THREE years after £10,000 of consolation "Portas" funding was given to Ledbury, after the town failed in its bid for a share of grant funding from a £1m pot, local people and groups are being asked how the money should be spent.

The £10,000 is currently in the hands of the "Love Ledbury" group, which says it has "ring-fenced" half the money as match fund-funding for start up grants, to support projects for the town's young people.

But‘Love Ledbury’, which is about to be registered as a charity, is opening the call for ideas from community groups and individuals for projects which meet the objectives of the ‘Enterprise Hub’ theme of the original Portas Town bid.

These include support and advice to young people; business mentoring and skills swap;

practical action to encourage and support new business start-ups, and initiatives to improve community use of the town centre.

The £10,000 was granted as ‘consolation funding’ for the team’s bid for Ledbury to be one of the country’s ten Portas Pilots back in 2013.

Liz Harvey, Chairman of Love Ledbury said: “Half the funds have been ring-fenced as matched funding for start-up grants to support the running of a youth club/café project in town. This was a strong element of the town’s original Portas bid and has continued to receive community support through the feedback given to the Town Plan.

"It’s great to see this project finally getting off the ground with grant funding also now coming from Herefordshire Council.”

This youth drop-in is open on Wednesday evenings in the old library space in the Barratt Browning Institute right in the centre of town.

Love Ledbury member, Griff Holliday said: “With a formal application for funding now received from the drop-in project, Love Ledbury is asking for ideas from individuals and applications from community groups for how the rest of the money should be spent.”

An award panel will be set up comprising independent representatives from town organizations. It is planned to have the award panel decisions made by the end of July "so projects can get moving over the summer break".

The original Portas Project was looking for ten towns across the UK to share in £1m grant funding for town centre enhancement and regeneration projects.

Anyone with an idea for how the consolation £10,000 should be spent should contact Love Ledbury on: bepartofit@LoveLedbury.org for an application form.

The closing date is July 15.