by Simon Page BBC News Online

Over �3bn has been given to organisations in the capital

The top five local authorities which receive the most lottery funding per-head of population are all London boroughs. Over 26% of the �11.4bn paid out in lottery grants has gone to London-based organisations. The figures prove there is a London bias. Or do they?

It seems simple enough. London has received more in lottery funding than the East Midlands, Eastern Region, North East, Northern Ireland and Wales combined. But, as is often the case, the figures do not tell the whole story.

Richard Caborn MP, from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, told BBC News Online: "Major centres of population often tend to attract larger capital projects, although they are not the only beneficiaries because these projects serve a much wider surrounding area. London is an extreme example of this.

"In addition many awards attributed to London actually go to organisations which serve much wider parts of the UK, but just happen to have their headquarters in London.

"If you take these factors into account, together with relative population, the imbalance between London and the rest of the country is not what it might at first appear."

Behind the bare statistics

Help The Aged is one such organisation whose location adds to this disparity. With its headquarters based in Islington, north London, it has received over �5m which is added to the Islington total. Much of the money, though, is actually spent elsewhere.

In fact, people such as Islington councillor Laura Willoughby say the borough deserves to do well from the lottery.

"People have a particular view of Islington, but this is a borough of contrasts", said Ms Willoughby. "This is the ninth most deprived borough in the country with a rate of nearly 50% social housing alongside the expensive private properties.

Some of Greenwich's older attractions have received funding

But, it is the landmark schemes which really push up Islington's (and London's) share of the lottery cake.

Topping that list of well-funded local authorities is Greenwich. Its Dome received �680m, but the next largest recipient in the borough has been the Maritime Museum's Neptune Hall at �12m. In fact, the highest grant to a community scheme in Greenwich is �2m to a sports complex.

Richard Caborn disputes, however, that the capital receives the large proportion of landmark schemes: "This is simply not the case. The Millennium Commission has funded landmark projects, with grants of over �15 million, in every region of the country not just London.

"The Heritage Lottery Fund has also awarded more than �268 million to more than 400 of the country's best loved urban parks and other landmark schemes funded outside London.

"There is at least one landmark project in each region of the country. In fact, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire and Humberside actually have 3 landmark 'Millennium' projects each.

Competition for funding

But does this view win support outside the capital? Birmingham, for example, despite being the biggest local authority in the UK, was ranked 55th on the list of lottery recipients. Tim Jones has been involved with some of the city's biggest lottery projects.

He said: "Regionally and nationally, we do tend to compete for funding, but as the bids get smaller there is less competition.

Some areas receive much more lottery funding than others

"We should also bear in mind that there's a higher proportion of listed buildings and heritage sites in London and the south-east and these have a higher profile. In some ways it's natural these will get a slightly bigger proportion of funding.

"Five years ago there was a real problem with funds going to London in a far greater proportion. But since Heritage Lottery (HLF) has moved offices into the regions (in 2001), they are distributing money in a more equitable fashion.

"There are now regional committee members on the national board which has made things more democratic. When the lottery was first set up, no one really had responsibility for the regions."

The need to move into the regions was in some ways highlighted by the Aln Valley Railway Society (AVRS) in Northumberland. They were turned down for a �3m bid in 1997.

Stuart Manley, Chairman of AVRS, said: "Given this was a major application, we were surprised that no one from Heritage Lottery could be bothered to come up to see us and look at the project. I feel that pointed to a London bias which could be due to the fact they were based in London."

The Eden Project is one of many landmark schemes outside London

Although HLF may disagree with Mr Manley's comments, the value of regionalisation is not lost on its Deputy Director of Operation, Stephen Boyce, who said: "We are trying to reach a larger constituency so we have to be seen to be operating at a regional level.

"Whilst we wouldn't guarantee to visit every project, the chances are our regional teams will know the bidding organisation and have a better chance of meeting with them. We can give a better quality of service to bidders all round."

Very definite attempts are being made to target areas which have previously faired badly in terms of lottery funding and this is particularly true of grants below �1m. But the question remains, is there a London bias?

The answer: Yes. Or no. It all depends which figures one concentrates on.

Next: Paperwork. The daunting task of applying for lottery funds.