Community climate action fund

Applications currently closed

The community climate action fund is currently closed. Read more about the fund and projects that have been funded below.

About the fund

The Community Climate Action Fund (CCAF), supports new projects that will benefit the wider community and encourage education on the response to climate change.

Our priorities and categories that projects must align with are:

• carbon reduction
• scope how many residents does it support
• deliverability
• value for money
• deliver against our corporate objectives and the climate and environment strategy

The objectives of this fund are:

• to engage with the wider community on climate issues
• to support carbon reduction in East Hampshire
• to support adaption response to climate change and encourage behaviour change. For example, the concepts of reduce, reuse, recycle to support waste minimisation.

Projects could include, but are not limited to:

• Helping residents to save energy at home.
• Local car sharing scheme.
• Organising a community loan or swap scheme of some kind to support waste minimisation and encourage recycling.
• Reducing food waste. For example, community larders or pantries and community cooking projects.
• Greening projects. For example, community gardens, wildflower gardens and green roofs.
• Organising and hosting community learning events.

Who can apply?

Your organisation must:

1. Be a registered charity, voluntary or not for profit organisation. Constituted group or club/society, community interest company (CIC), social enterprise, a school, sports club, or parish council. Faith groups may also apply, provided their projects are inclusive. 
2. Be non-political and have an open membership policy. 
3. Have a constitution or equivalent (if you do not yet have a constitution, please contact Community First who will assist you - 0300 500 8085)
4. Have a bank account for your organisation.
5. If relevant, have a safeguarding policy (the Council’s Safeguarding Lead can assist with this if required – safeguarding@easthants.gov.uk).
6. Not be applying on behalf of a third party.
7. Religious organisations must be able to demonstrate that the funding will benefit the wider, non-religious community. Funding will not be available to any organisation solely for religious purposes.
8. Acknowledge the Council’s support in any press, publicity, or promotion of the project. An EHDC logo can be provided on request.
9. Acknowledges the Council accepts no responsibility or liability for this project or the facilities it provides now or in the future.
10. Previous successful applicants will not be considered for this round, but maybe considered in future rounds in 2024.

What is the level of funding available?

The Community Climate Action Fund is a two-year programme, with two application windows a year.

This round the fund will accept applications up to £10,000. Capital projects from £5,000-£10,000 will be favoured.

Organisations should only submit one application (either revenue or capital) per funding round. In exceptional circumstances EHDC may consider multiple applications, this would be at the discretion of the Council.

A capital grant is a one-off payment for fixed assets; for example, to be used towards the purchasing of equipment or building works.

A revenue grant is used where there is no lasting asset; for example, to be used for running costs of a regular community group, or community activity.

Revenue grants will be awarded to encourage sustainability and longevity for organisations. If you require less than £1,000 funding for a capital project, then please refer to our councillors grant fund.

Guidance notes

We strongly recommend reading the guidance notes in full before completing an application form to ensure your project is eligible.

• Guidance notes (pdf, 218kb)

You may also find it useful to view our scoring criteria (pdf, 313kb), to ensure that your application has the best chance of success.

Apply for funding

The community climate action fund (round two) is now open for applications and will close at 12noon on Monday 30 October 2023.

You will need to apply via a My EHDC Account.

Apply for a community climate action fund grant

Results of round 1 (March 2023)

The following grants have been awarded through the first round of funding:

• £4,000 to Alton Climate Action Network (ACAN) to support the Alton Eco Fair 2023
• £18,000 to Alton Community Centre for solar panels
• £4,035 to Basingstoke and Alton Cardiac Rehabilitation Charity to install loft insulation at their Alton HQ
• £6,511.39 to Binsted Parish Council for the Greening Binsted's Village Green project
• £10,000 to Dementia Friendly Alton for an electrical update to Edgar Hall
• £12,500 to Energy Alton to help fund Home Energy Support Team Alton (HESTA)
• £7,500 to Grayshott Cricket Club for a borehole and irrigation system at Grayshott sports field
• £1,100 to Headley Village Hall for LED lighting to replace less efficient lighting
• £10,000 to King George V Memorial Hall (Froxfield) for solar panels
• £10,000 to Petersfield Bowling & Snooker Club for photovoltaic solar panel installation
• £12,500 to Petersfield Climate Action Network (PeCAN) for their community outreach project (youth, schools, businesses and other local authorities)
• £12,500 to The Sustainability Centre to help fund a new learning centre
• £18,211 to Treloar's for solar panels

Results of round 2 (October 2023)

The following grants were allocated through the second round of funding:

• £8,000 to Kingsley Organisation for solar panels on the Kingsley Centre
• £10,000 to Energise South Downs Ltd to provide feasibility studies for community energy projects
• £8,000 to Petersfield Town Football Club to upgrade floodlights to LED to reduce power usage
• £8,000 to Petersfield Rugby Club towards solar panel installation
• £1,778 to St Mary’s Bentworth CE Primary School towards a bike shelter
• £10,000 to The King’s Arms Youth Project towards heat pumps and air conditioning unit for their Alton site
• £4,129.08 to Whitehill Village Hall to support their move away from gas-powered heating
• £2,099.33 to Medstead Lawn Tennis Club to change their clubhouse lighting to LEDs

Contact us

Enquiries or further information on Community Climate Action Fund should be submitted by email to climate@easthants.gov.uk or telephone 01730 234354.

If you are from the not for profit sector and would like support and advice on completing the application form, or general governance, please contact Gary Davis at Community First via: gary.davis@cfirst.org.uk or 07877 768307.