COUNCILLORS discussed pursuing funding for village projects, other than developers contributions, at the recent Bramshott and Liphook Parish Council meeting.
Each year a list of requirements for open space, recreation, transport and community opportunities is prepared for East Hampshire District Council, requesting developers contributions - the main source of funding for these projects.
Parish councillors decide the necessary requirements needed, at their various committee meetings, before the list is compiled. The list is then looked at and decided by officers at the district council.
Parish council chairman Dr John Tough stressed: "Unless projects are listed and itemised, they will not go on the agenda and the parish will miss out.
"We should not remove projects from the list, but look at alternative funding simultaneously, and we might well facilitate match funding this way. The committees should consider all their projects and identify whether funding from other sources is available."
During the recent search for acquiring outside funding for the Heritage Centre, due to be based at the Millennium Centre, the Heritage Centre Working Party identified other areas of funding available to the parish council, which have not been made full use of in the past.
The Government wants transport to be more community based, and in Liphook a transport survey has been carried out to pinpoint key requirements, the results of which are due to be presented to the parish council shortly.
Anna James pointed out that, after a long and hard fight, the transport committee did get a developer's contribution from Sainsbury's - which would otherwise have had to come out of the parish council's earmarked reserve - but the council still cannot get the required £10,000 developers funds for a proposed car park at the Millennium Centre.
Philip Jordan, at the October 27 meeting, suggested that the committees needed to identify eligible projects sooner and work on locating other sources of funding earlier, before the decision is made by East Hampshire District Council about available developers contributions, thereby not wasting precious time and fitting into required time scales to apply for outside funding.
Councillors came to a unanimous decision to look into any required projects through their various committees and to identify any outside sources of funding which might be available in addition to submitting their requirements to be added to the district council's list for developers contributions.