Grants Available For Community Groups In Former Coalfield Areas

Community groups in Kent's former coalfields are being invited to apply for grants to help a range of projects for the future.

Grants from £500 to £5,000 are available through the Coalfields Regeneration Trust's 'Bridging The Gap' fund, which is being delivered by Dover District Council. Groups can apply for grants to support activities that improve health and well-being, develop education and skills, support access to opportunities, and promote volunteering.

Examples of projects that Bridging the Gap grants can help with include improvements to a community facility, or the establishment of a much needed new service or activity in a community; a project that helps people into a job, or a training project that teaches people a new skill or enables them to get a qualification; setting up a new social enterprise, or an activity that gets people involved in physical activity or addresses a local health issue; setting up a small transport scheme that enables people to access opportunities difficult to access because of their location; the provision of places for after school clubs, holiday play schemes, playgroups or nurseries, or activities that promote volunteering.

Successful projects will have to target the former coalfields wards of Aylesham, Barham Downs, Eastry, Eythorne and Shepherdswell, Little Stour and Ashstone, Middle Deal and Sholden, Mill Hill, North Deal and St Margaret's-at-Cliffe.

Coalfields Regeneration Chair Peter McNestry said: "The Coalfields Regeneration Trust is happy to be able to continue its investment in Kent. The Trust is still committed to improving the quality of life in coalfield communities. We are striving to make our former coalfields sustainable, prosperous, viable and cohesive without support. We are investing in them to become better places to live, work and play."

For more information, or if you would like to apply to this grant fund, contact Carol Davies at DDC on 01304 872081 or e-mail carol.davies@dover.gov.uk.