Development Grants of between £75,000 and £250,000 and Delivery Grants of between £500,000 and £2,000,000 are available to a range of organisations, including environmental non-governmental organisations and local authorities, for grassroots projects to improve the water environment, including activities that enhance biodiversity and community access to blue and green spaces in areas where water companies have been issued with fines or penalties.
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has announced that up to £11 million in water company fines and penalties will be reinvested back into a new Water Restoration Fund (WRF).
The funding comes exclusively from water company fines and penalties. These penalties and fines are additional to any reparations that water companies make when they have breached environmental regulations and has been allocated for water improvements in the water company areas on which they were accrued in, namely:
- Anglian Water: £3,085,000.
- South West Water: £2,150,000.
- Thames Water: £3,334,000.
- United Utilities: £800,000, and
- Yorkshire Water: £1,600,750.
Funding is available for local projects that restore and improve inland and estuarine waters and wetlands in areas where water and sewerage companies have been fined or penalised. Our understanding is that this refers to the whole area covered by each water company rather than the specific geographical location where a fine or penalty was incurred, but please check with the Rural Payments Agency (contact details below), which is managing the Fund for DEFRA, to check that this is the case.
The following funding is available:
- Development Grants of between £75,000 and £250,000. These are short-term grants of between 6-12 months to build capability and help design and plan future projects. Projects should be completed within 12 months of the project start date.
- Delivery Grants of between £500,000 and £2 million. These are longer-term grants of between 12 months and 30 months to enable organisations to carry out projects that have been already designed and can be implemented between July 2024 and March 2027.
Given that only 2 areas – Anglian Water and Thames Water – have allocations that reasonably exceed £2 million, Delivery Grants are more likely to be at the lower end of the funding range. Applicants may find Development Grants to be more helpful in terms of working up a scheme that could be funded at a later date.
Matched funding is not a stipulated requirement for either grant stream, but please note that grants will only be paid in arrears, which will require applicants to have the finance available to fund a project up front.
Applicants can submit up to 3 payment claims per year.
- Grants can be used for such things as:
- Contractor or procurement fees (for example, for permits, licenses, or consents, where there is no statutory requirement for these to be in place).
- Feasibility studies.
- Purchasing materials or equipment, including the cost of hiring equipment, and
- Staff costs where such costs are directly related to the administration and delivery of the project being funded.
Further information, guidance and details about how to apply is available on the GOV.UK website.