THE future of a £1.5m scheme which enables councillors to support projects or activities that directly promote the social, economic or environmental wellbeing of their communities is set to be considered.

North Yorkshire County Council’s corporate and partnerships scrutiny committee will hear the Locality Budgets initiative, which will cost taxpayers about £350,000 a year between 2017 and 2021, last year saw 386 projects supported.

The schemes backed ranged from providing a festive Christmas lunch for young people in care to bolstering flood defences to buying defibrillators.

The council’s 72 councillors are each given £5,000 for each financial year to enable the elected members to respond to local needs and give them a role in allocating funding in their area.

Last year, 65 per cent of the funding was allocated for projects and activities managed by not for profit organisations, including charities and voluntary organisations, while parish, town and district councils received 26 per cent and schools six per cent.

A spokesman for the council said: “The funding was allocated to a very broad range of types of projects and activities, with the largest allocations going to projects and activities supporting vulnerable adults, village and community hall improvements, and non-school activities for children and young people.”