Let’s release this £850,000

Published: 27 May 2011

• MANY local voluntary and community groups are in dire financial need. 

That is why Westminster’s Labour councillors have called on council chief executive Mike More to explain why £850,000 in the council’s Paddington Social and Community Fund (PSCF) has being lying idle in the coffers for many years and has not been invested in local community projects at a time of public sector cuts.

Organisations such as the Paddington Law Centre are in urgent need of financial assistance, while neighbourhood management teams in Queen’s Park, Harrow Road, Westbourne and Church Street wards have had their funding reduced considerably and would benefit from being allocated some of the £850,000.  

The PSCF was established as part of the Paddington Basin Development programme and comprises Section 106 financial contributions from major development projects which have been granted planning permission by the council over the past decade. 

That money belongs to the community. We are now calling on the Mr More to intervene so that the community’s money is unlocked and invested in local projects.

Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg
Leader of the Labour Group