Crawley has a wealth of unsung heroes in our community. Crawley residents who selflessly dedicate their time and effort into making Crawley a better place to live.
From youth group leaders to those who raise thousands for charity every year, Crawley is lucky to have such a vibrant community and charitable spirit.
It is vital both Crawley Borough and West Sussex County council’s support this work at the grass root level.
In the current climate many of our dedicated community volunteers have extreme financial pressures to pay rent for their groups and organisations.
From cub scouts to sporting clubs, a complicated system of rent relief from the council means many groups are struggling.
Crawley Borough Council has a £650,000 fund to help community groups, but when the council overspends to the tune of quarter of million pounds on a pavilion, you do have to ask would that money be better spent on the whole community rather than one building.
We need to look seriously at how we support small voluntary groups across the town.
A few hundred pounds each year could make the difference on whether they thrive or nor survive.
The Big Society was a good idea. Just in practice there has been little or no support in expanding the community resource in Crawley.
Crawley Borough Council has an excellent community development team who work tirelessly with residents groups, create initiatives and help the town’s community groups.
However with a smaller staff and more work, we need the Council to rethink community support in financial support.
Should we be charging sporting clubs £1,000 a year? Should we give 100% rent relief to all youth groups?
Should we be hiking up charges on community groups across the town?
Our community groups in Crawley need help. And they need it now.