New help available to boost Wirral communities
New grants are now available to help neighbourhoods across Wirral promote the sense of community and local pride.
The funding will allow local groups to deliver inspiring projects that improve quality of life in their areas such as encouraging community growing, greening the local area, or improving access to affordable healthy food.
The Community Green Grants Programme is funded through the Liverpool City Region’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) allocation, managed by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
The aim is to help create more pleasant environments, provide health and wellbeing benefits through volunteering opportunities as well as access to healthy food, and helping promote local communities by bringing people together.
Wirral Council and Wirral Council for Voluntary Service (Wirral CVS) have joined forces to administer the Community Green Grants Programme in the borough.
The grants could provide funding of up to £15,000 to local groups with a plan to make a difference to where they live.
We want to see projects which help boost local pride and the sense of belonging - particularly in areas where these aspects have been diminished.
The grants should promote what is known as ‘green and blue infrastructure’ which includes things like establishing community or urban gardens, creating wildflower meadows, providing ‘green corridors’ using alleyways, or delivering education or training about the environment in their community.
This is a fantastic opportunity for local groups to work together to help make Wirral an even more beautiful place, and there are grants of different sizes to try and ensure groups or organisations can access the right level of funds for their project.
Wirral CVS has been awarded the contract for supporting the administering of the UKSPF funds for the Green Grants programme. Wirral CVS is a member-led organisation which aims to support voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector organisations in Wirral and use its wealth of knowledge in voluntary sector to work with Wirral Council to award the grants.
Applications for the grants must be submitted by midnight on Wednesday 10th April. To find out more about them and how to apply visit https://www.wcvs.org.uk/post/community-green-grants
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit UK Shared Prosperity Fund: prospectus - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
