Leominster Town Council has reported an unprecedented call for grant funding from voluntary groups this year, an indication that the current economic climate is biting hard.
At this week’s meeting, town clerk Christina Bromage revealed that the council’s grants’ pot was empty after six months, having paid out more than £9,000 to local voluntary organisations so far this year.
The mayor, Councillor Roger Hunt, who chairs the grants’ committee, said there had been an ‘unusually high demand’ for financial support this year.
Councillor Peter Goody claimed the increase in applications was due to financial cuts caused by the current economic downturn.
The £9,250 allocation drawn up in the council’s budget for general grants this year is now reduced to £250 because of the level of demand from local voluntary groups. Chairman of the town council’s finance committee, Councillor Richard Westwood, later said: “The economic climate is biting, the pot’s empty after six months which has never happened before.”
However, Councillor Westwood said the finance committee would be meeting to find money from other sources to ensure support for groups in need.
Contingency
“It’s not worrying, we have made provision for this in a contingency fund and from other funds, it’s just that we have received a bigger volume of applications this year than ever before,” he added.
Councillor Westwood said the town council would not want to levy any more money on ratepayers in Leominster.
“We shall do our best to make sure any spare monies are available,” he said.