£20m in the island coffers
AROUND £20m now lies in the coffers of a trust fund designed to help some of Ynys Môn’s groups, organisations and facilities.
The Isle of Anglesey Charitable Trust was set up in 1990 by the island’s former borough council to administer money received from Shell (UK) when the company closed their oil terminal at Rhosgoch near Amlwch.
But a report that will be presented to trustees this afternoon (Wednesday) shows that the end of the last financial year, there was £17.074m in the bank - well above the set target of £14.4m.
Figures also show that prudent investment recouped £536,824, again, well over the £136,824 target that had been set by officers.
However, following many years on the market, the authority finally managed to sell the former oil depot in a £3m deal to the Conygar Investment Company, who plan to use the site to support the build for the anticipated Wylfa Newydd plant.
One of the main recipients from the trust last year was Oriel Mon near Llangefni, which received £215,000 with another £200,000 shared between some of the island’s village halls and other community facilities.
Other beneficiaries included £60,000 each for the Holyhead and Anglesey Weightlifting Club and the Anglesey Agricultural Society and £110,000 for Menter Môn.
Last year also saw trustees, made up of the authority’s 30 councillors, approve changes that would restrict the funds to projects on Anglesey and Holy Island only, even if the county council is forced to merge with another local authority.
But one trustee would like to see the purse strings opened further at a time when spare cash is a rare commodity for public bodies.
Cllr Trefor Lloyd Hughes said: “Seeing as there’s around £20m in the bank now, I would like to see a little more of it spent as long as it’s done in a sensible manner.
“This is only my opinion, but I’d also like to see more organisations come forward and make bids as the money is there as long as the cause is a worthy one. “The key is to be sensible about it. “There’s no doubt that great strides have been made in the running of the trust over the past 12 months or so.
“But I would love to see more money spent on needy causes while ensuring there’s enough left over to build the reserves back up.”