This meeting of the North West multi-ward forum included the allocation of funding from the Cleaner Greener Safer and Neighbourhoods Fund schemes, as well as the Devolved Highways programme. The meeting also included the review and potential adoption of the minutes of the previous meeting of the forum. Please note that this summary is based on the meeting agenda and the reports pack provided to the attendees, and so it does not describe what was discussed, or what was decided at the meeting.

Allocation of Neighbourhoods Fund Money

The most significant item on the agenda was the allocation of revenue funding to local community projects from the Neighbourhoods Fund. The Neighbourhoods Fund (NsF) provides each ward in the borough with £10,000 per councillor to be spent on projects that meet one of four criteria:

a. Creating opportunities for people from different backgrounds to get on well together; (e.g. community cohesion) b. Establishing projects which treat each other with respect and consideration (e.g. being a good neighbour, inter-generational contacts) c. Encouraging residents to be responsible for their own neighbourhood (e.g. community clean-ups; volunteering initiatives) d. Specific measures to enhance a neighbourhood’s environment (e.g. increased cleaning).

Applications for funding came from a wide range of groups and organisations from across all four wards covered by the forum: Borough & Bankside, Chaucer, London Bridge & West Bermondsey and St Georges. There were 11 applications for funding from groups in Borough & Bankside ward, 14 from Chaucer, 25 from London Bridge & West Bermondsey, and 15 from St Georges, making 65 in total.

Most applications were for amounts of less than £5,000, however, there were 7 applications for amounts of over £8,000:

• An application for £8,000 from the Bankside Open Spaces Trust for a festival to be held in Red Cross Garden.

• An application for £9,000 from the Bermondsey Street Festival Community Interest Company for the 2025 Bermondsey Street Festival.

• An application for £54,750 from Bermondseystreet.London for additional street cleaning on Bermondsey Street.

• An application for £8,000 from Betty’s Baby Bank for supplies for their baby bank.

• An application for £20,450 from Entelechy Arts for a project called 'Walking Through Walls'.

• An application for £60,000 from the PE and School Sports Network for their SEND Saturday Sports Club.

• An application for £10,000 from Musical Mayhem London CIC for their bursary fund.

In total the forum was scheduled to allocate £114,956 to local projects, with an additional £4,956 in unallocated funds carried forward from previous years.

Allocation of Cleaner Greener Safer Money

The next most significant item on the agenda was the allocation of capital funding to local projects from the Cleaner Greener Safer scheme. This scheme provides funding for permanent, physical changes and improvements to an area. In this case, the forum was scheduled to allocate £254,261.

The report pack included a list of 55 projects that had applied for funding from the four wards covered by the forum, 24 from Borough and Bankside, 12 from Chaucer, 11 from London Bridge & West Bermondsey, and 8 from St Georges.

Allocation of Devolved Highways Money

The forum was also scheduled to allocate £168,467 of funding for highways improvements from the Devolved Highways programme. This funding is allocated to be spent by Multi-Ward areas on their priorities for highway renewal and maintenance that may not be prioritised as part of the borough-wide programme.

The report pack included a list of 15 applications from residents for highways improvements:

• Blackfriars Green Network
• Bike Parking on Park Street
• Living Bankside Signage and Greening
• Vine Yard Cobblestone Restoration
• America St Cobblestone Restore and History Sign
• Planting on Great Suffolk Street by Vodafone
• Speed bumps on Manciple St and Weston St
• Greening Wheeler Way
• Druid Street Green Link
• Druid Street Greening
• Pages Walk
• Greening Boyfield Street
• Underground Bins for a Greener, Cleaner Oswin St

It also contained a list of unallocated funding carried over from the previous year:

• £1,295 in Chaucer ward
• £7,095 in Borough and Bankside ward
• £20,396 in St. George's ward

As well as a list of proposals from council officers:

• Bermondsey Street - Footway Planter - costing £3,000

Adoption of Previous Minutes

The final item on the agenda was the adoption of the minutes of the previous meeting of the forum, which was held on 26 March 2024. The minutes show that at that meeting the forum approved allocations from the Cleaner Greener Safer, Devolved Highways and Neighbourhoods Fund schemes, and that attendees heard presentations from a number of community groups who had applied for funding.