IN THE wake of this year’s controversy surrounding grant aid expenditure, Prudhoe Town Council has agreed to a new approach.

When agreeing the council’s budget for 2015, sparks flew as councillors disagreed over financial aid for community groups.

To avoid a similar situation for the coming year, a meeting was held on to investigate how financial grants were awarded.

It was agreed that in future the balances of bodies requesting grants may be taken into account when agreeing how much to award.

When applying for grant aid, groups will also be asked to state the reason (if any) for balances held.

Application forms for grant aid will be required to include information about membership numbers, employees or volunteers, other applications for funding and income from subscription costs.

Groups will also be required to spend the money awarded within the same financial year, unless for a specific long term project.

And before making a new application, groups will be required to verify that the money has been spent for the intended purpose.

An overall budget for grant aid spending will be agreed by the council at the December budget meeting.

Applications will then be scrutinised by a smaller group of councillors in January and February.