MORE than £150,000 in grants has been awarded to community projects by North Dorset District Council a few months before it is abolished.

Members of the council’s cabinet gave the go-ahead to give £170,000 to five “fantastic” projects across the district.

The biggest grants were awarded to Sturfit, which runs Sturminster Newton’s leisure centre, and the group behind the North Dorset Trailway project with each being awarded £70,000.

Councillors said that all of the projects provided “great benefits” to north Dorset residents and businesses.

Sherry Jespersen, the council’s cabinet member for community and regeneration, said: “It’s a real pleasure to be able to give out this support to what are some really fantastic causes.

“These aren’t huge sums of money but these projects make a real difference to our market towns and our residents and they deserve our support.

“It was important for us to do this now because North Dorset District Council will only be in place for a few months longer.

“The new Dorset council will have a lot on its plate so we felt it best that this was something we considered and moved forward with.”

Marnhull Parish Council will receive £30,000 for it to split between the extension of Marnhull Village Hall, the community hub and the village’s Men’s Shed project.

The North Dorset Trailway project, which is hoping to develop a car-free route for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders from Somerset through to Poole, was awarded £70,000 to be put towards its latest land purchase work.

Currently, the trailway stretches from Spetisbury to Sturminster Newton but volunteers working on the project have been working on purchasing more land to extend the route around Sturminster Newton.

Councillors were told on Monday that a purchase has already been made by a resident on the group’s behalf but that it would need to reimburse the sum and the council grant could be put towards that cost.

Sturfit, which manages Sturminster Newton’s leisure centre, was also given a £70,000 grant to put towards its planned £122,000 revamp of the facility.