Parish councils have various powers given by Acts of parliament to provide funding, equipment and premises, to help others provide services.
The ability to make such grants is strictly determined by law, both in terms of the organisations which can receive them, and also the amounts of grants that may be given.
In particular, parish councils are permitted to make small grants to organisations which benefit the local population in some way or another. This is permissible under Section 137 of the Local Government Act 1972. There is a low ceiling on such grants, based upon the number of electors, and the monies are funded directly from the Council Tax, via the Parish Precept, so this is your money that we are talking about. There is no other external source of funding available, apart from the Council Tax.
The Council is aware of its duty to spend public money carefully, to achieve the maximum benefit to the residents of Mawnan, and is therefore keen to ensure that this money is targeted at the organisations most in need. The Parish Council gives priority to groups and organisations which directly benefit the parish and its residents.
COMMUNITY GRANTS If you are a member of a group which wishes to be considered for a grant from the Parish Council for a particular project or activity, then contact the Clerk to the Council, in the first instance. This year we are delaying awarding grants until June, to allow groups time to sort out their end of year accounts. This is not a one off occurrence – we accept grant applications throughout the year.
We will be adding the Grant Application forms for 2021/22 later in the Spring, so check back then for more information.
Your “project” may be a one-off purchase of equipment (e.g. insurance premium, special equipment used by your group, books etc), the cost of providing a service (e.g. lunch for village pensioners), or the cost of a section of your running costs (e.g. the cost of room hire for the year). The council reserves the right to seek verification that any donation has been used correctly. It may not be possible for the Council to cover the total cost of each project. A contribution towards the total may be made.
SOLAR FARM MONEY
We as the parish receive an annual amount because we have a solar farm within the parish. This is held by the parish council to distribute to sustainable or worthwhile projects in the parish and is administered with the same forms & processes as our usual grants, at the same time. You do not have to make a separate application.
We are trying to save a little of this money each year to build into a bigger pot to let us undertake some larger projects in the parish. This year because of the limited community activities taking place we decided to tackle some of the bigger projects that had been sitting on the parish councils’ community wishlist as they will end up having the largest community benefit. These can be seen on the list below.
Grant funding from the parish can usually be used to help towards match funding from other sources – please let us know if you are intending to go down this route and need us to guarantee our contribution to help you fill in their paperwork.
Grants for 2020/21
| Award Amount | ||
| Donations/ Grants | ||
| Mawnan Memorial Hall – post office outreach rent | £336.00 | |
| Mawnan School PTA – outdoor gardens project | £912.00 | |
| Mawnan WI – community workshops | £200.00 | |
| Mawnan Allotment Association – tree planting project | £764.00 | |
| Subtotal | £2,212.00 | |
| Solar Grant specific | ||
| Clean Ocean Sailing – Anna Maria clean up donation | £5,000.00 | |
| JPFT – grant payment towards new play equipment | £6,580.00 | |
| Cob Endowment Trust – legal fees for community woodland space | £3,252.00 | |
| Subtotal | £14,832.00 | |
| Shortfall grants | ||
| Mawnan Anvil Trust – insurances | £1,712.00 | |
| Mawnan Community Sports & Social Club – running costs/insurances | £284.00 | |
| Mawnan 1st brownies | £231.00 | |
| Subtotal | £2,227.00 | |
Grants awarded for 2019/20 …
| Who | Awarded | Project description |
| Mawnan 1st Brownies | £300.00 | rasied beds, compost, greenhouse, celebration badges & books |
| Mawnan Anvil Trust | £100.00 | replacement benches x2 |
| Mawnan Preschool (Chair) | £1,800.00 | sports for tots sessions (£50pw/£300 per 1/2 term) |
| Little Wembley | £180.00 | grasss cutting/maintenance |
| Helford River Childrens Sailing Trust | £732.00 | 30 x school pupil sailing lessons |
| Mawnan Smith WI | £200.00 | commuity craft day |
| Mawnan Christmas Lights | £500.00 | fundraising events costs (advertising, printing, food, band) |
| 1st Mawnan Rainbows | £250.00 | gazebo |
| Helford River Scout Group | £560.00 | watersport course @ Elemental, Swanpool. 4 weeks @ £140pw |
| Mawnan Garden Club | £400.00 | resurrect garden club – speaker, hall fees, insurances & RHS affiliation |
| Scott Abbeyfield House | £400.00 | visit & event costs |
| Coastmedic | £260.00 | AED battery – emergency replacement |
| Ronnie Richards Memorial Charity | £1,351.75 | AED purchase for Memorial Hall |
| Mawnan Methodist Hall | £1,500.00 | repainting on all internal areas – especially those used by other community groups |
| Rexel Uk (Denmans) | £1,573.20 | MCA heaters x 3. Fundraising to cover 1 of 3 agreed |