UK Shared Prosperity Fund Community and Place awards

Twenty-five projects will receive grants as part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Community and Place.

Grant awards of £1.5 million have been announced today (26 February), by Cheshire West and Chester Council. 25 projects will receive grants as part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Community and Place, which is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides funding for local projects to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK.

The projects to be funded have a broad geographic coverage across Cheshire West and Chester, including rural areas, and support a wide range of activity including:

• Projects to support built heritage such as St Peter’s Church in Chester city centre, being awarded £93,860 for restoration works to the historic church and to design works to improve accessibility.
• Using arts/cultural/volunteering to engage residents such as Bee Friends in Frodsham being awarded £37,054 to expand their ‘bumping into culture project’ and deliver a series of classical, light music and jazz concerts, performed by professional musicians in local community spaces, including warm hubs to help reduce loneliness especially among older people.
• Investment in community infrastructure to help build resilience, financial sustainability and improve accessibility with the Leftwich Meadow project in Northwich awarded £70,232 to improve a muddy 385m metre section of footpath and gates to create a multi-user pathway which will link onto Rose Meadow creating access for residents to 46 hectares of meadow and woodland. Changing Lives Together has been awarded £41,483 to support improvements at the charity's Winsford hub to make it more accessible for volunteers and beneficiaries.

Councillor Nathan Pardoe, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth, Economy & Regeneration said:

“We launched this second open call for projects and I am delighted to announce the successful applicants for this round. The projects build on the awards we funded in June last year.” 

Successful projects from the £2.2m first round of funding, which had funding for two years, included the Now Northwich Arts festival, The Cheshire Sandstone Ridge and projects to support mental well-being and disability groups.

Councillor Pardoe continued: “We received 64 applications, with a combined grant request of £3.6 million by the deadline at the end of December. Thanks to all who took part, the quality of applications was impressive and far exceeded the available funding. All applications were carefully considered to decide how best to allocate the funds. I am pleased that we can support so many diverse causes across the whole borough, including projects in areas such as Neston and Lache which have applied for the first time.”

MHA Communities Cheshire West has been awarded £45,420 for a project in Neston to recruit and train volunteers to support people living at home with dementia and their carers, funding has also been awarded for Windle Hill bridge replacement on the Wirral Way. While in Lache, £112,505 has been awarded to upgrade part of Lache Community Centre, following community consultation last year.

All grants are subject to final due diligence checks and grant funding contracts and are for delivery by the end of March 2025.  

A full list of successful projects under the Community and Place theme has been published on the Council’s webpage.

Details of activities previously funded is also available:

https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/business/shared-prosperity-fund/communities-and-place

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills.

For more information, visit UK Shared Prosperity Fund: prospectus - visit: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus