Oakham Town Councillor Maureen Dodds reported Voluntary Action Rutland Keeping its head above water after huge funding cuts imposed by Rutland County Council, The Conservatives Cabinet at Rutland County Council imposed huge cuts to all voluntary organisations throughout Rutland.
They also banned grant applications from Arts and Community groups and added this excludes Conservative Councillors Peter Jones Arts for Rutland??
Maybe Oakham Town Council can give some funds to VAR, instead of giving away public money too the Festival and not knowing how this will be spent.
Oakham Town Council imposed a similar ban like RCC, they said they would only accept applications from their very small list of favourite groups. This includes Joy Everett's Oakham/Rutland Festival. She is also a committee member of Arts for Rutland and recently proposed Conservative Peter Jones for the May council elections. Joy was also part of the Oakham Carnival who have given up after infighting amongst the committee members, leaving Councillor Maureen Dodds responsible for a large amount of public money, which she now says she has given away to various Rutland Charities. the money given by Oakham Town Council was required by law too only benefit Oakham residents not the whole of Rutland. If she was the only remaining member how did she do this? was there not more than one signature required on the account and what safeguards are in place so she does not give away Oakham in Bloom funds if that committee happens to fall apart. Councillor Maureen Dodds is also Chair of that committee and receives public funds from Oakham Town Council.
Funding rules have changed arts groups must provide full audited accounts and match funding from this month.
when I return to Oakham Town Council, I will be asking Oakham Town Council to lift its ban and scrap the exclusive list as I feel this restricts other parts of the community doing their own thing. They have just as much right to a chance to access public money as any of those listed on the group.
The Oakham/Rutland festival have been on the phone begging for their grant, they have still failed to tell the council how this public money will be spent for the benefit of the Oakham Community.
The Town Clerk said "They can have the money and they will get it as soon as the first half of the precept is received from Rutland County Council"
I believe this grant has been awarded illegally and the Joy Everett and the Town Clerk are going to make sure the Festival gets its money.
If Joy has said the festival was going to use the money to scrap admission charges to the castle events I would not be complaining. Many families cannot afford the £10 per head admission, so this means events in the castle grounds become restricted to the elite along with their M&S hampers and sparkling wine. (Most people have seen my past photographs). In the past grants have never been used for the benefit of all Oakham's residents.
Voluntary Action Rutland supports and promotes local voluntary action by providing advice, information, support, training and consultation
www.varutland.org.uk
