Blacon Community Grants: Up to £2,000 From a £50,000 Fund

Community groups in Blacon can now apply for grants of between £200 and £2,000. The money comes from a £50,000 pot paid for through Proud of Blacon, the estate’s £20 million share of the government’s Pride in Place programme.

Applications opened on Monday 26 October. Cheshire West Voluntary Action (CWVA) runs the fund with the Proud of Blacon neighbourhood board and Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWVA, 26 October 2026).

What the money is for

The grants can pay to keep an existing project going, cover a group’s core costs, or try something new. The application pack says the activity has to do at least one of these:

• reduce loneliness or isolation
• improve physical or mental health
• improve opportunities for local children and adults
• improve financial wellbeing or resilience
• strengthen community involvement and local pride
• improve the local environment and neighbourhood

Who can apply, and who cannot

The fund is for grassroots groups based in Blacon or working there. The project itself has to happen inside the Proud of Blacon boundary. The online form carries a map, and the pack says it “roughly covers all of what locals consider to be Blacon”.

The pack rules out:

• individuals, companies limited by shares and profit-making businesses
• groups based outside Blacon, unless they have a record of delivering there or are answering a need local people have identified
• large organisations, unless the money is for a local, grassroots-led project
• anything delivered outside Blacon

A small, informal group can still apply. Groups need a constitution and a bank account with two unrelated signatories, but those that have neither can name a partner organisation to hold the money for them. The pack’s own example is a craft group that asks the venue it meets in to buy materials on its behalf. CWVA will help find a partner.

Insurance is not a condition of applying, but the project has to be covered. The cost of insurance can go into the bid.

How bids are judged

A panel of neighbourhood board members and CWVA staff scores each application:

Deadlines

There is no single closing date. The panel meets in the last weeks of November 2026, January 2027 and March 2027, and keeps going until the £50,000 has gone. Applicants should hear at the start of the following month. Groups that are approved then send in their constitution, a recent bank statement and, for work with children or vulnerable adults, a safeguarding policy.

Applications go through the online form linked from the council’s Proud of Blacon page.

Tina Upton, who chairs the board, said: “If any groups or organisations have ideas, whether it’s something that’s already working, or an entirely new project, we’d love to hear from you.”

Where this fits in the £20 million

The government picked Blacon as one of the neighbourhoods “most in need of support” for Pride in Place. That brings up to £20 million over ten years. The council’s page sets out the timetable so far:

• an independent chair and board were appointed this year, and the board first met on 11 July 2026
• the board is due to submit its regeneration plan this autumn
• the government is expected to approve that plan in spring 2027

The ten-year plan will decide the larger spending. The CWVA pack calls this a “strengthening fund” and says other funds will follow, possibly with different rules.

What it means for you

If you run or help with a club, a coffee morning, a youth session, a community garden or a support group in Blacon, this is money you can bid for now. A bid that lands before the end of November should be decided by early December. Most groups that already have a bank account and a set of rules can apply straight away; those without should line up a partner first.

The board’s agendas and minutes are published on the council’s Proud of Blacon pages for anyone who wants to follow how the larger sums are spent.