£¼ million council grants allocated to Coleridge

City councillors at last month's East Area Committee allocated more than £250,000 of council grants to Coleridge Ward.

First up was a one-off allocation of some accrued 'section 106' bribes funds, some of which the city council needs to spend soon to make sure that it doesn't have to be returned to developers.

Two very worthy voluntary projects in Coleridge were given a share of £400,000 along with three other projects:

• Improvements to the Flamsteed Road scout hut.
• Community facilities at the Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Cherry Hinton Road.

A further £115,000 was allocated for future community facilities projects in the ward.

The second allocation was of the Environmental Improvements grants. This is from a pot of money that the city council created along with the area committees and is for capital projects. The aim was to spend all of the available money. It is not clear whether this fund for area committees will be replenished in future - it is something that the city council will have to decide based on its spending review.

The projects approved for Coleridge were:

• A Crossing for Perne Road just north of the Radegund Road roundabout (£65,000)
• The verge/parking/yellow line plan for Birdwood Road and Chalmers Road (£59,000)
• Completing the gap in the Rustat Road footpath (£10,000)
• The Ashbury Close/Golding Road cycle path consultation and plan (£34,500 or £47,500)

The last of these projects was given a lower priority and therefore will only happen if one or two of the other approved projects for the area falls through for any reason (and of course subject to a satisfactory outcome to the consultation, which will proceed anyway).

All of these projects will benefit Coleridge residents; I am particularly keen on the last three and all have been supported by local Conservatives with the last two being initiated by Chris.