More help for community projects thanks to council funding

More money has been given to local organisations and groups this year thanks to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's Councillor Community Grant scheme.

Nearly £90,000 of funding has been awarded across 85 applications to support projects that aim to make a difference to people's lives and bring communities together across the borough.

Through the grant scheme, each borough councillor has an allocation of £2,000 to award grants of between £250 and £2,000 to local groups and organisations. Councillors can also pool funding with one or two other councillors in the borough to provide grants up to a maximum of £3,000.

Grants this year have supported a wide range of community projects across the borough. Treasure Island Parent and Toddler group in Popley has benefited from new toys and children at Oakridge Tuesday Tots group are enjoying more messy and fun play with the addition of more storage, arts and crafts equipment and replacement toys.

Visitors to the Headley and Ashford Hill Community Shop can enjoy a drink from a new coffee machine thanks to their grant and volunteers at Baughurst Repair Café at Heath End Village Hall now have new electrical safety testing equipment, scales and uniforms with funding of £710.

Sherfield Park Runners has received just over £1,750 to fund a new website, safety tabards, first aid kit and a gazebo to provide shelter at events and the Purple Company, a group that visits local care homes and lunch clubs to provide music and singing, now has a new sound system and keyboard funded through the scheme.

Cabinet Member for Communities, Partnerships and Inclusion Cllr John McKay said: "The Councillor Community Grant Scheme is clearly growing in popularity and making a real difference in communities, with more funding allocated this year to projects compared to the previous two years that the grant scheme has been run.

"Supporting our communities to thrive is crucial. This year we adjusted the scheme to enable councillors who have a pot of £2,000 each to pool their funding with other councillors to provide grants of up to £3,000 for projects in their area where larger grants were necessary.

"The range of initiatives funded this year demonstrates the real benefits this funding has brought to different areas of the borough from new toys for parent and toddler groups to a coffee machine for a community shop - it is helping to make a difference in our communities."

For more information on the grant scheme which will launch again later in the year visit www.basingstoke.gov.uk/cllr-community-grants

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