Two village halls, in Lympstone and Northleigh, are set to receive a cash injection of nearly £6,000 to help make much-needed improvements, thanks to East Devon District Council (EDDC).

It comes as part of the authority’s Community Building Fund, which has been running for more than 15 year and offering grants of up to £5,000 to help village halls, community buildings and shops.

There is also still time left to apply for funding, if you know of a worthy project apply here.

These are latest successful projects below:

·         Lympstone Village Hall will receive £3,364 towards audiovisual equipment, including a new ceiling projector, in the village hall to help it become more sustainable.

·         Northleigh Village Hall gets £2,590 to help them pay to resurface the car park. This will make it much safer for people with physical mobility issues to use the hall. 

An additional two applications were also received and discussed at a EDDC meeting. One will be reconsidered once its planning application is decided on. The other will be reconsidered once its new lease is in place.

Community buildings and community shops that are within an area covered by a town council are not eligible to apply. The scheme’s purpose is to help rural community buildings and community shops all around East Devon with funding for projects such as new or improved toilet facilities, kitchen facilities, roof repairs, heating and new door fixtures. To find out more and apply online: eastdevon.gov.uk/grants-and-funding/grants-available-from-us/community-buildings-fund

The next closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday 14 January 2022.

Councillor Jack Rowland, East Devon District Council Chair of the Community Grants Panel said:

As the next closing date is on 14 January 2022, I’d encourage eligible bids to be submitted for consideration. The latest successful bids perfectly illustrate what can be achieved with assistance from this grant fund to make improvements to community buildings that have such an important role to play.