General Overview New £3m Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund Accepting Applications With First Deadline of 20 January
Launched just before Christmas, the new £3 million Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund is provided by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and administered by the charity Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE).
This is a national fund managed by ACRE. Their Executive Director, Richard Quallington used to chair the Worcestershire Local Action Group for the Worcestershire LEADER programme when it had a community focus and funded similar projects to those allowed under this fund. So he may be a useful contact. Link https://acre.org.uk/
Announced by Defra to mark the occasion of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in May 2022, the fund recognises the important role that village halls play in supporting rural communities.
The funding aims to support the modernisation and improvement of village halls, so that they are fit for purpose and can provide activities which seek to achieve one or more of the following outcomes for their communities:
• Improved health and/or wellbeing and/or reduction in rural loneliness.
• Positive impact on the local environment, contributes towards net zero.
• Support for the local rural economy.
• Promotion of community cohesion.
The £3 million funding pot offers grants of between £7,500 and £75,000 which will be 20% of eligible project costs. The total project cost can be more than £375,000 but the maximum grant available is £75,000. All project work must be completed by 31 March 2025.
The grants are for capital improvements only, where projects aim to either upgrade, extend or improve facilities or where capital items need to be purchased. This could include, for example, extensions, internal reconfigurations, new roof and roof refurbishment, refurbishment of toilets and kitchens, damp proofing, or new installation of communication systems. The grants cannot be used for maintenance, repair or renewal work.
To be eligible, the village hall must:
• Be charity owned and managed by the community.
• Be located in a local rural area with a population of less than 10,000 people.
• Have a freehold or leasehold in place. If a leasehold interest, there must be at least 21 years left to run on the lease.
There is a two-stage application process.
The deadline for the first round of Stage 1 applications is midnight 20 January 2023. The fund will then close and reopen to new applicants on 20 February 2023. The duration of this will depend, however, on the value of unallocated funds remaining.
Value Notes
The £3 million funding pot offers:
• Grants of between £7,500 and £75,000 which will be 20% of eligible project costs.
The total project cost can be more than £375,000 but the maximum grant available is £75,000.
All project work must be completed by 31 March 2025.
Who Can Apply
Applications will be accepted from the following legal entities:
• Registered charities
• Charitable trusts.
• Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs)
• Community Associations which are registered charities
• Multi-purpose Church Halls, Scout and Guide buildings are also eligible where they are open for the whole community, there is no alternative village hall in the vicinity, they are not single use and they are clearly advertised as multi-purpose.
• Charitable Companies.
To be eligible, the village hall must:
• Be charity owned and managed by the community.
• Be located in a local rural area with a population of less than 10,000 people.
• Have a freehold or leasehold in place. If a leasehold interest, there must be at least 21 years left to run on the lease.
Eligible Expenditure
The funding is for capital improvements only where projects aim to upgrade facilities, extend or improve facilities or where capital items need to be purchased.
The following are examples of project activity that could be considered eligible to be funded (it is not an exhaustive list):
• Extensions
• Internal reconfigurations
• New roof and roof refurbishment which includes insulation
• Improvements which help to increase energy efficiency
• Refurbishment of toilets and kitchens
• Damp proofing
• New installation of communication system.
Restrictions
The following are not eligible for funding:
• Community Interest Companies (CICs).
• Companies - Industrial and Provident Societies, Co-Operatives or Community Associations where no charity registration is in place.
• Sports Pavilions
• School Hall
• Building projects which have already started.
• New build village halls.
• Work that is undertaken solely to ensure compliance with DDA requirements.
• Improvement to car parks, parking areas, adjacent recreational areas and landscaping.
• Architects, surveyors and specialist survey fees.
• Costs for feasibility studies or planning applications or project managers' fees.
• Projects that solely seek to repair, maintain or renew work.
• Hall committees who received a grant from the former Village Hall Improvement Grant Fund (2019-2022).
