It was announced that the lottery would pund projects in the Grange estate in East Finchley as part of a package worth £1 for london estates. These estates were selected on issues such as crime and unemployment.
It isn't yet certain what the allocation for the Grange will be, but I welcome any funds that come our way. This year Alison, Colin, myself and a team from Barnet Homes did a walk of the Grange to pick up outstanding issues. I was very glad to hear the report back from them, and I see that many of the things we picked up have been looked into or sorted. There are some outstanding issues, but I think we have had an impact. I hope we can move on to the next level with this new funding.
Clearly, the anti-social behaviour and crime worries are beyond the remit of Barnet homes, and seem to be seasonal. We have also seem similar problems on Strawberry Vale, and in the New Year we will be looking into them in greater detail.
Whilst I welcome this money, I think it's a shame that funding for the poorest parts of the community have to come this way, instead of directly through Government or Council. The funding that is being allocated does not nearly cover for the serious cuts the Government have inflicted in other areas. A one off grant will not fundamentally tackle the unemployment, crime, health or education problems we have, and the Government is letting down residents of the Grange there without any plan to tackle them.
I will keep you posted on what comes out of this funding.
