Whittlesey organisations to apply for grants through mayor

Burnthouse Wind Farm is in Burnthouse Sidings, Turves and can produce enough energy to power between 300 and 1,000 homes a day. <i>(Image: Google/Streetview)</i>
Burnthouse Wind Farm is in Burnthouse Sidings, Turves and can produce enough energy to power between 300 and 1,000 homes a day. (Image: Google/Streetview)
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Groups and organisations in and around Whittlesey are being urged to put their bid in for a share of £3,000 currently up for grabs through the town's mayor.

Cllr Alex Miscandlon announced the cash, which is from the community benefits fund of the Burnthouse Wind Farm in Turves, was available to all groups, big or small - the only requirement is that they have their own bank account and meet the criteria set by the wind farm.

Applications can be submitted to Cllr Miscandlon via the town council offices at Peel House in Queen Street.

They need to contain information about the group, how much it is applying for, and it will also need a brief - no more than 100/150 words - description of what the money will be used for.

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Cllr Miscandlon, who represents the council on the Burnthouse Wind Farm committee, said the town had received £6,000 in total, with the other £3,000 going towards lighting and heating costs for groups using Peel House.

He told councillors he would be deciding which groups would receive a share of the other £3,000, a move that led to some angry discussion over whether that was the right thing.

Cllr Jason Mockett argued it would be better if a small group of two or three councillors were party to making decisions on the applications to avoid accusations of unfairness or bias.

However, Cllr Miscandlon, who felt affronted by the suggestion that he would be anything but fair, insisted he was capable of handing out the money fairly, and he would look at each application on its merits alongside the strict criteria put down by the Burnthouse Wind Farm on what the money could be used for.

Cllr Mockett assured the mayor he was not questioning his integrity; he was simply wanting to ensure Cllr Miscandlon did not open himself up for criticism.

In the end, it was agreed that the mayor would make the decisions on the applications on behalf of the council.

The deadline for applying for a share of the £3,000 is November 30.

Cllr Miscandlon said: "The grants can be anywhere from £50 to £500 - I know that £50 may not sound a lot, but to some of the smaller groups in our town it could make a huge difference."

He also urged all those looking to apply to check the grant fund's criteria on the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation website, which administers the funds on behalf of the windfarm.

They also must be located in Whittlesey, Coates, Turves, Eastrea, or Pondersbridge.

The windfarm community fund offers grants of up to £6,000 to parishes within a certain distance of the farm, including Benwick, Coates, Doddington, Eastrea, March, Turves, and Wimblington - so groups from those places can make separate applications for funding through the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation.

Cambridgeshire Community Foundation administers various pots of funding benefitting communities across the county. Visit the above website for more details.

Burnthouse Wind Farm has three turbines which can produce up to 6MW of energy a day, enough to power as many as 1,000 homes, depending on their consumption.

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