HAMPSHIRE civic chiefs are changing their countryside grants after efforts to attract more applicants failed.

The county council rural communities fund will increase its limit to £10,000 for each project, as it was in previous years.
The fund currently provides grants of up to £5,000 to develop projects to address local rural priorities.
In 2022 the maximum grant limit per application was reduced from £10,000 to £5,000 to allow more applicants to apply against a reduced grant budget.
However, the report indicated that the reduction did not give rise to an increase in applications. 
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that, with increasing costs, the scheme could be more impactful if the grant limit were once again increased”, the paper reads. 
The total Rural Programme approved budget for 2023/24 is £271,000. In 2022/23, funding from the RCF was awarded to 10 projects providing a total award of £37,000.
The Leader and Executive Member for Hampshire 2050 and Corporate Services, Rob Humby, has approved the budget increase.
Cllr Humby said: “This is good flexibility being tried by the county council. We looked at it, [we] thought it was going to work, it didn’t, and we’re going back to the original.”