Six of Marlborough’s 15 councillors have been forced to leave the council chamber due to conflicts of interest ahead of discussing community group grants.

Marlborough District Council were approving the allocation of the Communities Grant – which funds community welfare and social services, and sport and recreation services – when the swath of conflicts arose at a meeting on Thursday.

As councillors turned to the list of recipients, mayor Nadine Taylor told them to read carefully and declare a conflict of interest if they were a paid member or committee member, or had a close relative who was a paid or committee member.

Councillors began dropping like flies. In total six out of 15 councillors declared conflicts of interest, meaning they had to leave the room until the grants were approved.

Councillor Brian Dawson was the first to declare a conflict and bow out. His wife was the Blenheim manager of Presbyterian Support, which later received a $2000 grant from the council.

He was swiftly followed by councillor David Croad.

Mayor Nadine Taylor then acknowledged councillors frequently had conflicts of interests as “we're a very small community and we do interact with these organisations or attend a parish church”.

Councillor Barbara Faulls, who had attended the meeting remotely, was the next to declare a conflict of interest, as she was chairperson of the Havelock Vision 2020 Charitable Trust, which was later granted $2700.

Council chief executive John Boswell then turned his eye to councillor Cyril Dawson, a long-time member of the Rarangi Golf Club, which later received $3200.

Cyril had not yet left his seat, so John got up, walked over to Dawson’s seat and stood over him.

“Give me the money,” Cyril joked before leaving the room.

Nadine was about to move forward when councillor Scott Adams said “oh, I’m out too”.

Scott was a member of the Marlborough Returned and Services Association, which later received $3600.

As Adams left the room, Taylor said this was the reason she did not have paid membership in any local organisations anymore.

Councillor Thelma Sowman, who chaired the grants subcommittee, later confirmed to LDR that the grant had received 82 requests seeking a total $456,000.

They had given away $240,000 in total to 73 applicants, which was $10,000 more than the budget allowed. The extra money was made available as one of last year’s recipients had returned money to the fund.

Crossroads Charitable Trust took home the most at $7045 for operations and security.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.