TRAFFORD’s new South Locality Partnership is inviting residents in south Trafford to have their say on what schemes and projects should receive community grants.

The Locality Partnership brings together councillors, partner agencies and community ambassadors to shape services and increase decision-making by residents.

Called Participatory Budgeting, this initiative allows residents to decide who receives grants from the council’s funding for the voluntary sector.

The next Participatory Budgeting event will be held from 10am-4pm on Saturday (January 18) at Altrincham Town Hall. Residents can drop in at any time during the day to find out more about the short-listed projects and cast their vote, with the winning projects announced at 4pm.

During the first round of Participatory Budgeting funding last June nearly £140,000 was awarded to a number of projects across Trafford with £20,000 awarded to projects in the south of the borough.

These included The Bowdon Church Duke of Edinburgh Award Youth Project which was awarded £2,000 to fund personal equipment such as walking boots, rucksacks or waterproof clothing for expeditions.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme gives young people aged 14-24 the chance to develop skills for life and work through participation in a wide range of volunteering, physical activities and expeditions.

Andy Allan, from the Bowdon Church Duke of Edinburgh team, said: “This is the second year of our project and with the support and funding from the council’s Voluntary Sector Grant Scheme we've been able to reduce the cost of expeditions.

“Subsequently we have seen the numbers of young people participating nearly double and we also have a growing number of adult volunteers. Some of these are now undertaking accredited leader training so we are contributing to the local community by increasing the skills of both young people and adults.”

Cllr Karen Barclay, chairman of the South Locality Partnership, added: “We are really excited about this opportunity to support the voluntary work in south Trafford and we have £20,000 to allocate to community groups.

“The South Locality Partnership is especially keen to support projects that tackle some of our priority issues including child obesity, intergenerational activities and youth projects.”

The event is being organised by Thrive Trafford, an organisation supporting voluntary and community groups in Trafford. Elaine Johnson, of Thrive Trafford, said: “These grants offer a great opportunity for innovative and interesting community schemes to receive funding.

“We had nearly 100 applications earlier this year with over 500 people attending the Participatory Budgeting events. This resulted in more than 40 groups sharing in a total of £136,500 in council funding. I therefore want to encourage all community minded residents in south Trafford to attend the Altrincham event and help decide which causes should benefit from this public money.”

For more information, go to thrivetrafford.org.uk/voluntarysectorgrants.