Surrey Heath Borough Council cuts lottery support

The Surrey Heath Lottery started in 2019 to generate funds to support good causes within the borough.

Money from the lottery is split, with 60 per cent of each £1 ticket going to good causes.

In that time it has raised more than £120,000 but now the council is walking away to save £4,000 a year in estimated officer time it takes to run.

Notice will now be served to the provider that the council will no longer be supporting the lottery – so unless somebody is able to step forward, and steps so far have proved fruitless, the Surrey Heath Lottery will be no more.

The Tuesday, April 8, meeting of the Surrey Heath Borough Council executive committee heard that the cut was being considered “against a background of an increase in need to manage costs and the financial sustainability of the council”.

Councillor Lisa Finan-Cooke, housing and communities portfolio holder told the meeting: “The community lottery raises money for charities across the borough however it’s questionable whether council should be involved in a gambling activity partially when there are running costs that could be reduced or removed.

“You can see that the officers assessed the annual cost of running the annual lottery in the region of £4,000.

Adding: “Officers have explored with the supplier and other community groups whether the lottery could be taken on by an alternative community supplier however to date that has not been successful.

“Likely option now is that the head of transformation will give the supplier notice to close the lottery.”

Cllr Shaun Garrett, leader of the opposition, described the small grants as “a lifeline… for some of these charities that are being supported”, given some of the wider cuts to grant funding being made by Surrey Heath.

Leader of the council, Councillor Shaun Macdonald said that when adding the additional £500 to licence the lottery, the total cost represented poor value for money.

He added: “Let’s hope from the charities point of view somebody else can take it on but as I said there are risks to that over what people are spending their money on.”