The latest round of community grants has seen twenty five groups from across Cheshire East benefit.
The Council has awarded nearly £23,000 in grants, which was divided between five events grants, ten activities grants and ten facilities grants.
Amongst the beneficiaries is Alderley Edge Scout and Guide Council who received a grant of £1,500.
The Council's community grants scheme helped more than 170 groups between 2011-2012.
Some of the larger grants are applied for by groups who want to carry out ambitious regeneration projects that will provide a lasting benefit to the local community. They use the community grants as part of larger funding bids to third party organisations, such as the Lottery or Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd (WREN).
An example is the Chelford Parish Plan team who successfully applied for a community grant of £3,000 to help deliver a multi-use games area, new play equipment for older children, an improved grass playing field, landscaped family area and a cycleway. The total cost of the project was more than £58,000 and they successfully secured funding of over £53,000 from the Lottery and Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd (WREN).
Councillor David Brown, Cabinet member in charge of strategic communities, said: "Community grants provide a lifeline for many local groups who simply wouldn't be able to survive without our support.
"What is really impressive about these figures is that they show how much money can be 'unlocked' by relatively small community grants."
He added "Applying for a community grant is very easy to do and I hope that other groups will be persuaded to do so in the future."
Grants are available to support community, environmental, sports, arts, heritage and play projects. Only one grant can be awarded to each organisation per financial year.
Applications are judged on a number of criteria and they should be able to display that their project: enhances the quality of life for Cheshire East residents; increases involvement in the community; demonstrates the potential to be sustained in the future; and that it can attract more participants.
For more information on Community Grants go to www.cheshireeast.gov.uk.
