[WiLT] Petition demands end to Olympic lottery raids

[WiL Admin]

Petition demands end to Olympic lottery raids

A petition to demand the Government diverts no more National Lottery
money to pay for the 2012 Olympics has been started by a network of
funding advisers.

The Government took £638m from lottery funds last year to pay for the
rising costs of the games.

George – the South West Funding Advisers Forum
(http://www.financehub.org.uk/george_the_south_west_funding_advisers_f
orum.aspa), a network for funding advisers in south-west England, has
set up the petition on the Number 10 website to try to prevent further
money being lost.

The petition reads: "Lottery funds should benefit the voluntary and
community sector, not the Government. Lottery funds are diminishing
and the voluntary sector is suffering from a lack of investment
opportunities."

Anna Hoyle, vice-chair of George, said: "Despite promises from the
Government to the contrary, the recent cut in this year's lottery
funding shows that the Government's raids on the lottery to fund the
2012 Olympics are having a detrimental impact on community projects."

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/news/Article/856064/Petition-demands-end-Olympic-lottery-raids/


The petition, which runs until April, can be found here
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Lottery-Funding/ and says:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop using National
Lottery funds to pay for the 2012 Olympics.

We demand that the government stops making raids on the National
Lottery to fund the 2012 Olympics. Lottery funds should benefit the
Voluntary and Community Sector, not the government. Lottery funds are
diminishing and the Voluntary Sector is suffering from lack of
investment opportunities.