Hertfordshire county councillors have granted £97,000 in less than three weeks to community groups working to support their local area through the COVID-19 outbreak.

The council’s Locality Budget Scheme allows every county councillor to directly fund projects that promote the social, economic or environmental wellbeing of their ward.

This year, the council took the decision to launch the 2020/21 scheme early – on March 20 – to enable applications from groups seeking to respond to the impact of the outbreak.

Now it has emerged that within three weeks of the launch, £97,000 has already been allocated to groups supporting communities through the COVID-19 outbreak.

The data is included in a report on the council’s response to coronavirus, which was discussed by the first meeting of the county council’s special cabinet on Friday.

The report states: “The Locality Budget Scheme for 2020/21 was opened early on 20 March 2020 to support communities to respond to the impacts caused by COVID-19. As of April 7, £97,000 had been allocated to local community groups

for this purpose.”

As part of the schme, each of the 78 county councillors can allocate £10,000 to local groups. To be eligible, recipients must either be a limited company, a registered charity, an organisation with a recognised legal status, or an unincorporated association with its own bank account.

In the first instance, any group wishing to apply for funding should contact their local county councillor.