Visit Hadleigh has been told to come back with detailed figures and information after a request to the town council for a £4,000 grant was questioned, then deferred after the applicants failed to provide the evidence of how much they actually needed.

Councillors were not happy with Visit Hadleigh's lack of detail in the application and questioned if the Guildhall was the best place for a visitor centre.

The group, led by Stuart Service, were asking for £4,000 to pay for a visitor centre facility in the Guildhall between May and October.

Cllr Andrew Knock informed the council that as far as he was aware the Hadleigh Feoffment Charity, who own and runs the Guildhall, had not agreed to hire to Visit Hadleigh, or had agreed any subsequent fees. He suggested the applicant go away and come back with confirmed figures at a later meeting. Mayor Frank Minns agreed with him on both points and added that he felt they did not need the money until April, so the council could consider another application in the new financial year.

Unlike other the applications for grants which were discussed, and subsequently approved, details of the Visit Hadleigh's request was not in the public domain.

Cllr Angela Gregg pointed out that in previous years Visit hadleigh had paid between £300-£500 for hosting themselves in the High Street.

She tried to ask where these new figures came from, and said she was all for Visit Hadleigh but did not feel the Guildhall was a suitable site for a visitor centre as not many people passed by, but was muted by the clerk on the orders of Cllr Minns, who talked over her so could not finish her point, and would not let Cllr Gregg speak again on the matter.

Proposed by Cllr Rolf Beggerow, seconded by Cllr Carol Schleip, it was agreed to defer the grant application from Visit Hadleigh for £4,000 until next month's full Council meeting.

Stuart Service from Visit Hadleigh was contacted for comment but declined to speak about the matter.

Meanwhile, the town council agreed to give a grant of £2,000 to the Shelley Riding Centre (read full story here) and awarded £500 to the Crucial Crew project following a request from Sudbury Rotary Club.