Mid Sussex District Scouts to get another £62,000 to pay for a new community centre

The group received £263,420.50 from the cabinet grants panel in February to put towards the centre at Barn Cottage Recreation Ground, in Bentswood.

That amount was topped up during a meeting of the panel on Monday (November 11).

The project has an estimated budget of £750,300, of which the Scouts have raised £315,000.

Along with £110,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, that left them £61,879.50 short.

As the Prosperity Fund money has to be spent by March 2025, the panel agreed to hand over £62,000 of S106 money which had been set aside for community buildings.

The S106 money itself was paid to the council by developers who built 200 homes at Penland Farm, Cuckfield.

As well as agreeing the extra funding for the Scouts, the panel also approved time extensions for four projects which had received grants in the past.

Ansty Village Centre Trust was awarded £214,402 in October 2019 to put towards redeveloping the village hall.

The money should have been spent this September but an extension to next September was approved.

The 1st Copthorne Scouts have been given until December 2025 to spend the £115,018 the group was awarded in February.

The grant was made to build a rifle shooting range, along with building alterations and landscaping.

The money should have been spent within 12 months but an extension became necessary after legal paperwork took longer than expected to complete.

Crawley Down Gatwick Football Club was given more than £100,000 in February 2022 for new dugouts, floodlighting and ball-stop fencing at the Haven Sports Ground.

It now has until September 2025 to complete the work.

A report to the panel said: “The club is in a position to proceed with the works but as we are coming into the winter football season they have asked for an extension of time until September 2025.”

And Clarion Futures has been given until February 2026 to complete public realm improvements at the Quarry Café in East Grinstead.

The charitable organisation was given £52,500 in February 2023. The work was meant to be completed by February 2025 but no landscaping or management plans have yet been submitted to the council.

With Clarion intending to take on a consultant to help, it was agreed to extend the deadline.

Council leader Robert Eggleston said: “I look forward to all of these projects coming forward and being complete in the near future.”