Sustainable Development Fund
What is the Sustainable Development Fund?
What kind of project is eligible?
Who can apply?
Award of grants?
What to do next?
Project Summaries
What is the Sustainable Development Fund?
The Sustainable Development Fund is a grant scheme to support projects that bring social, environmental and economic benefits to the AONB. The money for the fund comes from the government’s Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) via Natural England.
What kind of project is eligible?
The Fund can support a range of activities including practical work, feasibility studies or research projects, group development, awareness raising and training. Priority areas for projects include:
• Climate change, energy conservation and renewable energy. Energy conservation will be given the highest priority and must accompany any application for renewable energy. Renewable energy projects must justify why SDF funding is needed in relation to other available grants. SDF will not support householder/domestic renewable projects, but will give a high priority to community and woodful projects in particular.
• Sustainable transport eg. green travel plans for businesses and other projects reducing road travel and optimizing use of public transport;
• Connecting sustainable farming with landscape, food and health, including broadening community involvment and understanding;
• More sustainable use of resources, especially in relation to farming and land management;
• Influencing patterns of recreational use by visitors and locals towards sustainablity - ie. lower environmental impact, greater understanding and more return to the local economy;
• Conserving threatened wildlife or heritage features in the landscape (but avoiding overlap with other government grants for land management)..
Who can apply?
Public, private, voluntary sector and community groups can apply. Individuals and businesses can also apply where the project shows a clear benefit to the wider community. You don’t have to live or work within the AONB to apply, and the work doesn’t necessarily need to take place within the AONB. You must simply demonstrate that your project represents sustainable development which will benefit the AONB.
Award of Grants
• Grants will normally be in the range of £1,000 - £7,000. Grants can be of up to 75% for voluntary and private sector bodies and up to 50% for public bodies. Match funding can be made up of in kind and volunteer time contributions as well as cash, but applications will be strengthened by showing other sources of funding.
• Grants can only be made for activity within a particular Financial Year (April to the end of March). Longer projects must be broken down and an application made for an element which can be completed within the Financial Year.
• The Grant Advisory Panel meets several times during the year to approve applications. Smaller applications can be processed more quickly.
• Applicants must undertake a sustainability appraisal of their project, and organisations applying must demonstrate a corporate commitment to sustainable development. Support and guidance will be available to assist with this.
What to do next...
Projects must be discussed before a full application is made. You can start by sending in the brief Project Ideas Form which you can download from this page. Once you have sent this in, we will contact you to discuss the project in more detail and whether it is appropriate to fill in the full application.
Click below to download:
Application Guidance Notes 2010-11
Project Summaries
Click here for a summary of projects supported by the Fund 2009-10
Click here for details of projects supported by the Fund 2008-9
Click here for details of projects supported by the Fund 2007-8
Click here for details of projects supported by the Fund 2006-7
Click here to read the Sustainable Development Fund Report 2005-6.
Click here to see a presentation given on the Sustainable Development Fund in May 2008.