Still £47,560 to claim in Cllr Ward Budgets to help Community groups.

Each of your 30 Folkestone & Hythe District Councillors have a ‘ward budget’ of up to £3,000 to help community projects.

Community groups in the district or with a connection to the area can apply for the ward budget. These include:

• Town and parish councils with a community tax of less than £21,000 a year
• Community interest companies
• Charitable incorporated organisations
• Registered charities
• Schools
• Community and voluntary groups with a governing document
• Other organisations working for the benefit of the local community

You can find out who your Ward Cllr is ⇒ here

Between April 2023 and Dec 2023, Cllrs have awarded £42,440.

Supplier Name	Amount £
Total Result	42,440.35
Silver Arch Studios Community Projects Cic	3,583.00
Jim Jam Arts	2,750.00
Custom Folkestone C.I.C	2,400.00
Kent Coast Volunteering	2,050.00
Strange Cargo	1,850.00
The Harvey Grammar School	1,750.00
1st Cheriton Scout Group	1,500.00
New Romney Country Fayre	1,250.00
Folkestone Music Town Cic	1,200.00
Hythe Bay Church Of England Primary School	1,189.87
Cheriton Bowls Club	1,000.00
Ivychurch Parish Council	1,000.00
Lydd School Association	1,000.00
Sandgate Heritage T/A The Sandgate Society	1,000.00
St Mary In The Marsh Project Fund	996.80
Sellindge Bowls Club	950.00
Fyp Youth Charity	819.99
Turner Schools	800.00
St Mary & St Eanswythe Parish Church	800.00
Retrocadia/Cinque Ports Radio Cic	788.07
Fourth Wall Folkestone Cic	760.05
Redoubt Sailing Club	750.00
Hythe Environmental Community Group	579.81
Harbour Ward Residents Association	550.00
Home-Start Shepway	550.00
1st Sellindge Scout Group	500.00
Brenzett & Snargate Pcc	500.00
Carm – Lydd	500.00
Folkestone Trawler Race	500.00
Friends Of Hythe Dementia	500.00
Hospitals Of St Bartholomew & St John	500.00
Light Up New Romney Comm Lantern Parade 2021	500.00
Lympne Lunch Club	500.00
New Romney In Bloom Community Group	500.00
Newchurch Parish Council	500.00
Harbour Ward Community Garden	480.00
Includes Us 2	400.00
Our Lady Of The Good Counsel R.C Church	390.76
1st Dymchurch Scout Group	386.00
The Community Heartbeat Trust	366.00
New Romney Am Dram And Youth	350.00
Rotary Club Of Hythe	350.00
Stanford & Westenhanger History Soc	350.00
Care4calais	300.00
Channel Rotary	300.00
Folkestone Pride	300.00
Fpac (Folkestone Performing Arts Centre)	300.00
Project Salus Cic	300.00
Dymchurch Meeting Point (Mrs Anita Smith)	250.00
Folkestone Trawler Race	250.00
Pavement Pounders Comm Int Company	250.00
Romney Marsh Community Hub	250.00

One can see the fabulous JimJam Arts who put on the Advent Calendar received 2,750

In nine  months, just 47% of the available budget – total budget available is £90,000 – has been spent or rather claimed by community groups. This is very disappointing indeed.

Of course, there are terms and conditions attached to a ward grant, and they are not demanding or difficult to naviagte. These can be found ⇒ here. You will need evidence, such as quotes, for the project costs the grant will pay for. And it’s necessary to have a bank account (the bank account must be in the name of the group or organisation applying).

To apply for a community ward grant from any of the 30 Cllrs one has to fill in the following form which can be found ⇒ here

Your Ward Member will review your application then they complete Part B to authorise the grant and then they’ll send you an email to let you know how much they will give to your project

Once you completed the project, it is necessary to complete the Project Update Form and return it to your Ward Member. 

So if you know of a charity, a CIC a community group who are scratching around for some money for a project, let them know Cllrs still have £47,560 they can still award and urge them to apply, for as they say “every little helps”

The Shepway Vox TEAM

Dissent is NOT a Crime