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Become a member of the selection panel

How to be a member of the selection panel for the Local Heritage Grant.

How to apply to be on the panel

If you would like to express your interested to be a panel member for the Local Heritage Grant 2 - Writers, Artists and Musicians on the English Riviera, please complete the Application to be a panel member form.

Deadline is on Friday 20 March at 5pm.

Background

The initial round of Local Heritage Grant (LHG) Awards, delivered 2023-2025, with thanks to the Heritage Fund, led to improved confidence within Torbay communities, to design, develop, and deliver heritage projects for themselves. We want to continue to build ‘on the ground’ capacity to conserve and celebrate Torbay’s unique heritage. The ‘Writers, Artists & Musicians on the English Riviera’ topic expands a theme identified in the Torbay Heritage Strategy (Writers on the Riviera).

Heritage can be a powerful social process in the present, about the past, for the future. The scheme will enable successful applicants to design and deliver conservation and interpretation interventions across Torbay that celebrate significant literary, artistic, and musical heritage of Torbay. Projects that respond to the theme whilst prioritising opportunities for communities to connect and improve physical and mental well-being will be favoured. For example, heritage walking trails, digital enhancement at heritage sites, commemorative installations or events designed to bring people together and increase visibility of Torbay’s connections iconic writers, artists, and musicians. This, second scheme, is made possible after Torbay Council secured just under £250,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Local Heritage Grants

We have been awarded a funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for another round of Local Heritage Grants, with three rounds of £50,000 secured to support community-led and local heritage projects. Grants between £500 - £7,000 are available for new projects to be delivered in Torbay between May 2026 – January 2028.

The Torbay local heritage grant scheme will run between 2026 and 2027. Funding will be awarded in three rounds.

• Round 1: Opens 6 February 2026 and closes 30 April 2026 at 5pm
• Round 2: Opens 1 June 2026 and closes 30 September 2026 at 5pm
• Round 3: Opens 1 February 2026 and closes 30 April 2027 at 5pm

All projects need to be delivered by January 2028.

Projects can include tangible heritage (such as buildings, parks, archives, collections etc), intangible heritage (oral histories, traditions, and celebrations), or natural heritage (such as green
spaces or rivers and the sea).

Local Heritage Grant Panel Procedures

  • Your application will be subject to an initial assessment to check that the eligibility criteria are met, using a yes/no system.
  • You will be notified if your project does not pass or if the Council needs further information to process it.
  • All applications that fulfil the eligibility criteria will be put before the Torbay Local Heritage Grant Awards Selection Panel, comprising Council staff, community and heritage sector representatives from the three towns of Torbay, with at least three members of the Selection Panel being people aged under 30 years old.
  • Before the selection panel takes place, panel members will receive a summary report of the applications received.
  • The panel will assess each application against the Local Heritage Grants Award funding criteria.

The decisions that the panel can make are as follows:

  • Reject application
  • Make recommendations and suggest a resubmission
  • Where two or more applications propose similar projects, make a recommendation that community groups work together, and resubmit
  • Make an award but impose additional conditions to the standard grant conditions
  • Make an award without additional conditions
  • Offer a lower amount

How the Selection Panel is Chosen and its Purpose

  • Membership of the Selection Panel will be chosen by sharing an online application form with members of the Torbay Culture & Heritage Forum and sending the form to Torbay wide, relevant organisations. The panel will comprise of 7 people.
  • The primary role of the Selection Panel is to ensure that the aims of this award will be delivered by distributing available funds fairly and transparently.
  • The panel will award grants that meet the criteria of the grant award and are likely to make the greatest impact and provide the most public benefit.
  • Panel members will be expected to declare any Conflicts of Interest at the start of the panel meeting and where there is a conflict, the panel member must stand down from that any decision over the application in question.
  • Panel members will make recommendations in a transparent and fair manner.
  • In line with the grant criteria, panel membership must include: at least one person from each of the three towns and representative of the community organisations/schools that we aim to facilitate through this grant, and at least three people under the age of 30.

Selection panel responsibilities

  • Prepare for each panel meeting by reading the triaged as eligible applications in full.
  • Attend and participate in all scheduled panel meetings, or send apologies on occasions where this is not possible.
  • Ensure that comments, opinions and decisions are respectful and that judgment is kept to the merit of the proposal, not based on individuals named.
  • To keep the priorities of the award under review.
  • To ensure that both the grant application process and decision making are open, fair and transparent.
  • To provide constructive feedback on applications that are not successful.
  • To treat all information always received as a panel member as confidential. Panel members must not disclose any sensitive information relating to panel discussions, donors or grant recipients, to anyone outside the panel.
  • To not disclose the outcomes of funding meetings prior to applicants being informed of the funding decision
  • To declare any potential conflicts of interest – see conflict of interest policy below. The Chair will ask panel members to declare conflicts of interest before any discussions take place. This information will be recorded and kept with the notes of the meeting.
  • The panel will review its own performance, membership, terms of reference and processes at least once per year.
  • Agree to abide by the majority vote on each application.

Declaration of Interests

A conflict of interest arises in circumstances where the panel member, close friends or family members, have a direct financial or personal interest in the outcome of a funding decision, or where the panel member has been closely involved in preparing the application. Such conflicts may create problems as they can:

  • Inhibit free discussion.
  • Result in decisions or actions that are not in the interests of the panel.
  • Risk the impression that the group has acted improperly.
  • Result in a biased recommendation.

The aim of this policy is to protect both the organisation and the individuals involved from any appearance of impropriety. Each member of the panel should declare any interests they or family members have that might impact on the work of the panel. This would include their employment, directorships, membership of organisations or appointments on governing bodies.

It is the responsibility of each panel member to declare an interest at the beginning of each meeting. In the event of a declaration being made, the chair will decide on the appropriate action i.e. the panel member be removed from discussion about the application/s. Failure to declare a relevant interest will result in the member being removed from the panel.

Complaints and appeals Interests

  • The panel will not hear appeals.
  • Complaints are directed to our complaints department. An acknowledgement of the complaint is made within 2 working days and an appropriate response is issued within 21 working days