A TAVISTOCK community organisation last week came under fire, as town councillors questioned its eligibility to apply for grant funding.

The issue arose when members of the council's finance committee were invited to nominate a member to attend this week's meeting of the TaVi Network open forum.

The forum had been called to consider ideas which could be eligible for funding from a new grant pot called the Town and Parish (TAP) Fund .

But Cllr John Sheldon, chairman of the committee, said TaVi had 'nothing to do' with the TAP fund — which was available within Devon County Council's 2012/13 budget on a one-year, trial basis.

He said the southern link committee area of West Devon, of which Tavistock is a part, had £28,130.10 available to it. Applications to the fund for projects in the area had to be made by two or more councils, as the aim was to promote town and parish councils working together to find solutions to local issues.

So far, only about £6,000 had been distributed, meaning there was around £22,000 available until April 2013.

Cllr Sheldon said: 'This is really nothing to do with TaVi Network — these monies are only available for parishes within the southern link are — it's totally outside what they can do.'

Cllr Sheldon said he had been to several link committee meetings and the problem had been a lack of consensus between the parishes over what projects should be supported by the TAP fund. The only one which had succeeded was an application for councillor training.

He described the process as 'like pulling teeth or wading through treacle'.

Cllr Philip Sanders said: 'I don't know who on earth this TaVi Network is but this is absolutely nothing to do with them, it's totally not their business.

'It's the parishes that need to spend the money, and that includes us — it's up to us to put schemes forward.'

Cllr Sanders said there was nothing to stop the town council working with, for example, Buckland Parish Council, to apply for funding to install lockable bike racks at Yelverton to serve Drake's Trail.

'There's lots of things we can do, we only need the support of one other parish,' said Cllr Sanders.

Town mayor Anne Johnson suggested Kingdon House in Tavistock may be eligible for some funding, as it provided facilities for a wide range of groups from around the area.

The committee agreed it would not be sending a representative to the TaVi Network Open Forum.

Christopher Kirwin, chairman of TaVi Network, said that after the last southern link meeting, he had been 'besieged' with requests to provide a forum at which people could put forward their ideas for funding applications.

'It's not as if this money will be there forever. All I am trying to do is get some people with ideas together and put them in contact with their parish councillor, so something can be put forward to the next link meeting on February 28.

'I know we can't put anything forward for funding, but unless someone chivvies them along, £22,000 won't be coming into our parishes,' he said.