WESTBURY Town councillors are to consider support for the town’s White Horse Day Centre following a planned cut in funding by Wiltshire Council for the county’s day centres. The venues provide a hot lunch and friendship for local elderly people.
At the recent town council finance committee meeting, councillors discussed supporting the day centre with a one-off payment of £3,000 to help with running costs when their grant money from Wiltshire Council is reduced. The proposal will be voted on at the next meeting of the full town council and nothing has been confirmed yet.
Wiltshire Council announced earlier in the year that grants for lunch clubs would be cut in half by 2023 with plans to remove funding completely by 2024 and to replace this with a more modern system. Wiltshire Council will be withdrawing grants totalling up to £118,000 per year.
Cllr Sheila Kimmins, who presented the proposal at the meeting said, “My understanding is that the grant will go towards the upkeep of the centre; including paying the rising gas and electricity bills, but also supplying the food and entertainment.
“This donation will greatly help the elderly people that use the centre, as well as the organisers who have been faced with a sudden loss in funding. The day centre will have to bid for funding from Wiltshire Council from now on, and as we know, Wiltshire Council are giving less and less to people.”
Cllr Mike Sutton added, “This is very much to tide the day centre over for this year and to help with the sudden loss of grant from Wiltshire Council.”
Wiltshire Council is introducing a new open framework, or approved list, for providers of day care for people with disabilities and learning difficulties, as well as older people’s lunch clubs. The 21 lunch clubs on the council’s list depend on the grants for part of their funding and some fear they may have to close as the cash is withdrawn over the next two years.
Speaking about the lunch clubs throughout Wiltshire, cllr Gordon King, who is also a Wiltshire councillor said, “I have listened to the clubs’ leaders including the White Horse Club in Westbury and I see the [Wiltshire] council’s proposal as representing a very real risk that some lonely elderly people could be left without a day out, a proper meal, friendship and fun that for many has been their lifeline.
“I do accept that the new system will offer fresh opportunities to the 10 Friendship Clubs catering for younger people with disabilities and learning difficulties, but I remain unconvinced that the same applies to the lunch clubs.
Concerned
“The council is supporting the clubs as they bid to join the framework and are suggesting they apply for grants from Wiltshire’s Area Boards. I am concerned that this may not actually be a help as Area Board funding is primarily intended to enable community groups to see through projects of community value, they are not intended to become dependencies.”
Cllr King added, “The scope for these lunch clubs to replace funds received from central grants with funds from the new framework is very limited, given the very small number of potential clients, and that Area Board funding is already in demand from multiple organisations.
“Ironically, however, if the White Horse Club could attract one, two or three adults with care plans, it would qualify more readily for the new framework and receive more grant than they might have previously.
“I will continue to campaign for increased funding support for Area Boards so that we can support clubs such as the White Horse Club that support directly the lonely, isolated and those in need and deliver much of Wiltshire Council’s Business Plan objectives. It is a shame they did not fully recognise that and support them, rather than threaten their continuance.”
