Charity begins in Stone for town councillors
Two charities have had their requests for funding turned down after Stone councillors said they needed to put town residents first.
Stone Town Council has a grant funding pot which organisations can apply to for financial support.
Handouts of up to £500 are available and funding is awarded twice a year, at the council’s July and February meetings.
Three grant applications were considered at Tuesday’s Stone Town Council meeting. But just one organisation – Stone and District Swimming Club – was awarded funding.
Hospital Radio Stafford’s request for £500 and Douglas Macmillan Hospice’s application for £360 were both turned down.
Councillor Jill Hood said: “We have the grant system for our residents. I think it’s very important we keep it for that.
Councillor Jim Davies said: “We do get a lot of applications and organisations tend to send requests to any organisation that has some money, which is fine to do. We need to look after Stone first – some of these organisations do go here but we aren’t here to support the whole county.”
Stone and District Swimming Club has been awarded £500 by the town council.
Councillor Hood said: “It’s exactly what it says on the label – Stone and District. They do the most amazing service for our children and adults and they are an incredible bunch of volunteers.”
Councillor Philip Leason added: “They are an excellent group and they are a great asset to Stone.”
At the July 2019 meeting 11 applications for grant funding were considered by the council and £3,995 was given out to organisations including Crown Wharf Theatre Company, Stone Scout and Guide Band and Stone Community Hub.
But a request for £1,000 from Sting, which supports people with neurological conditions and received a £500 grant from the council in February 2019, was turned down – as were requests from The Crossings Community Centre and Douglas Macmillan Hospice, which had asked for £550.
This leaves more than £5,000 unspent in the 2019/20 grant pot – and there were also funds remaining at the end of the previous year too.
The council set aside £9,900 for grants in its 2018/19 budget – but just £2,300 had been given away by December 2018 and a further £1,800 was awarded to groups in February 2019.
Unspent funds can be added to the following year’s budget however. And last month Stone Town Council agreed to cut its grant funding budget to £8,000 for 2020/21.
The next round of grants will be considered at Stone Town Council’s July meeting and the deadline for applications is June 19. For more information visit stonetowncouncil.gov.uk/grants/.
