Aims/priorities: The programme provides both grant and technical support for local communities that are drawing up a neighbourhood plan for their area.
Who can apply? Town and parish councils, neighbourhood forums and prospective neighbourhood forums preparing a neighbourhood development plan or neighbourhood development order in England may apply.
The programme is particularly keen to help ambitious groups, from all types of neighbourhoods, who want to really influence how their place grows and changes going into the future.
To apply for an additional grant of up to £8,000, applicants must be at least one of the following:
- Allocating sites for housing.
- Including design codes in their plans.
- A designated business neighbourhood plan.
- A cluster of three or more parishes writing a single plan.
- A Neighbourhood Area with a population of more than 25,000.
- A designated neighbourhood forum.
- A group based in an area which has a high level of deprivation (where 30% or more of the neighbourhood area or population is in the 20% most deprived areas in England according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation).
Eligible applicants must be based in England.
Grant amount: The following support is available:
- A basic grant of between £1,000 and £10,000 for groups writing a neighbourhood plan or neighbourhood development order.
- An additional grant of up to £8,000 is available for groups facing more complex issues, giving a maximum total amount of £18,000.
- Specific packages of technical support where needed.
Any grant support received since April 2015 will be taken into account when assessing how much grant can be applied for.
All grants must be spent before 31 March 2025.
Application process: The guidance notes for grant and technical support as well as other relevant documents can be found on the Locality website.
There is a two stage application process:
- The first stage is to complete an Expression of Interest (EoI) form. The answers will determine what support they are eligible for and generate the relevant application form.
- Groups will be automatically directed to the relevant application form which they can begin to complete immediately. The application form needs to be completed within 15 days.
Groups can apply for both grant and technical support at once on the same application form.
Once Locality has approved the grant application, Groundwork UK will become the day to day contact for the grant. Groundwork UK are the grant administrators for the programme and are responsible for managing the grants including making grant payments and monitoring.
Please note: groups need to have submitted their end of grant monitoring on previous grant applications before they can apply to the current programme. Any underspend should be returned to Groundwork UK before a new grant can be approved. Contact the grant administrator at Groundwork UK with any questions about this.
Deadline: Not specified.
Contact information: Email: info@locality.org.uk
Website: Locality Neighbourhood Planning