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Cabinet Approves Valleys Task Force Crowdfunding Partnership

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Caerphilly County Borough Council has approved proposals for a partnership funding arrangement with Welsh Government and a number of neighbouring local authorities.

The proposals, approved by council’s Cabinet on 15th January, will support the development of a crowdfunding platform aimed at delivering community and civic led projects in partnership with the Welsh Government and local authorities including Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot, Torfaen, Bridgend and Blaenau Gwent.

The aim of the programme is to create a funding platform that will generate project ‘creators’ and project ‘backers’ and to match the two together. Local communities will be encouraged to come forward as ‘creators’ by providing ideas on how they can improve their local areas, and the funding for these projects will be backed by an allocation from the Welsh Government’s Valleys Task Force and enhanced by equal financial contributions from local authorities across the Valleys area. The target of the initiative is to lever in additional funds through a through a ‘coalition of willing funders’.

The target is to establish a funding provision of between £500,000 and £600,000 per year with majority funding provided by Welsh Government. The aim of the project would be to attract an additional 250% of leveraged funds (circa £1.5m) from community ‘backers’ through an online crowdfunding platform that will be established for the Valleys region.

Cllr Sean Morgan, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Transportation and Sustainability, said:

“The approval of the crowdfunding partnership with the Welsh Government and neighbouring local authorities comes as welcome news for our county borough. Community engagement and involvement is at the forefront of our priorities here at the council, as we actively encourage residents to help us shape the future of the borough. It is great to see a fund where the ‘ethos’ of community involvement is at the very heart of, as it will transform local places through ideas generated from local people

He continued:

“Increasing the number of locally driven projects is a great opportunity for doing business in Caerphilly as it will enable employment, healthy living and prosperity, empowering more of our residents to push forward with new projects.”

Business News Wales