The Grants Panel of Huntingdonshire District Council is scheduled to meet on Monday, 29 September 2025, to discuss and decide on the allocation of funds from the Community Chest Grant Aid Awards for 2025/26. Councillors will consider applications to the Community Chest 2025/26 funding programme and determine whether they meet the award criteria. The panel will then decide which applications will be allocated funding.

Community Chest Grant Aid Awards 2025/26

The main item for consideration is the Community Chest Grant Aid Awards for 2025/26. The Community Chest Grant Scheme aims to support small groups and projects that benefit the local community.

The scheme has been extended to welcome applications from community groups and organisations who would like to support the District Council in achieving the following priorities that have been set out within the Corporate Plan for 2023-28:

• Improving the quality of life and well-being for everyone
• Keeping people out of crisis
• Helping people in crisis
• Lowering carbon emissions

The report pack states that £30,000 was set aside for the Community Chest Award Scheme in the council budget for 2025/26. Including approved carry forward from previous years, the total budget available for the panel to use in 2025/26 is £53,056.27. As of the meeting date, £26,421.00 has already been committed to applicants, leaving £26,635.27 available for the remainder of the financial year.

The maximum amounts that can be applied for are:

• £1,000 for Community Spaces
• £1,500 for community events
• £3,000 for longer-term projects

The report pack notes that a total of £24,438.00 worth of grants awarded remain awaiting payment.

One of the applications to be considered is from Upwood Cricket Club, who have requested £3,000 for toilet refurbishment and the installation of disabled facilities. According to the Appendix 3 -29 Sep 2025 Grants Applications Table, the club's application states:

At present the clubhouse and toilets are not disability friendly – they have limited access through the present doorways due to high steps, and there are no facilities within the toilets for a person with a disability to use them safely. The facilities need to be updated to allow the cricket club to become more inclusive.

The club believes that the project meets the criteria of improving the quality of life and wellbeing. They say that the work will include:

the provision of a disabled toilet set (complete with handrails), a lower basin unit and two folding wheelchair ramps. These improvements will not only benefit us as a club but the wider community as a whole for years to come.

In 2022 the council announced that it would be setting up a Warm Spaces Network. The council recognises that Community Spaces, (formerly referred to as Warm Spaces) offer a social shelter, thus where an existing Community Space can demonstrate to have had a significant positive impact, the Council welcomes applications of up to £500 per year to help keep these facilities and activities open.

Members' Interests

At the start of the meeting, Councillors Lara Davenport-Ray, Executive Councillor for Climate, Transformation and Workforce, and Councillor Sally Ann Howell, Executive Councillor for Communities, Health and Leisure, are expected to declare any disclosable pecuniary, other registerable and non-registerable interests related to the agenda items.