Nottinghamshire County Councillors have agreed to launch a new Local Communities Fund (LCF) which will support budding Olympians and community groups from Hucknall and across the county.

The LCF is a four-year county council scheme due to be launched later this autumn which was given the go ahead at a recent Communities Committee meeting,

The plans for the scheme include more than doubling the current Talented Athletes funding pot to £50,000 to help support more up-and-coming athletes, particularly those with disabilities who may require expensive adapted equipment, clothing, or have higher transport costs.

Councillor John Cottee, Chairman of the Communities Committee, said: "With the current Local Improvement Scheme reaching its natural end, it was time to look again at how we allocate funding to local groups to encourage healthy and thriving communities, as well as making the current application process as fair and accessible as possible.

"We are so proud of the wonderful local groups and charities which were a lifeline to many people through the various lockdowns, so it is more vital than ever that we support these groups with some of their running costs as they continue their good work.

"This includes their work to improve access to new or existing services, such as sports and leisure, which then helps improve physical and mental health and reduce loneliness, particularly for more vulnerable residents who were the hardest hit by the pandemic.

"And on the back of such a fantastic Olympics and Paralympics for Team GB, we are keen to support a wider range of local athletes, so we have increased this part of the budget from £21,000 to £50,000.

"We want to see more Nottinghamshire-based athletes follow in the footsteps of inspirational sports stars such as Mansfield's Charlotte Henshaw, the new paracanoe champion at the recent Tokyo games, who received support from our Talented Athletes fund on her journey to success."

Wider funding plans include having a rolling programme of support for revenue-based schemes to help grass-roots projects with their running costs, with larger grants available for those with good track records of delivering services.

There will also be an opportunity for local groups and charities to apply for capital grants of up to £20,000 which could be used to make improvements to facilities which support community access and improve health and wellbeing.

Applications for the new LCF are expected to open later this autumn.