Mayor of London pledges £600k for local community projects

The Farm Café and Workshops in Barnet, one of the projects funded via Crowdfund London in 2018.

The Mayor of London has pledged over £600,000 to help community projects across the capital meet their crowdfunding funding targets.

23 local projects have been successful in their bids for mayoral funding through the sixth round of Crowdfund London, Khan’s crowdfunding programme – with Khan’s pledges totalling £612,500.

The latest round of the programme, funded by London’s local enterprise partnership (LEP) LEAP, will see over £2.2m of funding given to the projects if they hit their funding targets – the highest figure of any funding round to date.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: ‘Each year Crowdfund London goes from strength to strength. I’m proud to back these 23 fantastic projects which have the potential to make a really positive impact on communities across our city.

‘Through my crowdfunding programme, Londoners can get behind them too and I urge people to make a pledge to help turn these brilliant ideas into reality.’

Crowdfund London was launched in 2014 and has backed over 100 community projects across the capital since its inception.

Previously successful projects include a project in Elephant and Castle to transform disused garages into a neighbourhood hub, and a community centre and café in Tottenham.

Over half of the campaigns applying to Crowdfund London this time received mayoral backing, up from a third of projects last time.

Among the 23 projects backed by the Mayor this year include a project to create public access to 26 miles of riverside in Newham and a local events space in Lambeth.

In order to receive the funding from City Hall, the projects must get enough financial pledges from other backers to hit their full funding target.

LEAP board member, Alexandra Depledge, said: ‘Crowdfund London celebrates the best things about our city and its people. It’s a great chance for people to come together and find creative ways to make a difference to their local communities.

‘It’s really important now that everyone, including London’s businesses, gets behind these passionate and driven people to help turn their visions into a reality.’

City Hall’s announcement has come soon after a cross-party group of MPs raised concerns about the government’s lack of oversight of the £12bn of taxpayers’ money given to LEPs to support economic growth.

In a report published last week, the public accounts committee said that LEPs are not accountable enough to their local communities and often underspend their funding allocation, raising questions about their ability to deliver complex projects.

Photo Credit – London City Hall