NORTH Yorkshire County Council invited readers to respond to phase one of our public consultation to draw attention to the problems faced by rural communities in terms of securing Lottery funding (September 14).

We welcome this invitation and, although this phase of the consultation is now closed, we would like to encourage those concerned about such issues to share their views by responding to phase two of the process.

This runs from now until January 7. More details can be found at www.biglotteryfundconsultationforum.org.uk

I would also like to reassure the people of North Yorkshire that their views will be taken seriously. As a funder, we endeavour to take account of the social and economic problems experienced in isolated rural areas.

The regional community and voluntary sector grants programme (formerly known as the community fund) has awarded more than £30.7 million to 348 projects in North Yorkshire since 1995, representing 15 per cent of our total grants budget. The new opportunities fund has awarded £10.3 million since 1998.

These range from small projects under £5,000 to grants of more than £1 million to projects such as the North Yorkshire Library service to provide computers and Internet access in public libraries across North Yorkshire.

We operate a fair and transparent grant-making process that assesses all projects on their individual merit, and we would encourage any group thinking of applying to us for funding to contact our enquiries line on 0113 224 5301 (Mon-Fri 9am-12.30pm) to discuss their ideas and our funding priorities in more detail.

Anne Dawson,

Regional Manager,

Big Lottery Fund,

Yorkshire & the Humber Regional Office,

St Paul's Street, Leeds.

Updated: 09:35 Tuesday, October 19, 2004