Telford councillors' community fund doubled to £10,000 each
A fund for councillors in Telford to donate to community projects has been doubled to £10,000 for each councillor.
Telford & Wrekin Council 'Councillor’s Pride Fund' allows each councillor to award the money to projects or groups in their local areas.
As part of Telford & Wrekin Council's budget for 2022/23, which was agreed last week, each councillor will now receive an extra £5,000 in their fund, on top of the £5,000 they normally have, for the next twelve months.
It means councillors now have £10,000 each to use to support projects.
Councillor Paul Watling, cabinet member for co-operative communities, engagement and partnerships, said: “The Councillor’s Pride Fund has helped our communities better support each other in the places where they live. During the last 18 months, this has been more important than ever and is why we have increased each councillor’s fund to £10,000.
“Feedback from ward councillors highlights how even small amounts of money can have a significant and long-lasting impact on communities and people’s wellbeing. Breakfasts for young people to tackle food poverty, Laptops for Learning and wellbeing packs for people on their own at Christmas are things that really do make a big difference, and why the increased funding is such great news.”
Over the last twelve months, much of the support provided by the Councillor’s Pride Fund has been reflective of the global pandemic.
Grants from the funding pot supported by match funding, meant that more than 240 children in Telford and Wrekin benefited from a free laptop to support their education at home while schools were closed. This supported the Laptops for Learning project, which provided more than 700 laptops across the borough in total.
Funds also supported breakfast packs which provided around 200,000 breakfasts for children who receive free school meals, as well as festive meals people on their own and isolated at Christmas.
Other projects that benefited in the last 12 months included a tree planting scheme in parks in Newport to support local aims to reduce the town’s impact on climate change as well as supporting the council’s aim for the borough to be carbon neutral by 2030.
In many cases parish and town councils have provided match-funding, doubling the benefit to the community or specific project.
Applications to the Councillor’s Pride Fund can only be made by councillors, or by groups invited to apply by their local councillor.
