KENNET District Council has agreed to set aside £3 million to give to education projects.

The money is from the council's capital budget and follows on from the £2.2 million it gave away to community projects earlier this year.

The give away is in order to reduce the amount of money Kennet has in its coffers before it is abolished and the new Wiltshire Council is formed next April.

Frank Marshall, the interim assistant to Kennet's chief executive, told a full meeting of Kennet on Tuesday that when applications for grants were made to Kennet the ones from educational establishments could not be considered as approval was needed from Wiltshire County Council in its role as the education authority.

At the meeting Kennet councillors agreed to set aside £3 million for education related community projects.

The sub committee that awarded the grants earlier in the year will be re-convened to consider the education project applications and the education department at the county council will provide a written assessment of the value of individual projects.

Mr Marshall said successful projects that were unable to be completed by end of March 2009 would not be given the money until the work had been completed. A contract would be entered into with the projects, he said.

If all the £3 million is spent the amount of money left in Kennet's capital budget by next April will be about £7 million while Kennet's revenue reserves are forecast to be £4 million.