New feature county funding package for Royal Welsh
The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society whose feature county fund has enabled investment in the development of the showground at Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, to make it one of the best of its kind in the world, has secured a consolidated package of local government funding for the future.
Since its introduction individual local authorities in Wales have contributed generously to the feature county fund, boosting the money-raising initiatives of people living in the counties as each county is featured in turn at the annual summer show.
Now, however, the Welsh Local Government Association has established a mechanism which provides assurance of funding and from 2009 the Association will administer a “top slice” arrangement whereby £77,000 will be set aside annually from the local government settlement.
“Revealing the new package at the annual meeting of the society at Margam, Glamorgan, the chairman of the society’s board of management, David Lewis, said the society would no longer have to approach the 22 unitary authorities in Wales.
“My view, and that of the board, is that the consolidated funding package is a very welcome outcome particularly in this difficult economic climate and I am also pleased that there will be an annual increase determined by the average Local Government settlement and the rate of inflation,” he said.
The money will be paid to the society but credited to the Feature County Fund and the WLGA has offered to undertake a coordinating role with regard to each individual authority’s display at the show, he said.
As the contribution involved public money, the WLGA wished to see government monitoring and review mechanisms in place. Consequently, it had been agreed that the WLGA should be represented on the board in an advisory capacity by a non-voting observer.