Witney News - Grants for good causes

Grants for good causes

Four play areas in Witney and a sports club in Carterton are among the latest groups, clubs and facilities set to receive grants from West Oxfordshire District Council.

Funding has been allocated by the Council to the following:

• Witney Town Council will receive just over £16,000 towards improvements at four play areas in the town. The money will pay for safer surfacing and new equipment to be installed as well as a hard-surface area at one of the sites for basketball and 5-a-side football all year round. In addition to the funding from the District Council, the Town Council will contribute £30,500 to the project and £3,000 from the Town Hall Charity fund will pay for new equipment at The Leys play area.
• Carterton Squash Club will get £4,080 towards replacing court floors at the club in Swinbrook Road. The club’s existing floor surface is over 25 years old and members are concerned it is becoming unsafe. The work will cost just over £10,000 and the club is applying for grant funding from Awards for All as well as using about £2,000 of its own funds.
• The Bartons Victory War Memorial Hall Fund is set to receive £1,150 to help pay for the cost of constructing an access path to its nearby play area. The charity received almost £900 from the Council in 2006 towards the cost of equipment for the play area. Existing access to the site is across grass which becomes water-logged when it rains and the charity said the new pathway, which is costing £3,800, will improve this, particularly for people with pushchairs and mobility issues.
• Finstock Village Hall will get £722 towards refurbishing the kitchen and toilets, which were damaged by water from a leaking roof. The management committee received £770 from the Council in 2006-7 to help towards costs of repairing the roof and that work has now been completed. The kitchen and toilet refurbishment will cost just over £2,000.

The funding is due to be allocated from the Council’s Sport and Active Recreation, Outdoor Recreation and Play Facilities and Village Hall (Minor) Grants scheme.

Cllr Hilary Biles, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Leisure, Tourism and Health, said: “The funding will help towards some extremely worthwhile and much-needed projects that will bring benefits to a range of people. We are delighted that we are able to support communities in this way.”

Dave Middleton, Treasurer of Carterton Squash Club, said: “The grant is absolutely fantastic for the club. We have 150 members and the courts are used by Carterton Community College students on a regular basis. The grant will mean a lot to a lot of people and we are very grateful, not only for the funding but for the support the Council has given us.”

The Club is waiting to hear whether its application to Awards for All has been successful before work on the new floors begins.

The grant funding was recommended at a Cabinet meeting on July 16th. Approval is subject to a call-in period which ends on July 28th and the decision is not final until then.