28
Jan
Council chief defends proposed £450,000 cut to community grants scheme
A North Yorkshire Council chief has defended plans to cut in half the amount councillors can give out in grants to their local communities.
The authority is looking to find savings after reporting a reduction in its finances of £6m a year after the local government funding settlement was announced.
One area in which the council is looking to make savings is the £900,000 a year in locality funding handed to councillors to make small grants to local community organisations.
Each councillor is given £10,000 a year to allocate to good causes. However, the council is looking to reduce this to £5,000 from 2025/26.
The proposal has been greeted with dismay from opposition councillors with Liberal Democrats on the authority set to urge the authority to suspend the cut for 12 months to allow officers to assess the social value to communities made by the grants.
Cllr Steve Mason, who represents the Amotherby and Ampleforth division, said:
The locality budget delivers genuine actions into the heart of the community.
These small grants empower wider action at so many levels, including food aid, nature restoration, rural public transport and sometimes simply keeping people warm.
If we lose these grants so much community action will be lost. The wider negative impact across North Yorkshire will be a scandal.
Cllr Andrew Timothy, who represents the Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone division in Harrogate, added:
As one of North Yorkshire’s newest councillors, the locality budget has been the single best way I can help my community, whether it is funding crucial community projects or helping people experiencing homelessness.
The organisations to receive a grant include Dementia Forward, which used the money to buy new songbooks for their Burton Leonard Hub Club, while Masham Primary School received funding to transform a wilderness area at the school.
But speaking at a recent meeting of the council’s executive committee, Cllr Gareth Dadd, Conservative deputy leader and executive member for finance and resources, defended the proposed budget cut.
He said:
If we’re serious as members in delivering a sustainable council, we’ve got to play our part and frankly I don’t think we can justify the full £10,000 going forward.
Cllr Dadd said he expected a full debate on the issue at the authority’s full council meeting next month.
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