EXTRA cash looks set to be diverted into a grants scheme that helps fund community projects in Richmondshire.

Members of the district council’s corporate board will next month be asked to decide whether to re-allocate cash to the Communities Opportunity Fund.

Currently £250,000 is set aside for the Mercury Housing Company which was set up by the council earlier this year to help fight off the decline in affordable housing in rural parts of the district.

Now councillors are being asked to release some of it into the general COF fund.

Council leader Cllr Yvonne Peacock said: “At our fund meeting we agreed that we should release some of the £250,000 ring fenced for the Housing Company so we could support more local schemes.

“There are a host of projects looking for support. We can use this money now, re-allocate it and then return it back into the housing pot at a later date as funds become available.”

The fund sub-committee also approved grants for 11 community based projects at their meeting, including £6,500 for new mowing equipment for Richmond Bowls Club.

Club member Jennifer Capewell said: “Our existing machine is on its last legs and we need tiptop equipment to enable our green team to maintain the bowling rinks to the high standard that club members and visitors have come to expect.”