HARVEY CENTRAL FOLKESTONE COMMUNITY FIRST PANEL

With The Bradstone Association as partner, the Harvey Central Folkestone Community First Panel has been established to distribute some £50,000 of grants over the next four years.  The grants, which are for improving community life, apply to Harvey Central only, one of the most deprived wards in Kent.  The funds come from central government via the Community Development Foundation.

So, if you have a community scheme in Harvey Central that needs funding and fulfils the necessary criteria, let us know.  This is just the right time as the Panel develops a Community First Plan to identify projects and activities to be funded in the ward.  In turn, the Plan will be submitted to the Community Development Foundation for approval.

Bearing in mind that Harvey Central includes the commercial centre of Folkestone, it’s surprising that the ward is the ninth most deprived in the county.  Poverty, however, prevails in accommodation above shops, in large multi-occupancy houses and in pockets of tired terraces that in a conurbation would be called “inner-city”.  To improve life in the ward, these are the Panel’s Priorities:

1. Cleaning, greening and planting, together with a reduction of graffiti and vandalism and the improvement of street safety.
2. Development and support of schemes to improve literacy – plus the mixing and cohesion of different communities.
3. Increasing the range and suitability of activities and facilities for young people.
4. Supporting the lonely, especially the older and vulnerable, and the encouragement of their involvement in the community.
5. Improving health by encouraging walking and cycling and tackling alcohol and drug misuse.

Be quick. If you or your group have a scheme that fits the Panel’s priorities, please submit a project or activity that you believe will help community life in Harvey Central. Be aware, though, that funds are limited. With £50,865 to spend up to mid 2015, year by year allocations and deadlines for schemes to be submitted by the Panel to the Community Development Foundation are as follows:

Year 1: £8,463 Deadline: June 30, 2012
Year 2: £12,734 Deadline: March 31, 2013
Year 3: £12,732 Deadline: March 31, 2014
Year 4: £16,963 Deadline: December 31, 2014

Submissions for this year should reach the Panel by June 4, 2012.

Write or email David Taylor, Harvey Central Panel Secretary, at 23 Bradstone Avenue, Folkestone CT19 5AQ, email david@yorkfilms.com, tel 01303 226234 or 07880 702969

BRADSTONE BRIEFS

Shedding Some Light

Following the alleged sex attack at the viaduct last October, the Association has requested an extra street light from Kent County Council. It would be sited under the arch where the west-side pavement links Bradstone Avenue and Bradstone Road – a real blackspot in the dark.

The daubing and overpainting that defaced the arch have been efficiently removed by SDC. Association volunteers also cleaned off graffiti from the doorway of Wilmoths Garage in Devon Road with chemicals supplied by SDC.

Sprucing up

Two electricity junction boxes in Sussex Road and two metal notice poles in Bradstone Avenue have been repainted by the Association. SDC has ordered a dozen metal “Clean It Up” dog fouling notices for the neighbourhood displaying the association logo. They’ll be fixed to the spruced up notice poles and lampposts in the neighbourhood.

Bin Yard for Bradstone Road

The Association is to apply for a grant to fence off and make good the empty site beneath the old Baptist cemetery in Bradstone Road. With a gate and keys for users, the site would become a yard for residents who have problems storing their bins off the street. The improvement will also prevent people using the space as a urinal, as well as deterring rubbish tipping.