Supporting Rural Communities in Northumberland
This programme has now closed for expressions of interest.
Applicants which have been invited to take their proposal to the next stage will be informed by
10th October 2024.
£250,000 is available to support rural community-led activities in Northumberland.
Organisations can apply for up to £30,000 over a period of 18 months to deliver activities along the themes of:
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- Powering up rural communities
- Increasing environmental sustainability.
The fund is looking to support projects that help to do one or more of the following four things. They should:
- Help provide financial benefits to the locality.
- Build a stronger sense of community and connectedness.
- Benefit the local environment, creating positive benefits for the community.
- Create an innovative and replicable approach addressing an unmet need within the rural area.
Communities are invited to bid for funding that will create tangible change.
For example, a project that provides financial benefit, generating more money for use in the local area. This could be a plan to generate a new income stream for the local community, or the creation of learning or skills opportunities.
It might be ideas that have environmental benefit, for example projects which reduce negative environmental impacts in the community or help to increase community awareness and engagement in the local environment. The fund is particularly seeking innovative solutions to the challenges facing rural areas. Is there a project that hasn’t been done before that could be replicated in other rural communities, helping to increase the scale of change?
You can view some of the previous projects we have supported along the above themes below.
Thank you to the NLCF for supporting this programme.
Example projects previously supported by the RCF
Transition North Ronaldsay
This project created a new community enterprise to turn their island’s plastic waste into useable products that benefit the community. The products are developed with the community and can be traded in for remanufacturing, creating an innovative circular economy on the island whilst removing litter from the coastline.
What we like about it: a particularly innovative project with a strong business plan and clear long-term vision. They also demonstrated additional economic, environmental and social benefits, including supporting employment and protecting biosecurity.
Grizedale Arts and The Farmer's Arms
In collaboration with the community, turned an old pub into a rural hub creating a local space for creative and business projects to run as well as hosting training events and volunteer placements for local people.
What we liked about it: This project reached a larger number of local people and demonstrated their impact through strong quantitative and qualitative evidence like survey results and testimonials from people using the hub.. They went beyond simply purchasing the pub and with the support and involvement of the community turned it into a hub providing a vital range of services for local people.
Holy Island 2025: Long-term vision and strategy
This project addressed the significant issues facing the Holy Island community by bringing together local residents to develop a strategy and long-term vision for the area. Led by and for local people, this set out a plan for creating a sustainable and positive future where the community and island could thrive.
What we liked about it: The project involved setting up working group meetings for the community to get to know each other, helping create the building blocks for active governance and strengthening community cohesion. Information and evidence documented by the report has since led to successful applications for further funding to explore the feasibility and need for a community housing project and has provided a clear agenda for the island to decide on priority projects to implement and action, helping to secure their long-term sustainability.
Blackhall Mill Community Association
This project developed a how-to-guide and model for setting up their community electric vehicle car club, called a ‘car club in a box’, so that other communities can create their own. Building on research they have conducted, this innovation will accelerate the speed at which they can support the development of new clubs in other communities, decarbonise transport, improve accessibility and strengthen the sustainability of their own club for their community.
What we like about it: They created a model that can be replicated and shared with other rural communities and is highly innovative. As well as improving access to transport in their isolated community, the project is generating an income stream for the community through the sale of their model, ensuring the future long-term viability of the car club, helping to decarbonize transport and reducing isolation and loneliness through their voluntary driver scheme. This organisation also demonstrates good collaboration and connectedness with others in their local area and identified a clear need for the project within their own community and further afield.
