A FRESH call has been made to community groups in West Dunbartonshire to tap into possible new sources of funding.

The local authority is currently embarking on Phase 2 of the 'Your Community' initiative.

But the difference in Phase 2 is that community groups can now apply for a bigger share of the pie, with the cap on applications being raised from £2,000 to £10,000.

A report update came before members of the Community Alliance last Wednesday at West Dunbartonshire Council's HQ in Garshake Road.

And it's hoped that more groups in the area will come forward with applications for funding- after Phase 1's efforts' encountered some 'teething problems.'

Amanda Coulthard, corporate and community planning manager, told Wednesday's meeting of the Community Alliance: "We took some time to see what worked from phase one and that's influenced phase 2.

"The low cap (in phase 1) was difficult but we've now raised the cap to £10,000.

"Lots of people did not know much about it so we raised the profile and went out to public meetings and made people aware of what's happening."

The report stated: "The first round of community budgeting was delivered over November 2016.

"As previously reported £25,000 was available in each your community area,

with applications of up to £2,000 accepted.

"Eighty seven applications were received and 76 individual project ideas were presented over eight local voting evenings held in November.

"Around 350 residents came along to the events to support local activity in their

area and participated in the allocation of almost £100,000 of funding (split equally between capital and revenue allocation)."

But Phase 1 did not enjoy the success that was initially hoped, as the report states that many participants and other stakeholders "reported concern" at the £2,000

cap on bids as this didn’t allow much scope for the large capital projects that community organisations were keen to develop, the low cap had been acknowledged as a "barrier to application," a number of initial bids in phase one were "not eligible" as they related to a wider area or were West Dunbartonshire wide, and many participants in phase one felt that "timescales were tight" for application and for preparing to present at community voting evenings.

Despite the problems 20 applications were presented in the Dumbarton area, 18 in the Vale of Leven area and 38 in Clydebank.

That amounted to a total of £43,127 being allocated for community projects in those areas.

The report does acknowledge the earlier problems and states: "We understand that many individuals were anxious about presenting ideas to an audience and that more time is required to help groups prepare for this and to develop robust bids.

"The process has been extended at each stage for phase two to allow for this."

The closing date for applications is Sunday, April 2.

At things stand there's around £367,000 left over from phase one.

Once all applications have been considered residents will vote for their preferred bids during community budgeting events which will be held in May and the successful projects will be announced at the events.

For further information on how to apply for funding or to discuss your idea contact the Communities Team at communitybudgeting@west-dunbarton.gov.uk