MORE than £17,000 could be pledged to community groups and other causes by South Swindon Parish Council tomorrow.

Councillors will be asked to approve grants worth £17,692 to 13 projects.

They range from a friendship group aimed at the over-55s in Walcot to room hire for Swindon LGBT Social Group.

The largest grant that is expected to be signed off by members of the parish finance and staffing committee on Tuesday evening is £6,712 to the Old Town Festival, more than a third of the overall cost for putting on the summer extravaganza and around 15 per cent of the parish’s £40,000 grants budget.

The grants will be paid out in the 2019/18 financial year. Following a policy change, the parish council is inviting groups to apply for grants through the year, with a decision on the majority of the cash bids taken at one crunch meeting.

A paper produced ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, read: “The budget for grants has been set at £40,000, so there is sufficient funding to award further grants in the year to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

“Where possible some grants were reduced because the council could help in other ways, such as hire of community centres or use of litter pickers and equipment that was already owned, rather than the group buying their own.”

An application for £300 from the Queen's Park Community Council to build a new storage shed would be funded from the parish budget, rather than its grants pot, the report said.

A bid for £1,200 from the Armed Forces Day committee had not been received in time.