BIG is investing £75 million specifically for rural and urban community-use buildings through our flagship Reaching Communities programme. From early December, voluntary and community sector organisations and parish and town councils across England will be able to apply for capital funding of between £100,000 to £500,000.
In the North West we have a very diverse geography with 80% being rural but with a number of significant urban areas where the majority of the population live and work. Whatever the location we know that community buildings play an important role in the lives of people. They can provide access to a range of community activities which enhance community cohesion.
The funding will be available for all types of multi-purpose buildings used by communities including memorial halls, community centres and village halls. The funding stream has been designed with a view to transforming current buildings into community buildings which can offer a wide range of activities benefitting a wide range of citizens.
We know that £75million isn’t enough to fund every community building in the country. The funding will be targeted at those most in need. We have used the Index of Multiple Deprivation to identify these areas. However, we recognise that a single approach to deprivation could ‘miss’ rural deprivation.
We have therefore weighted the targeting so that half of the most deprived isolated rural communities are eligible, compared to 15% of the most deprived urban areas.
We have developed a postcode checker on our website so that applicants can check whether their building is in one of the eligible areas. This, and further information about how to apply for funding will be available on the website from December.
For further details on the programme visit the Big Lottery Fund website here.
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