Eight local community groups will receive grants worth a total of £25,000 from Totnes Town Council this year. At the Full Council meeting on 3 July 2023, councillors allocated the funding, giving priority to projects that will provide additional support for people in Totnes during the cost-of-living crisis.
The following projects have been awarded a 2023 Totnes Town Council Community Grant:
- Stepping Stones – Totnes Food Bank & TQ9 Community Food Club – awarded £3,530 (50% of the amount requested)
- St John’s Church – Bubbles, Birds, and Sewing Bees – awarded £722 (25% of the amount requested)
- Totnes Library – Kitchen and Refreshments – awarded £1,210.05 (75% of the amount requested)
- Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement (TRAYE) – Bridgetown Youth Club – awarded £3,750 (75% of the amount requested)
- DYS Space – Subsidising trips for young people over the summer – awarded £500 (100% of the amount requested)
- Citizens Advice South Hams – Totnes Community Outreach Programme – awarded £5,969 (50% of the amount requested)
- Totnes Caring – Lunch Club – awarded £6,626 (50% of the amount requested)
- Food in Community – Cost-of-living support for struggling households – awarded £2,645.90 (75% of the amount requested)
Community groups were invited to apply for a grant during May 2023. In total, the 12 applications for funding that were received asked for over £65,000 of support. Unfortunately, not all applications received the funding requested due to not meeting the specified criteria or omissions in the submitted application form. Because the grants were so oversubscribed, it was not possible to give all projects the full funding requested.
Cllr Emily Price, Mayor of Totnes said: “I’m pleased the Town Council can support these excellent local projects with our community grants. However, it is saddening that we could not give everyone the full amount they needed. Once again, we have been heavily over-subscribed in this current round of grants – a telling sign of the current desperate need. With over £65,000 of funding requested and only £25,000 to hand out, it was very difficult to decide which groups would get what funding. Councillors had already agreed to prioritise those projects that support local people through the cost-of-living crisis and we aimed to ensure there was a good split to meet the diverse needs of our community. We’re now working closely with those applicants where we were not able to give any or all the funding requested and will try to help them to access funding from other sources.”
This latest round of grants follows on from £50,000 allocated to local organisations in 2022. In 2023, it was agreed to reduce the amount of grant funding to £25,000 for the whole year to help limit the increase in Council Tax payments.
If you’d like to find out more, go to www.totnestowncouncil.gov.uk email: reception@totnestowncouncil.gov.uk or call 01803 862147.
– Ends
Note to Editors
For more information, please contact Lucy Ferrier, Marketing & Communications Manager at info@visittotnes.co.uk