WELLINGTON Carnival Committee saw a bid for grant funding by local councillors reduced by more than 50 per cent.

Carnivalites had applied to Wellington Town Council for a £2,300 grant to help with ongoing Carnival costs.

But Cllr Justin Cole, speaking at the council’s finance committee on April 17, said that the authority had already agreed in its 2024-25 budget to award the carnival with funding for £1,000.

“The Wellington Carnival Committee is a profit-making company and we set a budget line of £1,000 to support the carnival – so that is what we should give,” he said.

Some councillors, albeit agreeing that £1,000 had been budgeted, suggested that perhaps more should be awarded to the carnival as it did such good work for the town. 

Cllr Mike McGuffie said: “The carnival is there for the benefit of the community and it’s a good event.”

The Mayor, Cllr Marcus Barr, said: “Last year’s carnival in Wellington was absolutely amazing – one of the best the town has had for many years.

“If this grant application would make the difference between having a great carnival rather than a mediocre one, we should spend the money.

“Carnival brings people into the town and it helps to promote Wellington.”

Chairman of Wellington Carnival Committee, Paul Goodyer, speaking to councillors, said: “We are all volunteers on the committee – none of us take a wage.

“We give away a lot of money to charity each year and we do a lot of fundraising events in the year.”

Mr Goodyer explained they needed to hire in portable toilets for carnival day itself to cater for the large crowds of people who descend on the town centre.

The carnival collection last year raised £3,200 with around half of it going to various charities and organisations and the rest helping towards funds needed to run the event in 2024.

“Having the financial support of the town council enables us to give back to charity,” he said. “Carnival costs about £6,000 to put on each year. We aren’t in it to make a profit.”

Cllr Mark Lithgow said: “I do have a problem about giving grants to organisations that then give it to other charities.”

Cllr Janet Lloyd added: “We shouldn’t exceed what we have budgeted for. We have budgeted to support the Carnival with £1,000.”

Cllr Cole, who had started the debate by stating the council had already budgeted to support the Carnival to the tune of £1,000, added: “I’m not saying for a minute we shouldn’t be supporting the carnival.”

He suggested that perhaps as an idea for the future being that the council looked at sponsoring the hire of the portable toilets for carnival night.

It was initially proposed that the council went along with the grant request and award the carnival group a £2,300 grant, but that failed to win support.

Councillors eventually agreed to award Wellington Carnival Committee with a £1,000 grant – around 43 per cent of what had been applied for.