A NUMBER if village shops are receiving a share of £25,000 in grants from South Shropshire District Council.

The scheme is part of a wider initiative supporting local businesses and assisting rural communities facing Post Office closures or other threats.

Council leader Cecilia Motley said: "We understand the importance of the village shop to a rural community and set aside a sum for a Village Shops Grants Scheme. The council understands the value of help in the form of hard cash to projects, so is offering up to £1,500 in funding towards projects that improve the commercial viability and sustainability of an existing, or proposed, village shop."

She added: "It doesn't matter whether the shop has Post Office facilities or if these are about to be withdrawn. Only eight of the 19 candidates first identified as being eligible for funding offered Post Office services which were under threat."

Projects involving new business startups are also eligible for funding.

"We're as keen to put money into a wider funding package that might lead to the opening of a new shop, perhaps as a community venture, as we are to help an existing small business underpin its long-term viability."

To be eligible a business must either be providing or planning to provide the only village outlet that sells food and/or household products in a village or settlement. In May, a grant of £1,500 was allotted to Stiperstones Stores, the location of the Snailbeach Post Office.

At the last executive committee meeting, six more grants were made to stores in Lydbury North, which is to lose its Post Office, Lydham, Wistanstow, Chirbury, Hopton Bank and Bentlawnt.

A total of £8,250 has so far been awarded for a variety of improvements.