Warning over village hall funds

Village hall bosses throughout Shrewsbury and Atcham have been warned not to apply to the council for any more grants because there is no cash left.

Many of the halls have lost out on lottery funding and have re-submitted their applications to the council.

Bayston Hill Memorial Hall, Fitz Village Hall, Montford Parish Hall, Cound Guildhall and Leighton and Eaton Constantine Parish Council all submitted bids to the council for help for refurbishment and improvement programmes.

But at a cabinet meeting last night, council leader Councillor Peter Nutting said: "We have to draw a line under any requests for any village halls and community halls.

"We need to make it clear we can no longer allow consideration of any requests."

Cound Guildhall and Leighton Constantine applied for modest sums of £3,500 and £2,000 each and councillors decided to grant these on approval from the full council.

But on larger sums, which are as much as £297,000, councillors decided to defer decisions to April's cabinet meeting to see if additional cash becomes available.