Climate Action Fund

What is the fund for?

Staffordshire County Council is dedicated to cutting greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change and acknowledges the necessity of adapting to our evolving climate. Working together to reduce climate change impacts across Staffordshire is a top priority. The Climate Change Action Fund offers financial assistance to local communities to build resilience and reduce Staffordshire’s contributions to climate change.  

There are two parts to the funding scheme:

Part one (smaller schemes)  – projects between £500 and £3000

Each county councillor has up to £1,500 per project. Councillors are able to jointly fund projects where the benefits can be realised across their areas.

Bids are invited from £500 - £3,000, you must speak with the county councillor/s you are seeking funding from and receive in principal support before submitting an application.

If your county councillor(s) wish to support an application and provided that the proposed project meets the criteria of the fund and the member has unallocated funds available, the application should be approved. Applications will be assessed on submission; early applications are encouraged to avoid disappointment.

Part two (larger schemes)  - projects between £3,000 and £5,000

£35,000 is available for projects between £3,000 - £5,000.

Councillors do not have an individual budget allocated, although you must discuss your project with at least one councillor before submitting an application. 

This fund is competitive, and funding will be allocated to the best and most innovative projects across Staffordshire. 

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Who can apply?

The funding is open to properly constituted, not-for profit organisations, including charities, societies, voluntary and community groups, parish councils and schools. Staffordshire County Council is not able to fund individuals.

You cannot submit applications to part one and part two of the scheme in the same funding year.  

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How to apply?

All projects must be discussed with county councillors before submitting an application. Please see the list of county councillors on our website for contact details.  

There is no minimum financial contribution requirement from applicants. If an application requires additional funding to deliver the project this must be secured before applying.

There must be a clear breakdown of the costs presented in the application. Any element which exceeds £100 must be supported with at least one quote. This also includes similar items which in combination exceed £100, for example a selection of plants or a number of promotional items to deliver an event. 

If you have been successful in previous rounds of funding of this scheme you must have provided the required reporting to the council before you can apply under this round of funding.

The funding application forms for are hosted on our website and your application should be submitted online where possible. 

If you require a printed copy of the application form and guidance this can be requested from
sustainability@staffordshire.gov.uk   

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What cannot be included for funding?

The council cannot award funding for the following things:

• Any activity that discriminates on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality, disability, age or sexual orientation.
• Staff costs or salaries of any kind.
• Activity to make a commercial profit.
• Projects run for the benefit of an individual person.
• Any ongoing running costs of existing activity e.g. insurance, fees, rent, transport.
• Formal education.
• Any predominantly religious activity (but this does not preclude religious organisations from making bids for non-religious activity).
• Any political activity.
• A statutory responsibility or services resourced from/by other statutory organisations.
• Projects for the benefit of residents, predominantly from outside Staffordshire.
• Research, scoping, surveys, or preparatory/ground clearance work.
• Retrospective applications.
• Trees or shrubs which exceed £25 each unless the difference is met by the applicant or match funder.  
• Appliances or equipment which run on gas or oil.
• New appliances unless replacing older inefficient models.
• Small electrical appliances such as kettle, toaster. 
• Perennial or wildflower planting exceeding £500 unless supported by a management plan and demonstrated commitment to long term ongoing management. 

V.A.T.

If you reclaim some or all of the VAT, please provide project costs and quotes net of VAT.

Example

If you are able claim all of your VAT back (for example a school) and require something costing £500 + £100 VAT, please request a grant of £500.

If you are a community group, that is unregistered for VAT, and require something costing £500 + £100 VAT, you can include the VAT element in your grant request, and so can claim £600.

If you are an organisation that can claim only part of your VAT back, please only request the net amount plus any Irrecoverable VAT in your request. e.g., if you can claim 50% of your VAT back for something costing £500 + £100 VAT, only request £550.

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How we assess applications and award of funds

Your County Councillor will consider your application and may request additional information if it is felt further clarification on the project is required. 

Officers administering the fund will also conduct due diligence on applications to ensure they meet the fund's criteria and that all required information is verified.

If either party do not feel an application meets the criteria set out in this guidance, or if there is not enough information in the application, you may be contacted to discuss this further, and your application returned to you to amend and resubmit. 

• Phase one: Applicants should receive a notification of success within 6 weeks of submission of a complete application.

• Phase two: This part is competitive, all grants submitted will be assessed by a panel in January 2025. Applicants should be notified of success by 7 February 2025.

An offer of grant will be issued to successful applicants. We aim to release all funding within 28 days of receipt of a formal grant acceptance. 

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Other funds

In your application you will be asked to declare any other funding support you are receiving for your project.

The county council runs the Community fund, which offers funding assistance to local communities to improve health and wellbeing, caring for the community and development of community spaces. Details can be found here. 

The expectation is that applicants apply to the appropriate fund and should not expect to receive support from more than one county council-supported funding stream for the same project.  

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Data Protection

As a public organisation we are subject to the Data Protection Act 2018 and, as such, where we collect any personal data from you as part of the application process, we will only use it for this purpose and no other. Your personal data will never be shared with anyone else and will be retained only for as long as it is needed. Non-personal data you submit to use as part of this application process will be used to make decisions to award funding, perform anonymised analysis, or to undertake publicity or fundraising. For more information on how Staffordshire County Council handles personal data, please see our Privacy Notice.

Please bear in mind that as part of the above, your organisation name will be published alongside the ‘summary for publicity’ you provide in your application, the amount awarded, and the councillor supporting, on the county council’s website. It is important that we can show transparency over where the funding has been used.  

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Case studies 

Successful applications

View a summary of successful applications under the scheme since 2021.