Totnes Town Council have announced that they will increase grant funding to support the local community during challenging times.

After a record number of funding requests this year the Town Council have voted to increase the total Community Grant pot from £25,000 to £42,547.48.

In the current round of applications 23 organisations applied for funding totalling over £100,000. At the full council meeting last week (June 10), Town Councillors allocated funding to several local organisations including Totnes Caring, Jamming Station, Totnes Skatepark, Totnes Carnival and Food in the Community.

Priority was given to projects that help to address the core needs of the town outlined in the council's current strategic plan which looks at supporting the community, the economy and the local environment.

Totnes Town Council Clerk, Catherine Marlton, said: “When councillors looked at the level of need in the town, and the number of brilliant projects that can do so much to really help so many residents, they felt it was vital that we increased the value of grants this year. Even with this big jump in the amount we are giving out, we’re still very conscious that not everyone has got as much as they asked for. However, we will do what we can to help these groups to find additional sources of funding. For example, we hope our community grants might act as a spring-board for securing match-funding from other sources. We’ll also continue to publish our weekly-updated list of local, regional, and national funding opportunities on our website to help these groups to know what’s available and we’ll look at other ways we might be able to support these projects.”

In last year’s community consultation survey, residents and business owners ranked providing funding to help local community groups support local people as a very important function of the Town Council.

Community groups were invited to apply for a grant during April 2024. Unfortunately, not all applications received the funding requested because the Community Grants were so oversubscribed. In 2023, eight local community groups received a total of £25,000 in Town Council grant support.

To find out more visit the council website.