A FUNDING project bringing together county, district, town and parish councils is kickstarting community projects across Devon — and hopes to do more in 2015.

The 'Town and Parish Fund',  or TAP, is the name given to the initiative whereby Devon County Council allocates £1 per elector per annum and district councils contribute 10p per elector, totalling around £600,000.

This money is available for towns and parishes to join together to apply for funding that can make a difference to their communities.

Well over half-a-million pounds was allocated to a huge range of projects last year, from village hall improvements to new footpaths. It also funded emergency drainage clearance, a community bee-keeping project and community defibrillators.

The idea behind the TAP fund is to stimulate ideas and encourage parishes and communities to work together.

Organisations are also encouraged to make a financial contribution to allow them to be more proactive and to take a lead in creating greater community resilience.

The funding is administered by district councils.

Devon County Council leader John Hart, said: 'Devon County Council is continuing to make funds available to communities to use how they see best.

'This money is available to parish and town councils to spend in ways that will benefit their communities.

'I firmly believe decisions should be made as locally as possible to encourage local accountability and I have always advocated more partnership with our district, town and parish colleagues.

'If we believe in the resilience of our smaller communities, then this is one way of pump-priming activity.'

Cabinet member for performance and engagement, Cllr Barry Parsons, said: 'This is a good opportunity for town and parish councils to get together and make a local investment in their area towards the things that matter and are important to them.

'There have been plenty of examples where parish councils have collaborated, providing more impetus to their project, fostering partnerships and making successful applications, so I would certainly recommend this way of working.'

Lesley Smith, from the Devon Association of Local Councils, said: 'The TAP funding is giving a real boost to projects in the county and we can see long lasting effects which in turn are prompting a feeling of optimism and closer working relationships within communities.

'In many cases, they've been the catalyst to encourage more volunteering in a particular area and cross parish working which would not have happened otherwise.'

In West Devon, approximately £42,000 has been ploughed into a variety of community initiatives, including wi-fi for village halls in Exbourne and Jacobstowe and Belstone and South Tawton; defibrillators and training for Buckland Monachorum and  Dartmoor Forest and in the parishes of Sticklepath, Belstone and Sampford Courtenay; improvements have been made to the 1st South Zeal Scout Hut.

Other examples of projects which have been helped throughout the county include a Saturday morning sport club, play area improvements, lengthsman work, grass/ weed cutting, dog bins, a noticeboard, town band uniforms, a community bee-keeping project and a tree survey.