Tilston Parish Council uses the Cheshire West Crowd to successfully fund a new and safer footpath

Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:41

The community project could make the most of the Cheshire West Crowd like Tilston Parish Council to raise much-needed funds.

The Cheshire West Crowd allows everyone to put forward community-led projects and attract funding to make the borough more vibrant, resilient and connected.

Not only will you be able to gather the support of your local community, but you can also pitch to Cheshire West and Chester Council for funding.

Tilston Parish Council successfully raised £9,503 through the Cheshire West Crowd to build a new, all-weather stone footpath that connects Tilston Primary School and local housing estates, making it easier and safer for pupils throughout the year.

44 different backers supported the project to help make it a reality, including more than £7,000 from the Council’s Cheshire West Crowd Fund and Community Innovation Fund.

Neil Ritchie, who was involved with setting up and running the crowdfunding campaign, said:

“Other projects might not realise, as I didn’t, that there’s the possibility of obtaining grants from the Council to make it all possible.

“Even if a parish council is a very small one like we are, it’s still possible to make use of this crowdfunding website to benefit the project.

“We contributed a small amount of around three per cent, the public overall contributed something like 20 per cent and the rest of the money was contributed by Cheshire West and Chester Council.

“Following our fundraising activity, the parish council attracted a significant donor, whose contribution of an extra 29 per cent allowed us to enhance the project and make it fully wheelchair accessible.

“Everyone in the parish council was on board and helped with this project and that was an enormous benefit because, in the initial stages of promoting the scheme, there was a lot of help on tap.

“I would encourage any other parish council or project to have a go, even if there is no money to put in yourself.

“At the start of this, I thought it was going to be difficult, but it did become easy, especially with all the help we got.”

After opening the new footpath a couple of months back, people are already making the most of it.

Neil added:

“People had been using this route in the past, but not in all weathers.

“As soon as it was opened, children started using it to come to school and people started using it for walking to the playing field, which is our main recreation ground and has a children’s play area.

“You can now do a circular loop of the village and people can experience the countryside around them more easily so it’s definitely being well used.”

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of the Council and Champion for the Cheshire West Crowd, commented:

“It’s fantastic to hear another success story through the Cheshire West Crowd.

“The Council has put in significant funding during recent rounds to support local projects and help bring them to life.

“We’re once again making more than £300,000 available in this latest funding round and I’d encourage as many projects as possible to get involved.

“This is a really flexible way for projects to crowdfund and generate the support of their local community.”

How you can get involved:

The deadline to submit projects on the Cheshire West Crowd and pitch to Council funds during this latest round has been extended to Wednesday 11 October 2023, with projects aiming to hit their crowdfunding targets by the end of December 2023.

Create your own project

Regular support sessions are being delivered by the Council’s Communities team, providing an opportunity for you to have an informal chat about any ideas you have and get advice to take your crowdfunding campaign forward.