£1m in funding granted for Notts community groups, charities and talented athletes

Members of the council’s communities committee have approved funding of £1.28m to 82 groups and 75 talented athletes at their latest meeting.

The discretionary funding is distributed by the authority under the Local Communities Fund, where applicants demonstrated their projects will help people live healthier and more independent lives, as well as keeping children, vulnerable people and communities safe and protecting the environment.

Organisations to receive funding include Age UK and Disability Nottinghamshire. Several parish councils will also benefit.

Mark Walker, trading standards and communities group manager, said: “There has been an excellent response.

“We’ve had 95 applications for revenue funding, 12 for capital and 77 for talented athletes funding.

“They asked in total for £2.8m which is obviously in excess of the budget.

“Lots of work has been undertaken to identify those applications that should be funded and to what level.

“The numbers were around giving a lower percentage of money to more people, rather than a higher percentage to fewer people.”

Coun Daniel Williamson, member for Kirkby South, said: “The money is not as much as any of us would like to give in an ideal world, but we are where we are.

“I would rather more organisations got it than not.”

Coun Tom Smith, committee vice-chairman and member for Blidworth, said: “We would love to be able to give as much money as is possible, but the nature of a finite pot is we have decided to spread it across as many groups as we can cover.”

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