Financial expectations placed on local communities for project delivery criticised

A local councillor said the burden on local communities to come up with 20% funding for a project is too great.

Cllr Michael Burke said with the way costs have skyrocketed, it is now increasingly difficult for a community to look towards grants for projects because a fraction of funding has to come from local sources.

“A lot of projects are now costing millions rather than thousands and community groups are expected to put up 20% of that,” he said.

“That has to be knocked back to 10% and everyone should lobby for this to change.”

Director of Services Tom Gilligan said ongoing maintenance costs have been a concern to local authorities.

“At times, you get money for the capital part of the project but not the ongoing maintenance, that is more problematic.”

“It should follow the TII method where you get grants to maintain a project after its completion,” he said.