Community Legacy Grant

Our Community Legacy Grants are for ambitious and innovative community projects that meet local needs and will create a significant and long-lasting impact.

Since we launched the grants in 2018, we have awarded just over £4million to 31 parish and town councils for 40 community projects across the district.

We are now running a fifth round of the grants. The £1million scheme is financed by the unspent funds from previous rounds of the Community Legacy Grants and our New Homes Bonus scheme, with the remainder from our New Homes Bonus reserve.

The grants are only open to parish and town councils in Wychavon.

We welcome applications from individual parish or town councils or joint applications from groups of parish and town councils.

While we will only accept applications from parish and town councils, Community Legacy Grant funded projects may be led or delivered by a community group with the full support of the relevant parish or town council/s.

These grants are primarily for ambitious and innovative capital projects (things like buildings, land or other facilities) and will create a significant and lasting community impact. The grants can also provide start-up funding for new smaller, innovative projects that address local needs.

This time we are taking a more targeted approach than in previous rounds. We will give priority to projects that meet one or more of the three criteria listed below.

• Applications from parishes that have not previously received a Community Legacy Grant and that have experienced high levels of housing growth.
• Parishes where there are significant gaps in key community assets. 
• Ambitious projects that will have a significant and lasting impact on one or more of our strategic goals - particularly health and wellbeing, supporting people most in need, tackling climate change, access to local transport and links between places or improving the natural environment.

Community Legacy Grant awards usually range between £10,000 and £150,000, although we have given a few larger grants for exceptional or high priority projects. As a guide, in this round we would expect most applications to be in the region of £50,000 to £100,000.

You will need to raise a minimum of 10% of your total project costs (excluding VAT) from non-Wychavon District Council managed sources such as parish/town council contributions, community fundraising or other funding sources.

The key dates are listed below.

8 January: expressions of interest open

20 February: midday deadline for expressions of interest

29 February: online briefing for applicants invited to submit a full application

30 May: midnight deadline for full applications

July: applicants notified of the outcome of their application

Each parish and town council can submit one application for this round of Community Legacy Grants.

There is a two-stage competitive application process. This is explained below.

The purpose of the expression of interest is to provide an overview of your project. This must be made using our online form(opens in a new window) and will include:

• Parish or town council details
• A summary of your project and why it is needed
• Anticipated impact
• Estimated project costs and how you intend to raise match funding
• How you plan to engage your local community in the project.

In your expression of interest you need to provide enough information for us to be able to assess whether your project aligns with the overall aims of the Community Legacy Grant scheme, but you do not need to go into a lot of detail at this stage. 

The deadline for expressions of interest is midday on 20 February 2024. We aim to respond to expressions of interest within a week of receiving them, so we encourage you to submit your expression of interest ahead of the deadline.

Submit an expression of interest

We will invite parish and town councils whose projects align with the overall aims of the Community Legacy Grant scheme and meet the scheme’s criteria to submit a more detailed, full application. The deadline for full applications is midnight on 30 May 2024.

We will run an online training session for parish/town invited to submit a stage two application on 29 February at 6.15pm.

Stage two applications must include:

• Clear evidence of the need for the project
• Evidence of community support, including whether or not the local district councillor/s supports the project
• Evidence of how you have met our consultation requirement
• A project plan with milestones
• A project delivery risk assessment
• Breakdown of project costs
• Details of match funding, including local contributions
• Expected impact
• A completed screening impact assessment covering privacy issues, contribution to Wychavon’s new strategic priorities and equalities impacts.

You will need to carry out consultation about your proposals before submitting a stage two full application. We have put together these consultation guidelines to assist you in planning your consultation.

Grants must be for capital projects or for start-up funding for new activities or services that meet a clearly evidenced need.   Above all else, there must be evidence that projects are deliverable and will have a positive, long-lasting impact on the community.

We require applications for new community buildings or significant refurbishments of community buildings to consider installation of renewable energy technologies and those that include car parking facilities to incorporate provision of one or more publicly accessible electric vehicle charging points.  We also encourage applicants to include suitable provision for cyclists.

We require applicants for projects that include the redevelopment of green space to consider how they could contribute to the provision of new or enhanced habitats for pollinators and other wildlife.

We will not generally award funding for:

• Projects that have already been completed or largely completed before we receive an application.
• Any expenditure incurred or committed before we approve an award.
• Day to day running costs, replacement equipment, repairs, maintenance or the costs of meeting health and safety requirements.
• The like for like replacement or refurbishment of kitchens, toilets, floors, roofs or storage in community buildings unless it is part of a larger redevelopment project.
• One off events.
• Professional fees for speculative projects or planning application fees.
• Fundraising activities.
• Political or religious activities.
• Work that is the responsibility of other public bodies or organisations.
• School projects unless the matter is outside any other funding mechanism, and there is a demonstrable wider community benefit, and there is evidence that the community supports use of NHB monies for this purpose.

Section 6 of the 2019 update of our  New Homes Bonus Protocol (2018-2022) (1.38 MB)  contains the full set of criteria/rules that apply to the Community Legacy Grant scheme. We strongly advise parish and town councils to read these before submitting an expression of interest.  

If you have any questions about submitting an application or require more information about the grant application process please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Tracy on 01386 565517.

If you need help with developing your project or advice on other funding sources contact one of our communities officers or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Communities Officers

South: Evesham and surrounding area
Ben Price This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 07977 946734 

Central: Pershore and surrounding area
Branwen Bingle This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 07977 947144

North: Droitwich and surrounding area
Patrick Connelly This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 07977 947143

Our Communities and Funding Advisory Panel will assess all full applications and make recommendations to the Executive Board about each application.

All funding decisions will be made by the Executive Board. This is likely to take place in July.

Successful applicants will receive a grant offer letter and a set of terms and conditions, which together constitute their grant agreement. 

We do not currently have any plans to run a sixth round of the Community Legacy Grant scheme.