Tadley Town Council took £3,000 and a Hatch Warren repair cafe £454.03 as 13 groups shared £15,076.91 in councillor grants. The full list, and how to apply.

Thirteen community groups, clubs and parish councils across Basingstoke and Deane have been awarded £15,076.91 between them under the borough council’s Councillor Community Grant scheme. The awards were made in three batches on 2 July, 20 July and 3 August 2026 and all three decision records were published together on 14 August.

The largest single award, £3,000 to Tadley Town Council, is the maximum the scheme allows any one organisation, and getting there takes three borough councillors pooling their allocations. The smallest, £454.03 to Hatch Warren Repair Cafe, is closer to what the scheme was built for: one off items rather than running costs.

Who got what

Organisation Ward Amount
Tadley Town Council Tadley and Pamber £3,000.00
Basingstoke Multicultural Forum Brighton Hill, Brookvale and Kings Furlong, Popley £2,000.00
Westside Community Association (Westside Beacon) South Ham £2,000.00
Marnell Bowling Club Popley £1,650.00
8th Basingstoke Scout Group Eastrop and Grove £1,000.00
Hurstbourne Priors Parish Council Evingar £1,000.00
The Berg Neighbourhood Watch Scheme South Ham £831.89
Rooksdown Scouts Group Sherborne St John and Rooksdown £790.99
Hamara Club Eastrop and Grove £750.00
Sherfield on Loddon Parish Council Bramley £600.00
Little Acorns Toddler Group, Sherbornes with Pamber Churches (PCC) Sherborne St John and Rooksdown £500.00
Oakley Bowling Club Oakley and The Candovers £500.00
Hatch Warren Repair Cafe Hatch Warren and Beggarwood £454.03

Sources: officer decisions 500000034, 500000035 and 500000036.

Horizontal bar chart of the 13 Councillor Community Grants approved in Basingstoke and Deane and published on 14 August 2026, from Tadley Town Council at £3,000 down to Hatch Warren Repair Cafe at £454.03.
The 13 awards published on 14 August 2026, ranked. Graphic by Basingstoke Online.

How the money reaches a group

This is not a pot that organisations bid into. Every borough councillor is given an allocation of £2,000 a year to spend on organisations serving their own ward, and they decide who gets it. A councillor can back a single grant of between £250 and £2,000 on their own, or pool up to £2,000 of their allocation with one or two other councillors from any ward in the borough, which is what lifts the ceiling for a single organisation to £3,000. (Decision record, 3 August 2026)

The formal sign off then sits with an officer rather than a committee. Authority was delegated to the Chief Financial Officer (Section 151 Officer) by Cabinet in February 2020, in consultation with the portfolio holder for communities, and the awards are recorded as not subject to call in. Officers carry out eligibility checks before the money is released, and each recipient has to sign and return a grant award letter with the terms attached before anything is paid.

One thing the record does not tell you is what any of this money is for. The three decision notices list the organisation, the ward and the amount, and nothing else. The council does publish the purposes eventually: last year’s spreadsheet shows the scheme paying for a shed for Overton Playgroup, replacement astroturf for Heath End Village Hall, kayaks for Worting Scouts and puppets for a Scratch Built Theatre summer show. (Councillor Grants 2025 to 2026)

£15,077 is the start of the year, not the year

These are the first Councillor Community Grants signed off in the 2026/27 round, which opened on 1 June. Judged against the two full years before it, the scheme has a lot left to give out:

  • 2025/26: 82 organisations, £90,193.60 approved
  • 2024/25: 81 organisations, £89,537.26 paid

Both figures are our own totals from the council’s published spreadsheets, and the 2025/26 sheet carries a warning worth repeating: those grants were approved up to a maximum based on estimated costs, so the final spend may come in lower.

The council says the scheme is now in its sixth year, has funded more than 350 initiatives and has awarded over £350,000 since it launched. (Councillor Grant Scheme 2026 launched, 16 June 2026)

What it means for you

If you help run a voluntary or community group in the borough, the scheme is open now and most of this year’s money has not been allocated.

  • The deadline is midday on 1 March 2027, and applications have been open since 1 June 2026. (Councillor Community Grants Scheme)
  • Grants run from £250 to £3,000, for one off items or a specific activity, not for ongoing running costs.
  • It is reimbursement funding. You are expected to buy the item or deliver the activity within eight weeks of approval.
  • You apply through a councillor, not through the council. Read the council’s guidance for applicants first, speak to the councillor or councillors for your ward to get their backing, then email them your completed form and supporting documents. Questions about the scheme itself go to grants@basingstoke.gov.uk.
  • Your grant request has to show a clear community need and a benefit that carries on after the money is spent.

For the wider picture on where the borough’s own money goes, see our guides to Basingstoke council tax bands and to planning decisions across the borough.