Wilmslow Town Council has agreed to make a number of changes to the way in which it manages and allocates grant applications and donations in the future.
At their meeting on Monday, 18th January, councillors voting in favour of adopting a number of recommendations that were put forward by the Finance Committee.
These included that grants should be considered by the Town Council on a quarterly basis from February, so this will include grants to be paid in this financial year.
Grants for up to £2000 will be awarded without increased scrutiny and the grant will cover no more than 50% of the project costs.
In future applications will be encouraged to attend a meeting of the Finance Committee, rather than the Full Council, to provide any additional information and if attending the Full Council meeting to only do so to answer specific questions posed.
All councillors will be made aware of all grant applications prior to them being considered by the Finance Committee and the application will be amended to provide space for the applicant to include additional supporting information.
The larger grant applications that arise every year will not be separated from the existing budget but be subjected to a greater degree of scrutiny by the Finance Committee than the smaller applications.
Cllr Gary Barton commented "These recommendations provide a better and more stable framework for the Council going forward rather than the free for all which we have been operating previously."
Cllr David Jefferay said "I'd like the Council to discuss whether there should be an additional criteria for whether the organisation requesting grants be Wilmslow based."
He added "I personally think when our budgets are under increasing pressure we should be focussing on Wilmslow based organisations."
Councillors recognised that some organisations might be based outside Wilmslow but are still pertinent to the people of Wilmslow and it was agreed that a guideline should be added which states that all grants from Wilmslow Town Council must offer a benefit to Wilmslow residents.
The Finance Committee is meeting on Monday, 25th January, when it will meet to discuss all 7 of the grant applications which are currently in the pipeline.
Wilmslow Town Council has been making grants on a regular basis. Their grant budget for this financial year (2015-2016) is £80,000 and with the grants approved to date they have spent about £60,000 so far and they know there is at least one application in the pipeline which is for a substantial amount.
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