Can a parish council contribute to crowd-funding aimed at buying a piece of land to preserve a green space?

Question

A group of residents are aiming to purchase a piece of land to preserve a vital green space in our village and prevent a housing project. To finance this we are proposing crowd-funding and want to know if our parish council can contribute to it or match fund the donations.

The land would eventually be given to the p c to maintain for the village in perpetuity.

Answer 1

Rather than contribute to the crowd funding, the simplest approach would be for the council to resolve to contribute a set sum of money to the appeal if it is successful. That way no money changes hands in the interim. You should also consider how the purchase would be managed. If the council is to be the owner, all monies should be paid to the council to enable it to make the purchase.