Council commits to three-year funding for local groups

FROME Town Council has agreed to schedule funding for some local organisations until 2019 to help with financial planning.

At a meeting in December town councillors unanimously agreed to give 10 local groups a total of £235,500 between 2017 and 2020.

The organisations chosen are those that Frome Town Council funds every year through its grants scheme, but does not have a formal longer-term agreement. Groups not included in the list must keep applying on a yearly basis.

The council’s economic development and regeneration manager, Peter Wheelhouse, presented the proposal to councillors and the public.

In his report Peter said, “There are many local not-for-profit organisations that the council has grant aided on an annual basis but, except for Frome Festival and Harry’s Hydro, we have not completed multi-year agreements with them.

“The key benefits of such agreements are that they provide clarity with medium-term financial planning for both Frome Town Council and the recipient of the grant, and can assist with raising other funding.”

The amounts agreed are dependent on certain criteria being met and may be changed by the council in future. The organisations agreed upon for funding in 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 were:

Harry’s Hydro, which could receive a total of £24,000 over the three years, Fair Frome (£45,000), Citizens Advice Bureau (£18,000), Mendip YMCA (£21,000), Purple Elephant (£24,000), Active and In Touch (£21,000), Frome Community Education (£18,000), Frome Festival (£30,000), Frome Carnival (£4,500) and Mendip Health Connections (£30,000).

At the same meeting the town council agreed to commit to spending 10% of its yearly budget on supporting the voluntary sector.