to act upon this situation before it got this bad.
Everybody knows the current financial climate and maybe more work should of been done to prevent this. At the end of the day it will be the local people with mental health conditions that suffer, not the governers/trustees.
daveyboy25
says...
10:34pm Thu 2 Sep 10
Cockle
says...
11:29pm Thu 2 Sep 10
In the same period the PCT have withdrawn their grant at a time when Southend Hospital have admitted paying out £880K for consultancies. Different parts of the Health Service I know but just shows that the cuts are falling on the vulnerable while the big fat snouts are still snuffling around nicely in the public feeding trough filled with OUR money......
Tough times ahead for some but not for the lucky few who know the right people......
anon anon
says...
7:30am Fri 3 Sep 10
Colleen G wrote:your not very well educated are you..
If we really must make cuts why not make the biggest savings of all by dumping the bloated, excessive and flatulant bums posing as MPs these days. If we were to nuke the houses of commons their demise would not be missed in the slightest and the savings would be grand for sure.
the stereotypical of all whats wrong with this country, enjoy your sad life.......
Firestorm
says...
12:48pm Fri 3 Sep 10
the Lottery Grant was for three years, the PCT Grant for two, so the only "Cut" is the reducing in the council Funding from 15K to 10K
The remainder of the loss of income was entirely expected .
And how on earth do they spend 109K on Salaries when they are staffed by 12 volunteers. Alternatively maybe one of the salaried staff should be tasked with the job of securing alternative funding and identifying budget cuts, the incentive to perform would certainly be there
steve@eastwood
says...
7:08pm Fri 3 Sep 10
steve@eastwood
says...
7:08pm Fri 3 Sep 10
More Local News stories
- Danny’s future looking bright after game show
- Man, 26, arrested in taxi stabbing case
- Homeless man saved from burning building in Southend
- Only 5 years in jail? Is that all for killing my little boy
- Elderly had to pay twice for rubbish
- Ed’s tyre feat drives him round the bend
- Appeal for driver who injured teenager in Rochford
- Missing person found in Shoebury after police search
- MP Amess blasts Thames Estuary airport plan
- Fake banknotes crop up in Leigh
Facing cuts – volunteers and clients in the Growing Together scheme’s allotments plot
Most popular
Local Information
Enter your postcode, town or place name
Colleen G says...
4:10pm Thu 2 Sep 10