The Forest of Dean District Council is reviewing the way they fund the voluntary and community sector to ensure they can meet the future needs of residents.

Over the last few months they have been gathering a wide range of relevant data so that they can allocate their funding in a way which provides the best outcomes for the District.

As a result they intend to introduce a more flexible arrangement which will see funding awards increased from one year to three years, thereby providing more security for the recipients.

They are aiming to introduce their new funding arrangements in April 2019. However, before they make key decisions on how the funding should be allocated, they want to test their thinking with local residents and the voluntary and community sector.

With this in mind, they have launched a survey on their website which asks for comments on their proposals.

The survey is available now at

www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/FODDCCommunityandVoluntarySectorFinancialSupportReview2018/ and the deadline for comments is Thursday, November 1st.

The District Council said that it does not take very long and the views of residents will be of immense value.See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.