GRANT cash that was unspent by former Devon councillors is being redirected into two larger funding pots.

A total of £53,206 had not been spent by some of Devon County Council’s 60 members before May’s local elections, and will be heading into a re-launched Growing Communities Fund and a new youth-focused fund.

The leftover money came from so-called locality budgets, an annual grant pot of £8,000 that is given to each of Devon’s 60 county councillors.

Usually, a councillor’s unspent money is rolled over into the next financial year and added to their annual £8,000, but in election years, any unused cash is not given to the new councillor of that ward, but is instead redirected.

Locality budgets are meant to be used as grant funding to support projects or activities that benefit the communities that councillors represent. The grant funding has to be spent before the end of the financial year, and grants should be viewed as a “funder or last resort”, according to the council.

Councillors can pledge money to causes they view as worthy or eligible, but a formal application has to be submitted to the council to ensure it meets the criteria.

A Devon County Council spokesperson confirmed the unspent locality budgets from the previous administration did not roll over into the pots for newly elected councillors, but would be added to the two larger funds.

‘The unspent funds go back into the DCC budget preparation and planning process for future budget setting,’ the spokesperson said.

‘Funds are re-purposed and reallocated. More specifically, we are reallocating the unspent funds to the soon to be re-launched Growing Communities Fund, which is a community grant scheme, and the new DCC Youth Fund (‘Places to Go, Things to Do’), which is for community groups, charities or community interest companies that provide accessible and enriching activities for young people aged 11 to 25’.

The previous iteration of the Growing Communities Fund allowed applications for grants of under £1,000 or between £1,000-£3,000.

However, the relaunched fund is set to go live in September and any changes to the criteria for applications will be clarified then.