Proposals to ensure that only island can benefit from multi-million pound trust fund

CHANGES are set to be made to a multi million pound trust to ensure that only Anglesey based groups and organisations can benefit from it in future.

The Isle of Anglesey Charitable Trust was established in 1990 by the former Anglesey Borough Council to administer money received from Shell (UK) when the company closed their oil terminal near Amlwch.

Understood to be worth around £17m, the fund has been used to offer grants to a plethora of organisations during that time, including £200,000 to five town councils across the island to upgrade and maintain their CCTV provision.

Funds have also been used historically to bolster Oriel Ynys Mon and to help support the island’s athletes during the Island Games competition.

But as the Mail went to press yesterday, councillors were set to discuss changes to the trust which would see the wording of the deeds amended in order to ensure that only Anglesey based groups would be eligible for funding even in the event that the island council were to merge with Gwynedd or/and another county.

It is hoped that the charitable trust could receive a further boost in coming years with the sale of the former 200 acre Shell depot in Rhosgoch.

The trust’s latest annual report values the Rhosgoch land at £3m, but experts believe it could be worth a lot more given the recent upturn in the economy.

After promoting the site as being suitable for the industrial or environmental sector, there have reportedly been several expressions of interest.