Merton Council agreed to provide over £1.27million of funding for community projects this week.
Of the 24 bids approved at a cabinet meeting on 8 November, 22 were from new projects, with the remaining two being revisions of previously successful applications to the fund.
The refurbishment of Pollards Hill Bus Shelter, allocated £150,000, and the provision of a café and mini golf area in Sherwood Park, granted £60,000, are among the schemes approved money.
Councillor Martin Whelton, Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and the Climate Emergency, said: “We’re delighted to allocate funds to such a diverse range of projects.
“This year we have also put Covid-19 recovery and combating climate change as major priorities for funding.
“We have also listened closely to the feedback from the recent Your Merton consultation and as a result we are investing more in local neighbourhood projects.
“I would like to thank everybody who spread the word about the consultation, and who submitted bids, and would encourage those who weren’t successful this time to consider future applications.”
This is the third consecutive year the council has spent funds representing 15% of the Merton Community Infrastructure Levy.
Merton Council began collecting it in 2014, and have spent, or approved, £4million of the received £5.6million to community projects.
Bids were assessed on how they would benefit the borough, with an emphasis being placed on deciding whether they contribute towards Merton’s ‘Bridging the Gap’ aim.
The plan, spanning from 2020 to 2026, hopes to improve life for residents in the borough’s most deprived wards.
A portion of Neighbourhood CIL receipts have been distributed to the Ward Allocation Scheme, following a Cabinet decision in 2019.
This allows ward councillors to spend up to £15,000 on smaller projects which will benefit residents in their area.
A full list of the approved projects can be found here.
Featured image credit: diamond geezer via Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license
