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Greener Places Grant

Apply for a grant to help develop a project that could improve greener spaces, develop greener skills, and to support greener energy or a greener life in our communities.

Before you apply

We like to start by discussing your project with you to make sure we have all the details. This also helps us offer you the best grant.

You can contact our Community Investment Manager before applying to discuss your application.

How much can I apply for?

Our Community Grants programme allows a maximum of £10,000. However, most projects that we support are usually between £2,000 and £5,000.

Social value

This places a financial value on how different interventions affect people's lives. It’s a way of measuring the positive benefits your work has on both individuals and communities.​ We can discuss this with you to see if your project can deliver social value and if so, we will support you to gather the required information.

Match funding

Where possible, all projects should have secured or should be seeking match funding – we can support and discuss this with you prior to applying to ensure you capture the full project cost as this could include volunteer time, which you can be costed.

Our area of operation

We only support applications that deliver their projects or services in Spennymoor, Middlestone Moor, Kirk Merrington, Aycliffe Village, West Cornforth, Dean Bank, Ferryhill, Newton Aycliffe, Middridge, Fishburn, Sedgefield, Trimdons, Bishop Middleham, Byers Green and Shildon.

How to apply

To apply for one of our grants, you will need to fill out our application form. Your project should fit one of our themes. Get in touch guidance for further information about applying, eligibility and timescales.

Examples of projects that have used our Greener Places Grant:

Great Aycliffe Gardeners Guild

Clarence Chare Allotment holders and local residents from Newton Aycliffe come together with a dream of reinstating a Guild on the original site of the One Shop.

Together with support from Great Aycliffe Town Council, Durham County Council, and volunteers of the group they have secured planning permission and become a constituted group.
Funding from ourselves, Brightwater, Towns and Villages will enable them to purchase a range of huts and containers to kick-start the Guild.

They will sell a range of sustainable products to Guild members and the wider community whilst offering a depth of gardening knowledge to customers. They also plan to increase awareness of gardening and allotment skills through their program of activities aimed at children and young people.

Western Partnership

Working alongside Western Partnership we developed local offers after consulting residents on the estate. One of the main issues people reported was the amount of litter destroying the beautiful open spaces on the estate.
Since our first Litter Pick, held in March 2023, where local residents, partner agencies, and elected members came together, we have held 20 more hour-long litter picks on the Estate with an average of 15 bags per pick. This equates to 300 bags of litter collected in the 20-month period.

You can find out more information about our litter-picking dates on our Facebook page.