Lisburn council to invest more than £280,000 in pandemic-hit community facilities

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council has announced £280,000 worth of funding to support community groups across the region which have been affected by the pandemic.
Mayor Nicholas Trimble proposed the report with Alliance Alderman Amanda Grehan seconding the proposalMayor Nicholas Trimble proposed the report with Alliance Alderman Amanda Grehan seconding the proposal
Mayor Nicholas Trimble proposed the report with Alliance Alderman Amanda Grehan seconding the proposal

Councillors passed the proposals at a recent meeting of the Leisure and Community Wellbeing Committee.

The Community Facilities Fund Programme is a grant scheme to support minor capital works and repairs and implementation of digital solutions to help facilities further engage with the local community.

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The aim of the scheme is to improve, upgrade or refurbish community facilities to help increase opportunities in their local areas. Adaptations can include upgrades to electrics, doors, windows, kitchen, toilets, conversion from oil to gas and I.T installations.

Upgrades to car parks, roads and equipment purchases that are not part of larger capital are among applications that will not be considered, the council said.

The funding will be divided into six pots of £40,000 each to be distributed equally to the seven District Electoral Areas (DEAs). Council Officer Angela McCann said it was hoped that the launch of the scheme could commence next month before application would be reviewed in the summer.

She added: “Community facilities provide local access to a range of important services and have come to the forefront over the last year with the focus on activity in response to the need of communities during the pandemic.

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“What we are proposing is that the grants have a minimum value of £5,000, with a maximum of up to £10,000 per application. “The applications will open in late June but I am hoping that it will be sooner than that if we get approval to go forward to allow for the assessment of applications by early August with a full report being brought back by September.”

Mayor Nicholas Trimble proposed the report with Alliance Alderman Amanda Grehan seconding the proposal.