BALLOT-style voting will be used to determine which community projects in Basingstoke, Whitchurch and Tadley are given grants from the borough council.
A one-off grant of £25,000 has been awarded to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council from Hampshire County Council to deliver a new scheme called Have Your Say, in which members of the public will decide which projects are given money.
The borough council, with support from Basingstoke Voluntary Services, will promote the new scheme at the beginning of this mnonth, with a deadline for returning applications of mid November.
Officers will then assess the applications before they are presented to the community, who will vote for their favourite using ballot boxes.
A total of £23,000 of the funding will be given away as grants in Basingstoke, Whitchurch and Tadley, while the remaining £2,000 will fund hall hire, ref-reshments, printing and management fees.
The borough council is also contributing £1,500 in staff hours.
A report prepared for Councillor Keith Mans, Hampshire County Council’s executive member for communities and international relations, at which the grant was approved, said: “The Have Your Say event will empower local people to determine which projects receive funding in order to improve their local environment or support a local group.”
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