A plea has been made to save a charity that provides help and support to Reading people after it has emerged it is struggling due to lack of funding.
The Whitley Community Development Association (WCDA) provides a range of support to people in the community, including a food bank, advice on access to health and social services, and initiatives to combat isolation.
However, there are fears that the charity could close due to escalating costs.
The cause of the WCDA was raised at a full meeting of Reading Borough Council, with a push for the council to help save it.
Councillor Kathryn McCann (Green, Redlands) said: “WCDA is at risk of closure due to lack of funds.
“Rightly known as ‘the beating heart of Whitley’, WCDA provides essential community services to some of the most marginalised people in Reading.”
She went on to explain that the WCDA is seeking a grant from The National Lottery Community Fund to help continue its operations.
However, for the WCDA to be able to receive that grant, cllr McCann stated that the charity needs to demonstrate that it receives financial support from the council.
She said: “It [WCDA] currently receives no statutory support and in fact pays rent of £27,000 per annum.
“We would like to suggest that the council considers reducing the rent down to a peppercorn rate.
“This would both provide the support the association needs to show for the second round of Lottery funding and ensure the money it receives goes further, so it can make even more of a difference.
“The services WCDA provides are even more needed in the face of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, and it has built up a level of community engagement that would be very hard to reestablish.”
She asked whether the council would provide support to WCDA before the deadline for Lottery Fund grant applications on December 12.
Answering the question, Liz Terry (Labour, Coley), the council leader, said: “In recognising the great work that the WCDA does, the council has already applied a reduced charity rate for their lease of the South Reading Community Hub, which is lower than other hire rates charged across other local authorities in Berkshire.
“There are other costs associated with the £27,000 referenced that are not rent, and I understand that council officers in meetings with WCDA have been open to discussions about alternative arrangements that could reduce these costs, and as I understand these discussions are ongoing.”
She then questioned whether the CDA needed direct financial funding from the council to be successful for the fund bid. suggesting that the reduced rent qualified as support.
Cllr Terry said: “I believe the issue is one of bids being more likely to succeed if the organisation bidding has other sources of funding.
“Clearly that isn’t just local authority funding, and I will be meeting with a representative of the organisation myself to suggest some other funding
opportunities.
“The council will of course continue to work with the WCDA and other local voluntary and community groups within the borough to explore new opportunities to make the best use of our collective resources to support our residents.”
The exchange took place at the council meeting on October 15.
