Community groups in Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge have this week shared a huge £21,645 boost during one of the Town Council’s biggest ever grants hand-outs.
At a meeting of the council’s Finance and Governance Committee on Monday (June 3rd), councillors reviewed each of the group’s grant applications in detail before voting to approve these:
- 1st Highbridge Rainbows – £300 sought – £300 approved
- 2nd Highbridge Brownies – £300 sought – £300 approved
- 1st Burnham Scout Troop – £750 sought – £750 approved
- BEES – £2,000 sought – £2,000 approved
- BOSFest – £2,000 sought – £2,000 approved
- Burnham & District in Bloom – £1,000 sought – £1,000 approved
- Burnham Heritage group – £1,000 sought – £1,000 approved
- Childrens Air Ambulance – £250 sought – £250 approved
- Go Socialise – £300 sought – £300 approved
- Highbridge Youth Arts – £2,000 sought – £1,000 approved
- In Charley’s Memory – £1,590 sought – £1,590 approved
- Southwell House – £2,000 sought – £2,000 recommended for CIL funding release
- St John’s Church – £2,000 sought – £2,000 recommended for CIL funding release
- Burnham Swimming Club – £2,170 sought – £2,000 approved
- 1st Huntspill and Highbridge Scouts – £900 sought – £900 approved
- Berrow Primary School – £2,000 sought – Decision deferred to Sep 2024 meeting
- Hard Knox School of Boxing – £879.98 sought – £880 approved
- Morland Hub – £1,000 sought – £1,000 recommended for CIL funding release
- Highbridge & Burnham Carnival – £3,000 sought – £1,500 approved
- Hillview Junior Carnival Club – £2,000 sought – £2,000 approved
- Burnham Town Band – £875 sought – £875 approved
- Burnham and Highbridge Sea Cadets – £1,500 sought – £1,500 approved
- Weston Hospicecare – Withdrawn as other funding found
- Burnham United Football Club roof project – £1,630 sought – £1,630 recommended for CIL funding release
- BARB Rescue Services Day – £500 sought – £500 approved
- Somerset Youth Theatre – £2,000 sought – Deferred to Sep 2024 meeting
Committee Chair Cllr Ganesh Gudka told Monday’s meeting that councillors had faced “difficult decisions” on considering which groups were successful due to a gap between the amount sought by local groups and the amount of funds available in budget.
Cllr Barbara Vickers added: “We were oversubscribed, but it’s great to see such a diverse range of local groups seeking funding.”
Many of the groups had representatives on hand at Monday’s council meeting to answer questions from the councillors as they reviewed each of the applications.
Several of the groups had their grant funding reduced as their applications exceeded the £2,000 maximum limit that the Town Council now awards to groups.
Cllr Gudka also explained that four groups – St John’s Church, Southwell House, Burnham United and Highbridge’s Morland Hub – could qualify for funds from the local Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), comprising of local contributions from local housing developer contributions. £6,630 of CIL funds for those groups have been recomended by the Finance Committe to be considered at the next full Town Council meeting.
The grant applications from Berrow School and Somerset Youth Theatre were both deferred to September’s council meeting to allow more time to gather information on the funding bids.
