22 community centres in Northampton to get £1k grant boost

The council’s cabinet has agreed to distribute some of its unringfenced COVID grant cash from the Government to 22 community centres in the town – with each receiving a sum of £1,000.

Councillor Brandon Eldred, cabinet member for finance at the Conservative run authority, said: “These centres have had to close for a lot of time now and we have money within the grants that we’ve been given from the Government, so I think it’s right that we should support our local community centres.

“They’ve been losing out on revenue income and they have given a lot of support to our communities by distributing food and helping others out. To now help them out will cost the borough £22,000, which is a small sum compared to what they have lost in total. But if it’s a little help we can give, it’s something we should do.”

The borough council has received just over £4 million in grants from the Government, which has allowed it to forecast that it will end its final year of existence – before it is replaced by the West Northamptonshire unitary – with a slight underspend. This is despite the loss of more than £3 million in estimated parking income.

It has also used councillor ‘COVID Community Grants’ to distribute £90,000 across 114 community groups and organisations, as well as awarding £98,887 to parish councils as grants.

The latest funding for the community centres was welcomed by Labour leader Councillor Danielle Stone.

She said: “I think it’s really timely and will be very helpful. Our community centres and hubs are crucial now, they have been absolutely crucial during the pandemic and they will be really crucial going into the new unitary, because I cannot for the life of me see how the statutory body will be able to deliver without using some of our community centres as delivery venues and vehicles. It’s really important to make sure that they remain strong and they survive the pandemic.”