A CONCERNED Wolverley resident is pressing for better funding for rural communities.

Villager, Nigel Addison, is calling for Wyre Forest District Council to revise its proposed plans for 2006/07, to include greater financial support for small parish projects.

The former Wyre Forest district councillor feels Wolverley's village play area, currently paid for out of the Memorial Hall fund, could be the type of project to benefit from extra funding.

His call for funding comes only weeks after the authority's cabinet member for financial and corporate affairs, Councillor John Campion, revealed his budget proposals.

Mr Addison said: "I would like to see the establishment of a rural grants scheme with, say, £50,000 being set aside each financial year for the specific purpose of awarding grants to community projects in the rural wards.

He added: "CCTV for Stourport and Bewdley, car parking and Stourport Bridge are just some of the schemes being proposed, on top of the previous funding to save Bewdley Museum.

"Improvements to town centre parks and Stourport Community Centre are all biased to town centre residents and all we get is small grant aid to parish councils.

"Sadly, this money is often absorbed into the parish council's general fund, to pay for existing services, such as street lighting.

"Wolverley's play area is in dire need of improvements but funding for any improvements has to come from the Memorial Hall Fund. This is grossly unfair, as the committee have to work hard for fund-raising to keep the Memorial Hall itself in good order, as well as the playground."

Mr Addison also fears funding for rural areas could be cut further if Worcestershire County Council is unable to establish an increase in its Government funding settlement this year.

Mr Campion said: "We're always keen to hear ideas but we have to be fair to the district as a whole.

"We have achieved a concessionary travel scheme, which will come into force this April and will benefit those living in rural areas.

"We also plan to put more money into car parking and leisure facilities which, again, will benefit everyone across the area.

"However, to achieve a £50,000 rural grant scheme we would need to put the district element of the council tax up by a further £1.40 for a band D property and it would have implications across the district as a whole."