WIREDGOV

EIGHT local community projects are rallying support for the public vote that could see them win up to £80,000 each from the Big Lottery Fund in next week’s People’s Millions regional contest on ITV London.

Up to £400,000 of Big Lottery funding is up for grabs for five lucky groups in the region. The contest goes live on ITV London’s 6.00pm evening news between 26 and 29 November.

Two projects will be showcased each night in a head-to-head battle to win support. At the end of the programme, viewers will be asked to vote by phone for the project they think should win the Lottery good cause cash. Voting telephone numbers will be broadcast during the programme and will also be available on the Big Lottery Fund’s website each day.

There will be one winner of the £80,000 award each night. At the end of the competition there is also an additional bonus award of up to £80,000 that will go to the runner-up with the most votes.

The People’s Millions competition will run across ITV regions*, with a total of 90 awards and up to £7.8 million of Big Lottery funding in the hands of the voting public.

On Monday 26 November, ITV London will showcase Community Action’s The Juniper Crescent Play Project in Camden going head to head for votes with Ragged School Museum Trust’s The Raggamuffin's Room project in Tower Hamlets.

If successful The Juniper Crescent Play Project would renovate a rundown play area and communal garden in Juniper Crescent, a housing estate in a deprived area of Camden. The redevelopment would provide a brand new multi-purpose, modern play and recreational space, maintained by volunteers.

However if The Raggamuffin’s Room project win the public vote it would transform a dark, poorly resourced basement area of a Community Museum into a light, safe, well-resourced play and learning space for pre-school children and their parents and carers. Outside a small garden and seating area will also be installed.

The following night, Tuesday 27 November, Cementaprise LTD’s Phoenix Garden project in Hemel Hempstead will compete against the Streatham Darby and Joan Club’s Sensory Garden Annexe Project in Streatham.

The Phoenix Garden project would use the money to create a sensory memorial garden for the people affected by the Buncefield Explosion in December 2005. The garden will provide a place for local people to reflect, particularly those whose lives or businesses were affected through the explosion. Unemployed local people will be trained to create and maintain the garden.

If the Sensory Garden Annexe Project attracts more votes it would add a garden room and covered walkways to an older persons' resource centre, improving access for an ethnically diverse group of elderly people, some of which have disabilities. The project would enable them to enjoy an urban green space, and would improve their local environment.

On Wednesday 28 November, the Meanwhile Garden Community Association’s Building Biodiversity Project in North Kensington will compete against Chelmsford Environment Partnership’s The Green Pathways Project in Chelmsford.

If the Meanwhile Garden’s Building Biodiversity Project wins the vote it would create two educational areas in a community garden. Developing an educational pond garden where the community can learn about improving biodiversity, conservation, sustainability, recycling and composting. The project also aims to develop an education food growing facility where the community can learn about the importance of growing your own food and how easy it is to do.

Up against them however is The Green Pathways Project, which would improve facilities on five wildlife and allotment areas in the Chelmsford area. The project would work with other agencies to create additional facilities including drop-in sessions for conservation work, healthy wildlife walks, relaxation areas, seating and wildlife areas and the installation of outdoor gyms constructed from natural materials. Events would also be organised and maps and materials produced.

The final night of voting, Thursday 29 November, will see Centrepoint Soho’s e-Wise project in Westminster competing against The Treehouse Trust’s Landscape for Learning project in Muswell Hill.

If successful the e-Wise project would install an innovative computer system at Centrepoint, the base for homeless people. The system would be installed in each of the forty-nine rooms and enable the residents to have access to the internet, complete their studies, interact with friends and search and apply for jobs. The project would also create a communal area where training sessions and social activities can take place.

If the Treehouse Landscape for Learning project wins the vote it would transform the land around the National Centre for Autism Education into a wildlife area providing a habitat for birds, insects and wildlife. The group would plant trees and shrubs which in future would provide a woodland walk to the boundaries of the site. It would provide a safe, creative, sensory environment for the children at Treehouse as well as for local schools, other autism providers and community groups who would have access to the facility.

Winners will be announced on ITV regional news the day following each vote.

This is the third year the Big Lottery Fund and ITV have teamed up to bring viewers across the UK the People’s Millions. Last year’s contest was a huge success with almost 350,000 viewers casting votes to give 85 projects a share of over £4.2 million to make a difference in their communities. Up to £15 million in grants will be given out by the Big Lottery Fund under the three-year public involvement initiative.

Sir Clive Booth, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund said: "I am delighted that People’s Millions is set to return to living rooms across the country. This year the Big Lottery Fund has over £7.5 million to award to projects that will help the community. With almost 350,000 people taking the opportunity to vote last year, we are hoping for an even bigger response this time around, with more viewers playing a crucial role in deciding where Lottery cash is spent in their community.”

Michael Grade, Executive Chairman of ITV, said: “ Last year ITV helped the Big Lottery Fund award £4.2 million to 85 projects which are having a lasting impact. This year with individual awards of up to £80,000 on offer I am sure that viewers will be as keen as ever to take part in the People’s Millions contest, and vote for the project in their region they think most deserves lottery support.”

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of Hours contact: 07867 500 572
ITV Press Contact: Melissa Loughran on 0113 222 7117
Full details of Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Key People’s Millions date for forward planning diaries: 26 - 30 November 2007: People's Millions competition televised on ITV

Notes to Editors

ITV broadcast regions in the People’s Millions:

ITV Anglia (East), ITV Anglia (West), ITV Border, ITV Central (East), ITV Central (West), ITV Granada, ITV London, ITV Meridian (South), ITV Meridian (South East), ITV Thames Valley, ITV Tyne Tees, ITV Wales, ITV West, ITV West Country, ITV Yorkshire, stv Central, stv North, UTV

• 90 awards are up for grabs across the UK – four winners plus one bonus award in each of the 18 ITV regions.
• Since the launch of People’s Millions in 2005, the aim of the contest has been to fund projects that improve the quality of life of local communities through transforming the local environment. This year projects that provide opportunities or facilities for enjoying the local environment have also been added to the funding criteria.
• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
• Telephone voting numbers – As with previous years, ITV and the Big Lottery Fund will use a low cost non-premium rate telephone number. ITV and BIG do not make a profit from the voting telephone numbers.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004.
• On 1 December 2006 the Big Lottery Fund was officially established by Parliament and at the same time assumed the residual responsibilities of the dissolved National Lottery Charities Board (Community Fund) the New Opportunities Fund, and the Millennium Commission. The Fund is building on the experience and best practice of the merged bodies to simplify funding in those areas where they overlap and to ensure Lottery funding provides the best possible value for money.