Decision time on who’ll get share of £330,000 fund

Councillors will next week be asked to approve divvying up nearly £330,000 between a lengthy list of local groups who have asked for cash for specific community projects.

Officials will recommend the council’s strategic policy and resources committee agree to split £329,189.09 between 63 different groups who applied for monies from a Community Investment Fund (CIF) established last year.

PKC agreed to put £1.2 million into the fund back in February 2018 so groups from each council ward could claim up to £50,000 a year two years in a row.

Some of the groups set to benefit if councillors agree to this first tranche of funding being released are Pain Association Scotland, All Strong Scotland CIC, Muirton Community Nursery, Perth and Kinross Netball

Network, Perth and District YMCA, Perth Six Circle Project, Creative Pipeline and the Phoenix Youth Project.

They will each receive a share of the £50,000 set aside for groups from Perth’s City Centre ward while five more groups from the Perth City South ward and a further four from the Perth City North ward will each get a share of £68,000.

Among the groups set to benefit from the CIF from those last two wards include the likes of Saints in the Community, The Revive Youth Project, Craigie and Moncrieffe Messy Church, Perth Parrots Floorball Club, Letham Climate Change and Vision PK.

Meanwhile Methven and District Community Council and the 66th Perthshire Scouts will receive a share of £19,049.60 PKC has recommended be divided between four groups from the Almond and Earn ward.

Invergowrie Bowling Club and St Madoes PS Parent Council will receive a share of nearly £30,000 PKC wants to split between seven groups from the

Carse of Gowrie ward.

And Coupar Angus Youth Activities Group, Scone Village Association, Alyth Scout Group, Kirkmichael CIC and Blair in Bloom are among a total of 11 groups from the Strathmore and Blairgowrie and Glens wards who will get a combined total of £55,575.60.

Elsewhere Neuro Central, Auchterarder Sports and Recreation, Aberuthven Village Hall Trust and Blackford Fiddle Club in the Strathallan ward will each receive a share of £29,435 while Crieff Royal British Legion and Comrie and District Men’s Shed are among seven groups in the Strathearn ward set to benefit from a combined total of £31,285.

A report going before the strategic policy and resources committee next Wednesday recommending the funds be released goes on to say that a total of £293,316.50 can still be claimed by community groups across the region before the end of 2019/20.