RESIDENTS of Woolavington and Puriton are being urged to apply for grants of up to £500 to help improve their villages.

The £20,000 giveaway is part of a £1million pot to be given to Woolavington and Puriton over the course of the next ten years.

Not-for-profit organisations and groups in the two villages will need to demonstrate that their project or scheme will directly benefit people living in either village to be awarded the grant.

The funding comes from over £200million in funding from the Big Lottery Fund to provide support for 150 small urban and rural communities to come together and make their areas better places to live.

An interim working group has been set up to handle the original £20,000 grant and they are keen involve residents in how this money is spent.

Graham Lockley, from the working group, said: “Many people just don't believe that they can be part of the decision-making process.

“They think that the decision will be made without reference to their views and ideas, so we hope this will help convince people that they can and need to be involved.”

To raise awareness further, two part-time community workers have been recruited for 11 months and are now working in the two villages, getting people involved in making plans for investing the £1m.

Application forms for the Small Grants Scheme will be available in local shops, from the community workers or can be downloaded from www.villagestogether.org.uk

The closing date for applications is March 15 and decisions will be made in April.