Hampshire County Council is considering a revision of its members’ grants scheme in response to ongoing budgetary pressures.

However, members of the selection committee refused officers’ recommendation to stop the grant, saying they are “one of the good things we do”.

Due to the “serious” financial constraints that the county council is facing, a series of cuts and savings proposals were developed to fill the projected budget gap.

These included ceasing the councillors’ grants, which currently provide each councillor with a budget of £8,000 to support local businesses and organisations.

In the last four years, over £2.3 million was awarded to 2,164 organisations to support festivals, county shows, defibrillators, arts, performances, music events or food banks.

However, the review of the data rang alarm bells when officers identified that some organisations have “a detailed awareness” of the scheme and process, which enables them to benefit more effectively.

The report said: “Multiple applications are received in repeated years from the same applicants, resulting in some organisations receiving large sums of money.”

The data also showed that multiple applications were received from organisations across separate divisions, which resulted in organisations receiving funding from different councillors, sometimes for the same project.

The concerns, in addition to the council’s financial situation, resulted in officers presenting a recommendation to stop the grants.

This will allow the council to generate £650,000 in savings to help the savings programme.

However, at a council meeting on Thursday, September 18, members indicated their objections to the recommendation.

Cllr Stephen Parker said: “These very small grants, but really big for some organisations, making a real difference to people’s lives. So I’m not prepared to accept the cessation of it, because it’s part of the good we all do.”

Cllr Juliet Henderson said that the grants support activities that help families who are struggling, and the cessation of the scheme would be “detrimental to our communities.

Cllr Martin Tod said that scrapping the scheme will “send a really bad message”.

He added: “It’s a huge support for the voluntary sector. This isn’t our money; if we don’t spend it, it doesn’t appear in our bank account statements. This is money we are spending in the voluntary community sector in our communities.”

Due to the unanimous opposition to halt the scheme, members proposed an alternative recommendation, which involved the continuation of the scheme with the same level of funding.

However, under the alternative, new rules would be introduced to prevent organisations from applying for grants over multiple years for the same purpose.

It will also introduce the request to those beneficiaries to provide evidence on how and what the money has been spent on.

Cabinet members will discuss the officers’ paper and the select committee recommendation next week on Tuesday, September 23, when a final decision will be made.