Members of Ross-on-Wye Town Council discussed a change to their grant application process, at the Full Meeting of the Council on Monday, June 13th. Councillor Caroline Utting questioned a potential new clause, brought forward by the Finance and Personnel Committee. The Committee suggested that grants from the Town Council may not be given to organisations, if they had been awarded funding the previous year.

Cllr Utting commented that some events in the town, such as the Carnival and the Christmas Fayre are recurring events that return each year. She added that this new policy "could cause all sort of problems."

Councillor Jane Roberts agreed. She said that while each year the grant money is spent, and some groups may leave disappointed, she said: “We are not so oversubscribed that we must try to diminish demand.”

The Chair of the Finance Committee, Councillor Julian Gren explained that the idea behind the potential change to the grant application process was to encourage new groups and organisations to apply for funding. He said: “We’re not saying we shouldn’t support these things...We wanted to attract more people to use the grants, and we should try to do something to refresh it.”

Councillor Richard Mayo added that there seemed to be the same people applying for the same grants each year. He suggested that the amounts of the grants be made smaller. “They all apply for the largest amount, and this can curtail the spending. We could watch it this year, and consider (the change) next year...It would be nice to have fresh applications for projects.”

Councillor Phil Cutter proposed that new grant policy be adopted, so long as the clause in question was taken out. This went to a vote. 12 members were in favour, and there were two abstentions.