NEARLY £3million has been given to community projects and groups as part of East Lothian Council’s funding for communities for the current year.

The funding has increased on last year but some projects, including East Lothian Foodbank, have seen their annual grants cut.

The foodbank received £12,000 compared to £15,000 last year, after the council ruled that it had received so many donations during the pandemic it did not need as much.

A council spokesperson pointed out that the foodbank was making grants of its own to other projects tackling food poverty in the county.

And a spokesperson for the foodbank, which is based in Tranent, said it was grateful for every penny it received.

The council said: “We receive many applications for funding under the One Council Partnership Funding grants awards, which are all considered carefully.

“East Lothian Foodbank has benefited from donations of both food and cash throughout the year and is now in a position to be able to award grants itself to other organisations.

“The council has supported a wide range of food initiatives county-wide to help reduce food insecurity in recent years, including establishing a new Fareshare Hub to distribute surplus supermarket food.

“We have also supported the establishment of a new East Lothian Friendly Food Network, in partnership with the NHS and the Volunteer Centre East Lothian, to help tackle food poverty and co-ordinate the various community food initiatives across East Lothian.”

In total, £1.25million of the funding went to the county’s six area partnerships with community councils receiving £131,780.

The remaining £1,545,508 was split between a wide range of local projects which had applied for nearly £1million more between them.

The Bridges Project, which supports young people, saw funding cut from £95,000 to £88,000, while DadsWork, which had requested funding of over £111,000 after receiving £66,000 last year, received a reduced grant of £50,000

Some projects failed to win grants, including the council’s arms-length sports facilities company enjoyleisure, which applied for £35,000 towards staffing costs.

The Scottish Seabird Centre also had a bid for £10,128 turned down.

However, dozens more organisations received funds ranging from a £351,500 grant to East Lothian Advice Consortium, which is the council’s current contract holder for providing advice services to people across the county, to £1,000 to East Lothian U3A, which provides learning for pleasure to older people.

A report on the funding, which has been lodged in the council’s members library service, said: “The range of activities supported by the voluntary/third sector and other community organisations throughout East Lothian make a significant contribution to the vibrancy, health and wellbeing of East Lothian communities.

“The awards as outlined in this report will enable organisations to maintain their commitment to partnership working with the council to support communities to build resilience and capacity, contributing to East Lothian’s Covid recovery and renewal during 2021/22.”