Town council agrees to over £2,500 in grants for organisation and a donation to footballers taking part in a charity walk.

At last night’s Bradford on Avon full council meeting, it was agreed by councillors that The Hub will be awarded £2,000 from

Leader of the town council, Cllr Dom Newton said that the demand for The Hub’s services had increased by ‘hundreds of per cents’ and urged councillors to support the town’s vulnerable families.

Cllr Newton added that there was also a concern over high levels demand around fuel and food poverty among Bradford’s boater residents. He asked the council to consider a £500 donation to the Floaty Boat, an organisation for which he is the chairman.

During the discussion, Cllr Laurie Brown said: “I’m concerned we’re recognising fuel poverty to people on boats but perhaps there’s fuel poverty to people who actually live in houses in the area.

“It might assist with a couple of boaters but there’s a much wider issue of fuel poverty for people who live in houses and actually pay council tax.”

Cllr Newton came back saying that there is support for the ‘land-based community’ in the form of the Winter Fuel Allowance, disagreed with Cllr Brown’s characterisation of ‘a couple of boaters’ as ‘underselling it’.

Councillors voted to pass and approve both charitable grants.

Next, Cllr Jim Lynch proposed a ‘modest donation’ of £125 to four Bradford Town Fall Club players walking the equivalent of John O'Groats to Lands End – 867 miles – to raise funds for The Hub.

Cllr Lynch said: “I thought it would be very good of us as a council to lend our support to their efforts as part of our work in community engagement and in the spirit of Marcus Rashford.

“I’m suggesting a modest donation, secondly, my motion states that if we agreed to that I would ask the area board to match it and we put it on social media.

“I believe that would allow the players to raise their target to £1,000.”

The motion was seconded by Cllr Sarah Gibson. However, Cllr Newton then suggested the council donates a total of £500 to the cause, which would hopefully be matched by the area board.

The amended of donating £500 was welcomed by Cllr Lynch and fellow councillors who overwhelmingly voted in favour of the donation.