Private Lane Improvement Fund Guidance Notes

Please read these notes carefully in full before you complete your application form.

The following Guidance Notes are intended to assist you in applying for community support in the development of stalled spaces within local communities.  

Below you will find general information on Private Lane Improvement Fund.  The section entitled Completing your Application Form provides information and guidance on how to answer each of the questions in the form and is a useful reference when completing it. 

Where possible your application form should be completed electronically. 

The boxes within the form will expand to allow you to insert information.  However please answer questions as concisely as possible. 

Paper copies are also available for hand written submissions.  Request for paper copies should be made to Neighbourhood Lanes.

A.  Purpose of The Private Lane Improvement Fund

The Private Lane Improvement Fund is an initiative developed Neighbourhoods Regeneration and Sustainability

The purpose is to:

• create opportunities for groups and organisations to carry out initiatives which improve the environmental quality of residential lanes throughout the city.
• enhance the local environment through short, medium or long term sustainable initiatives to their lane.
• have a positive impact on the appearance of the area, reduce/improve associated issues (D3) to increase positive usage by residents
• engage and involve local people in making a difference in their neighbourhood

The Private Lane Improvement Fund budget is limited and therefore applications are invited for activities which meet the criteria given below.  Applications will be considered by the panel and both successful and unsuccessful applicants will be advised of the outcome in writing.

B.  Who can apply?

Community groups, residents' associations and voluntary organisations that are based in Glasgow and have full control over their proposal are able to apply.

Organisations should:

• be not-for-profit and should not allow anyone to profit from being associated with the organisation;
• have a Managing Body, management committee (or similar body) which meets regularly; 
• have elected office bearers e.g. chairperson, secretary and treasurer;
• have a Governing Document (e.g. a constitution) that has been approved by the organisation and signed by an office bearer
• have a bank account with at least 3 unrelated signatories.

Evidence of the above must be submitted with the application e.g. copies of the governing document and recent bank statement.  

C.  What We Cannot Assist 

There are certain types of proposals that will not be assisted, they are: 

• projects which do not have prior permission from the landowner/developers; 
• ongoing running costs;
• items of equipment or clothing of a personal nature; 
• functions that:
  • (a) the Council or any other body has a statutory responsibility to provide;
  • (b) duplicate or conflict with Council policies;
  • (c) would be more appropriately funded from other sources; 
• proposals in respect of religious activities, festivals or events; 
• purchase and/or maintenance of vehicles such as cars, vans, minibuses, etc.; 
• proposals where members of the community are unnecessarily excluded, for example, on the grounds of race, religion, gender, economic /financial reasons etc; parties, 
• provision of meals and snacks, 
• social events and parties; 
• retrospective proposals, for example, activities that have already begun or where equipment has been bought or ordered; and the purchase of fireworks.

If you are unsure if your proposal is eligible, contact us at Neighbourhood Lanes.

D.  Applying for Community Support for Lane Improvements 

D.1 You may apply for a minimum of £1,000 and up to a maximum of £20,000.  This may be used to realise your idea by purchasing equipment or materials or for sessional fees for work that needs to be done on a site.  These are just examples. 

D.2  If the idea you have for a local initiative is likely to cost less than the minimum amount you can apply for, you may consider getting together with another group or organisation to work together on a joint proposal. If you have any queries on this, please contact us.

D.3 The Private Lane Improvement Fund has key priority areas it will focus on, these are:

• Environmental Improvements to residential lanes
• Initiatives to reduce associated issues or make improvements within residential lanes such as:
  • Fly Tipping 
  • Trees/Vegetation
  • Lane Surface Water/Drainage Issues 
  • Antisocial Behaviour 
  • Food growing 
  • Enhanced biodiversity 

More information regarding the range of associated lane issues and examples of previous initiatives can be found here.  

D.4   Applications will be considered at each round of and require to be submitted by the deadline dates (see para E 'Timescales' below) to allow proper and full consideration including the assessment and scoring process.  Completed applications can be submitted at any time prior to these dates, but the success or otherwise of the application cannot be advised until the above notification dates.  

D.5   When a decision has been taken you will be informed of the outcome in writing.  If assistance is agreed there will be standard conditions, and in some cases there may be specific additional conditions applied to your offer of assistance.  Your organisation must agree to these conditions.  

E.  Timescales

All awards must be spent within 6 months of award - If approved, you will also be required to complete and submit a separate monitoring form on completion of your initiative.  It is important that you are familiar with its contents (i.e. what information you will be asked to record/provide on completion of your initiative) before commencing your initiative.  The monitoring form can be downloaded from the Private Lane Toolkit webpage.

A monitoring visit, arranged in consultation with your group/ organisation, will then be carried out by a Neighbourhood Liaison Officer(s). 

F.  Completing your Application Form 

The application form must be completed as fully and accurately as possible to avoid any delay in processing and assessing your proposal.  

1.0 Organisation Details 

Name, address and contact details of your organisation and contact person - Provide all details as requested, including where your organisation meets.  It is vital to include details of the main contact person in relation to the application as we may need to contact them to provide additional information or respond to supplementary questions in relation to the application. 

What are the main aims/objectives/ activities of your organisation?  - Any type of community organisation can apply for support as long as they meet the basic criteria (see 'Who can apply?').  A brief outline of your activities will help us identify the types of organisations applying for this funding source. 

Registration details - If your organisation is a registered charity and / or registered with the Care Commission, please provide details of the corresponding registration number(s).   

If your proposed initiative involves either children or vulnerable adults, it is important you can demonstrate that members of staff or volunteers of your group or organisation meet the statutory requirements of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) (Scotland) Act 2007 or other such relevant legislation. Further information regarding support for voluntary groups can be found on the SCVO website.

Organisation Funding - This information will provide a clearer understanding of the type and size of your organisation.  It will also be considered as part of the assessment process.  Please note its purpose is not to penalise applicants who may have a 'healthy' bank balance as it is recognised organisations have other financial commitments, but it is vital that you provide details of these commitments.  Similarly organisations which receive Council funding for other purposes are not precluded from applying for assistance.   

As part of the application, you are required to submit a recent bank statement.  This is required as part of the verification process:  1. to demonstrate that your organisation has a bank account(s), and 2. the current balance.  Other types of financial statements are also required.  Please see the box headed 'Important Information on Annual Accounts' on page 7 for guidance in this respect. 

2.0 Your Proposal

Which Priority Area(s) does your development proposal cover? - Your idea should meet at least one of three priorities listed i.e. Environmental Improvements to residential lanes, Initiatives to reduce associated issues (see D3) within residential lanes , please contact us for assistance.   

Funding will not be awarded for the following: 

• Back court improvements
• Private residential gardens 

Your initiative should provide improvement by creating or enhancing the area /site. For further guidance, see the online Toolkit Funding Section.

Location and description of site for proposed improvement - Identifying the exact location including the post code as well as details of the present state of the site is vital to the progress of the application.  However if you cannot identify the exact post code of the site, do not worry - as long as you provide sufficient detail to allow us to identify this.  This information is also important to us in ensuring a spread of initiatives is supported across the City. 

Who is the site landowner - The application should not be submitted (nor can it be progressed) without this information for example the lane is owned by all the properties on the lane. 

Has a formal agreement been finalised with the landowner/developer? - The application cannot be progressed without this formal agreement, however conditional approval for assistance may be agreed subject to this being finalised within a certain timeframe.  

Describe what you intend to do - It is important you describe your idea in as much detail as possible.  This will allow those assessing and scoring applications to make a fully informed decision about your application.  The assessment criteria can be seen on our      .

What activity has already taken place within the lane? - Community litter picking, mud scraping, regular clean ups, formation of a residents association to tackle shared issues for example. Please attach photos with e-mail application if available of any previous works/improvements.

In which Council Ward will your initiative take place?  
This information is important to us in identifying the spread of initiatives funded across the City.  A list of the Council wards can be found on our Website. 

List all partners/groups involved in your initiative:  
The Private Lane Improvement Fund is looking to encourage residents and groups to work together where possible.  We want to know about any partners you will work with on your proposed initiative.  

How will your initiative be managed and by whom? - If partnership working will be involved in your proposal, which organisation will have overall management responsibility?  

3.0 Proposal Information 

Total estimated cost of your proposal and the amount of assistance applied for from the Private Lane Improvement Fund - You need to tell us the total estimated total cost of your proposal together with the amount of assistance you are applying for to the Stalled Spaces Community Support Programme (£1,000 minimum and £20,000 maximum).    

We may request copies of written quotations for equipment/services you intend to purchase. 

Breakdown of how the Lane Improvement allocation will be spent: - Please detail a breakdown of what will be purchased through the lanes improvement allocation, including the proposed suppliers, materials to be purchased with quantities and cost (£).  

Indication of other contributions and source(s) - If the overall costs of your proposed project exceed that of your application to the lane improvement fund , please provide information on how you propose to raise the balance of money required to meet the costs.  

Please note that you do not need to have secured this funding before applying to the lane improvement fund.  However we do need to know how you propose to meet the balance.  Where additional support has been secured or you intend to part fund the initiative from your own funds, please tell us about it.  This can include 'in kind' support.

Indication of any 'in kind' support including monetary value - This relates to contributions other than funding e.g. involvement of volunteers, free transport provision etc, owner contributions. This information helps to provide an indication of 1. Collaborative working with other groups and organisations (similar to partnership working), and 2.  the monetary value of such (where indicated).  This information will assist with the overall evaluation of the Stalled Spaces Initiative.  

Volunteer time may be counted as an in-kind contribution and should be based on the following rates: £50 per day for unskilled labour; £150 per day for skilled labour; and £350 for professional services. 

Insurance Cover - This is an area that your group/organisation should give careful consideration to, especially if the work involved will require the use of machinery and equipment.  If required specifically for your proposal, the costs of such maybe considered as part of your application.   Where this is the case it should be clearly detailed in section 3.3.

Some useful contacts in this respect include the following which offer support guidance are:

• The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO)
• The Conservation Volunteers 

If approved, what is the estimated start and finish dates for your initiative - Private Lane Improvement funding must be spent within 6 months of the award date.

4.0 Future Maintenance

Future physical maintenance requirements - It is important you have a plan for the maintenance of the lane to ensure any improvement is sustained.  Please tell us how you propose to maintain the site including: 

• who will be responsible for ensuring this is carried out 
• who will carry out the actual work 

5.0 How are Applications Evaluated?

Prior to a meeting of a panel of NRS officers will meeting, a Neighbourhood liaison coordinator will check if the application fits with the purpose of the Private Lane Improvement Fund and its eligibility against the criteria outlined in the sections above. 

Once eligibility has been determined, an assessment will be undertaken as to the merits of the application, including whether there are any financial and/or operational risk to the Council. On occasions, the officer may request an external assessment of the impact and risk of the proposal e.g. to identify how the proposal and/or work of the organisation complements existing provision or addresses gaps in provision. Following the assessment, the application will be presented to the Private Lane Improvement Fund Panel for approval. 

6.0 Supporting Documentation and Checklist

Before submitting your form, please take a few minutes to complete the checklist to ensure that all necessary information is submitted as this will allow your application to be processed as quickly as possible.

Tick the relevant boxes to indicate which documents are enclosed. 

7.0 Declaration

Please carefully read the declaration and if your organisation agrees to be bound by its terms, it must be signed by an office bearer e.g. chairperson, secretary, treasurer etc before its submission for consideration. 

Important Information on Annual Accounts

If the organisation is a registered charity then the following arrangements apply:

• Where the total annual income is less than £100,000, the organisation must prepare accounts that (as a minimum) are approved by an independent examiner who is reasonably believed by the Managing Body to have the requisite liability and practical experience to carry out a competent examination for the accounts.
• Where the total annual income is greater than £100,000 but less than £500,000 the organisation must prepare accounts that are (as a minimum) approved by a qualified independent examiner.  A qualified independent examiner is defined as someone who is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance, a fellow of the Association of Charity independent examiners or who is able to act as a reporting accountant under the Companies Acts.
• Where the total; income is greater than £500,000, the organisation must prepare accounts that are professionally audited. 

For organisations without charitable status then the following arrangements will apply:

• Where the organisations total annual funding is £2,000 or less, the organisation must submit a bank statement and provide appropriate evidence that the grant has been spent for the purposes intended within a set timescale.
• Where the organisations total annual funding is greater than £2,000 but less than £10,000, the organisation must submit accounts that are approved by an independent examiner who is reasonably believed by the Management Body to have the requisite ability and practical experience to carry out a competent examination of the accounts. 
• Where the organisations total annual funding is greater that £10,000 but less than £50,000, the organisation must submit accounts that are approved by a qualified independent examiner.  A qualified independent examiner is defined as someone who is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance, a fellow of the Association of Charity independent examiners or who is able to act as a reporting accountant under the Companies Acts.

An independent examiner should not be related to any member of the organisations managing Body and should not have the responsibility for the day to day financial administration of the organisation. 

If you wish to discuss the documents that you need to provide or have any queries, please contact Neighbourhood Lanes.