Burnham-On-Sea community groups are being encouraged to apply for funding from a local solar energy farm.
Burnham and Weston Energy CIC, the owner of the Wick Farm community solar project, has announced that its ‘Burnham and Weston Community Sunshine Fund’ is now open to applications from 1st October – 15th November, 2019.
The 90-acre site at Wick Farm, between Burnham-On-Sea and Weston, has been running since June 2017 with over 36,000 solar panels in operation.
The Fund, which is managed by Somerset Community Foundation, welcomes applications for funding from local, community-led organisations, small voluntary groups, clubs, charities, social enterprises, schools, and health centres for a range of activities that will have an environmental, social or economic legacy.
Communities covering an area stretching up the Somerset coastline from Burnham-On-Sea to Weston-super-Mare, and inland to Mark and Winscombe, can apply for grants of up to £2,500.
Grants totalling over £15,500 have already been awarded from the Fund to ten local groups this year. The groups that have benefited so far, are:
- 1st Banwell Scouts – £2,500 towards solar power at the group’s new scout hall
- Bay Centre, Burnham-On-Sea – £620 for a new thermostat and control valves
- Boomsatsuma, Weston-super-Mare – £1,000 to help a youth club become more eco-friendly
- BOS Events – £1,500 towards the beach kite festival
- Disability Information & Advice Line (DIAL) Weston-super-Mare – £500 towards local helpline
- Friends of Grove Park, Weston-super-Mare – £2,500 towards new recycling bins
- Lympsham Sports Club – £1,000 to install energy efficient lighting
- RAF Air Cadets 290 Squadron, Weston-super-Mare and Burnham-On-Sea – £1,400 to install energy efficient lighting
- Vision North Somerset, Weston-super-Mare – £2,500 for new heating system
- XTND, Weston-super-Mare – £2,000 for community benches.
For further information contact Andy Ridgewell, Programmes Manager at Somerset Community Foundation, on 01749 344949 or visit www.somersetcf.org.uk/burnhamandweston
If you run a local community project and would like to find out more about grant funding in general, call Somerset Community Foundation on 01749 344949.
