Grants and Donations

Parish Council Grants - Apply now

Did you know that your parish council has grants that local community groups and organisations can apply for? These include our Environmental Fund and our general grants. Get in touch if you would like to apply, you can read and fill out our Grant Policy and Form to get started. Find out more about each below:

Environmental Fund

Provided by New Banwell Solar following the installation of the solar farm near Towerhead will / has helped the following:

Resurfacing a local footpath leading from the football club, regularly used by walkers and the football club.
Banwell Primary School for an environmental area around their pond.
Banwell Scouts for their outside area around their new building.
Youth & Community Centre works to improve the energy efficiency of the building by replacing the doors.

Further grants and donations

Grants and donations from Parish Council funds have also been made to the following:

Grants received

Grants Awarded to the Parish Council

The parish council not only give out grants, but also apply for grants to fund community initiatives. Without funding, many of the fantastic initiatives provided by the parish council would not be possible. We want to say a huge thank you to all of the grant funders who have awarded us with funds. We often find funding opportunities via the Rural Funding Network.

Have a peek below at our most recent successful grant applications:

Neighbourly Warm Communities Fund (Awarded January 2023)
Thank you to Neighbourly Warm Communities Fund for awarding the parish council £500 towards our Public Living Room and acoustic measures for the new Scout Building. This will help First Banwell Scouts to put in further acouastic measures into their new building.

North Somerset Public Living Rooms Grant (Awarded October 2022 & January 2023)
Thank you to North Somerset Council for awarding the parish council initally with £800 and then a further £500 towards our Public Living Room. This has helped purchase necessary equipment to get the initiative up and running. You can read more about the scheme on our Public Living Room page.

Griffiths Happy to Chat Bench Donation (August 2022)
Griffiths have donated £700 to fund a "Happy to Chat" bench. The money will go towards repairing existing benches which will be made into a "Happy to Chat" bench. This is a bench where people can sit on if they are happy for other to stop and speak to them in a bid to bring the community together and decrease feelings of loneliness. Keep an eye on our website ot find out when this bench is completed.

Griffiths Eco Lighting Donation (August 2022)
Griffiths have donated £1000 to help fund the eco lighting refit at Banwell Y.C.C. This work is now complete and the community building is now greener than ever for energy usage.

North Somerset Play Area Grant (Awarded July 2022)
North Somerset Council have awarded the parish council £19,644 towards a new play area at Riverside. We cannot wait to install this new equipment for our residents. The new play area will replace the existing, and include inclusive equipment to ensure all children have access to free play. Keep an eye on our website for updates.

Sunshine Grant - Eco Lighting Y.C.C (July 2022)
Burnham and Weston Energy have awarded £2,500 towards the eco lighting refit at Banwell Youth & Community Centre. This work is now complete, with eco friendly LED lights and outdoor motion sensor lights replacing the old lighting system. This has made the community centre a much greener building, helping us on our quest to become carbon neutral!

National Lottery - Jubilee Grant (Awarded April 2022)
The National Lottery funded Banwell's Jubilee events (£1,820). You can read all about the events this fund supported over on our Jubilee Events news page. The events were extremely popular and brought the community together to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee.

Public Health Grant - Youth Club (Awarded March 2022)
North Somerset Council awarded £3,986 to fund Banwell Youth Club's Summer Holiday provisions. This funding allowed children from all backgrounds to have access to activities and provisions every week throughout the summer holidays, all for £1 per session! This provisions was extremely popular with youth club members, whose ages range from 10 -18.

Community Food Project (Awarded March 2022)
North Somerset Council awarded £2,500 to Banwell Youth Club to fund two 6-week cookery courses. This provided children and teens with vital skills in cooking. All food and equipment costs were covered by the grant, meaning the courses were free to attendees and therefore much more accessible. The 6 week course ended with a community social meal, prepared by the youth club.

Welcome Back Fund (Awarded Decemer 2021)
In December 2021, North Somerset Council awarded the parish council £5,700 to fund the first Christmas Market in Banwell in 2021. The equipment purchased with these funds will be used year after year as the Christmas Market becomes an annual event. This fund has helped local businesses in Banwell recover after lockdowns, supporting our #BuyInBanwell campaign.

Bilbie Grange Section 106 Developers Contribution

It was advertised that £221,000 will be given to Banwell. Just for clarification these contributions were agreed by North Somerset with Bellway Homes over four years ago. The only payment coming directly to the Parish Council is £38,000 for the Recreation Ground paid in two phases. Directly coming into the village is the following.

£11,000 for Banwell Football Club
£1,800 for YMCA Dulverton to organise Banwell Youth Club Activities (Summer Youth Club &overnight stay)
£4,000 for Godding Lane (undertaken by North Somerset)

The rest of the money will be given to North Somerset to be used for the following.

Children’s Services
Churchill Academy
Library Services
Travel Packs