OSWESTRY town councillors have awarded further grants of £500 each to two applicants who put forward their proposals at a meeting on Monday.

The grants, given out by the Finance and General Purposes Committee, were to Dragon ADC, a football club for boys and girls aged from four to 16 and the Shropshire ME Group.

Councillors present discussed the applications over Zoom and while they were keen to give financial support to both groups, there were queries regarding whether some of the assistance called for was necessary.

Dragon ADC, which is a coaching group affiliated to Shropshire Football Association, had requested help for kit, equipment, new goals and pitch fees at Oswestry School, as they look to begin an expansion of their work which had been curtailed by Covid-19.

However, Councillor Vince Hunt – while supporting their request for funds – told the meeting his understanding is that pitch fees would have frozen during lockdown, and that it was hard to decide as they had not seen the accounts.

He added: "I am not adverse giving a sum of money but we’ve not had the accounts.

"I appreciate they are starting from scratch but I thought that when we went into lockdown they wouldn’t have to pay pitch fees."

Mayor Cllr Duncan Kerr also queried whether they needed more money for goalposts, suggesting using established posts would be enough and put forward a motion to award £500 for kit and equipment, which was passed.

Finance chairman Cllr Chris Schofield proposed the same amount for Shropshire ME group, which was looking for support in running its Oswestry Peer group sessions at a cost of £1,150 a year.

The Oswestry group is just one of 10 groups across Shropshire.

Cllr Schofield said: "It is a debilitating disease and my proposal is that we cover half the costs for six months of meetings."

Members also noted that attendees covered costs with an annual subscription of £10 and councillors voted unanimously to award the £500.

Meanwhile, councillors noted the minutes of the Future Oswestry Group which highlighter the steps being forward being taken to improve the vision for the town's future.

Cllr Schofield added that he was happy to see Oswestry Business Improvement District (BID) working so closely with the project, while Cllr Hunt added that the town council should continue to make its voice heard.