Public to get say in lottery grants

The public are to get more say in where lottery grants are granted under a new pilot voting scheme announced by the government.

In the 'Your Pound, Your Choice' trial, the public will be able to tick boxes on voting slips at participating lottery retailers to vote for which local projects should get lottery money.

The pilot scheme is expected to run in August, with up to five projects in the two, as yet unnamed, regions, competing for lottery grants of up to £50,000. The scheme will be run by National Lottery operator Camelot and the Big Lottery Fund.

There have been criticisms of the some of the projects which received lottery funding. Earlier this year, it emerged that lottery money had been used to fund a private staff gym at Manchester United football club, the second richest club in the world.

Speaking at the Lottery Monitor Conference in London, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said: "The National Lottery is not just great fun for players, it is a major funder of good causes in the UK - £18.6 billion to date. The National Lottery also has the overwhelming support of the general public.

"It is vital that the public feel that they have a genuine sense of ownership of the National Lottery and real power to shape decisions and influence outcomes. We have already made the Lottery more responsive to the views of the public - the tick box pilots and decisions about how Lottery money is spent over the next 10 year period take that a step further."

(KMcA)