Cheshire West Crowd helps plans for an accessible playground become a reality

Sutton Weaver Parish Council has used the Cheshire West Crowd to successfully run one of the project’s biggest crowdfunding campaigns and help everyone access the village’s playground.

The Cheshire West Crowd, which is being run by Cheshire West and Chester Council in partnership with Spacehive, is the ideal chance for community-led ideas to be created so the borough can become more vibrant, resilient and connected.

Sutton Weaver Parish Council is one of many organisations to make the most of the Cheshire West Crowd, running an impressive crowdfunding campaign to raise more than £48,000.

The idea for this project first came about after a family had recently moved into the area and their child was struggling to access the playground.  

Members of the parish council decided to use the Cheshire West Crowd as the route to raise the funds needed, attracting more than £48,000 worth of donations from nearly 100 different backers that included the Council and local businesses and residents.

Simon Richards, Councillor on Sutton Weaver Parish Council, said: “We wanted to help this family and get an accessible playground, but we realised it was going to be very expensive and we’re only a small parish council.

“We weren’t sure whether it was going to be achievable, but we gave it a go and the Council recommended using the Cheshire West Crowd.

“The platform definitely did legitimise the ask as people knew that the money was going to go towards a particular project.

“We’ve had a lot of support from local businesses as there are quite a few small business owners here.

“Local residents and the Council have backed the project and we’ve also been gaining a lot of support from further afield than the village.

“We’re bordered by Frodsham, Helsby and Runcorn and we have links because we know people personally in those areas.

“When you explain the type of equipment we’re putting in the playground, it isn’t easily found in the area and we want it to be used by people in and outside the village so that helped when we were calling on others to support our campaign.”

Tracey Whitlow, Clerk of Sutton Weaver Parish Council, added: “I found the Cheshire West Crowd platform relatively easy and it was definitely the best way for us to have done this.

“It gives you that professionalism and, if you don’t hit your target, people knew you wouldn’t get it so they know their money’s safe.

“You’ve got to keep going at it, be determined and don’t get knocked down when you don’t get a response from funders.

“The first donation we received was our biggest one, offering to buy the accessible swing.

“Once we’d got that, we felt like we could do it and the pots of funding from the Council really helped too.

“People should go out to big funders first because a lot of them will have time windows for when you can apply.

“Look at their timescales, apply to them first and you can always have that money set aside to add to the crowdfunding platform to boost your campaign.

“I’d definitely recommend other parish councils taking a similar route and some have already been in touch with us to get our advice following the success of our campaign.”

Use the Cheshire West Crowd to crowdfund your project

After launching in 2021, the Cheshire West Crowd has already had two funding rounds and, with around £400,000 contributed by the Council and nearly £770,000 raised in total by local projects, it is one of the most successful initiatives Spacehive has run.

The deadline for projects being added to the Cheshire West Crowd is Wednesday 2 November 2022 as the Council will be allocating funds from the various pots in December 2022.

All projects will need to reach their crowdfunding targets on the Cheshire West Crowd by Tuesday 28 February 2023.

The following funding pots will be available from Cheshire West and Chester Council in the autumn 2022 round.

• Community Innovation Fund – £250,000
• Youth Fund – £20,000
• Cheshire West Crowd Fund – £90,000
• COVID Recovery and Renewal Fund – £47,885
• Climate Change Emergency Fund – £10,000
• Tackling Poverty Fund – £9,865

For more information about the Cheshire West Crowd and how you could get involved, visit: 

spacehive.com/movement/cwc

Pictured - Sutton Weaver playground will soon undergo work thanks to the crowdfunding campaign on the Cheshire West Crowd.