Local Action Group

CHART is a 'Community-led local development' (CLLD) programme, which means that it is led by a Local Action Group (LAG) ensuring a 'bottom-up', community based approach to investment within the area. The CHART LAG is made up of local residents as well as public, private and voluntary organisations that are committed to driving change within the local CHART community.

The LAG's role will be to consider and decide upon funding for projects, following the recommendations and advice from the CHART Executive Delivery Group (EDG), and CHART programme staff.

The LAG will also be responsible for ensuring that the CHART Strategy is adopted and reviewed and that the programme is meeting its objectives.

LAG members

• Carole Dixon (Education Futures Trust)
• Cllr Christine Bayliss (Rother District Council)
• Cllr Kim Forward (Hastings Borough Council)
• Ioni Sullivan (East Sussex County Council)
• Jeremy Stephenson (Akita Fencing)
• Linda Seddon (Resident)
• Penny Shimmin (Sussex Community Development Association)
• Richard Street (Resident)
• Richard Watson (NHS Hastings and Rother Clinical Commissioning Group)
• Russell Smith (Orbit)
• Steve Manwaring (Hastings Voluntary Action)
• Tracey Rose (Fellowship of St Nicholas)

We have mid-year vacancies on the Local Action Group for representatives of local businesses and residents. If you are interested please contact the CHART programme team chart@hastings.gov.uk

Document links

• LAG terms of reference
• LAG FAQ
• LAG code of conduct and conflict of interest
• The Role of the Local Action Group
• The Role of the Executive Delivery Group
• CHART Programme Governance – how multi level governance works
• The Role of LAG Champions

Local Action Group chair’s blog

Welcome to the Chair’s blog.

In this blog I’ll be giving an update on how the Connecting Hastings and Rother Together (CHART) programme is going.

We’ve had some really good projects ideas from partnerships across the area.

Some of the projects being assessed this spring and summer include:

• A project to help businesses grow and become more sustainable and promote self-employment as an option for local people
• A project to help people living in temporary and insecure housing. The project will help clients gain tenancy and life skills, to find jobs and boost their income to meet the costs of living so that they can stay in their new home.
• A project that will find out from businesses what skills their ideal employee should have. At the same time the project will help unemployed people who want a job but don’t seem to be able to get and keep work. The project will match make the right people for the right job.
• A project to develop fully equipped incubator spaces for new local business start-ups or those needing to move into professional premises with “easy in, easy out” monthly rolling licences

These projects might be just the thing for you if you are over 25 and live in parts of the following wards in Hastings and St Leonards: Hollington, Wishing Tree, Castle, Central St Leonards, Gensing, Baird, Ore, Tressell or Sidley and Central in Bexhill, And all the support is completely free!

In March we launched the second round of calls for project ideas. This time we are asking for smaller scale projects from single organisations or much smaller partnerships that will complement and enrich projects from call one. I am especially keen that people aged over 50, people who are disabled and those from BME communities are targeted for support. I’m looking forward to seeing the ideas that emerge.

The last day for submitting an expression of interest for the second round is 20 June 2019.

European Structural and Investment Funds

The project is receiving up to £3,698,538*of funding from the England European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) are the Managing Authorities for European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund funding through the Growth Programme, funds established by the European Union to help local areas stimulate their economic development.

By investing in projects the funds will help to support innovation, businesses, skills and employment to improve local growth and create jobs. For more information visit www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding *This figure includes up to £898,537.67 to support the Management and Administration of the programme by the accountable body as well as the £2.8m to support projects within the local community.