Ørsted Announces Latest Round of Grants for the Community
Ørsted is delighted to announce the winners of the latest round of applications to the Walney Extension Community Fund. Sixteen lucky groups will each receive a share of the just over £253,000 windfall available in the latest round of the Fund.
Ørsted is delighted to announce the winners of the latest round of applications to the Walney Extension Community Fund. Sixteen lucky groups will each receive a share of the just over £253,000 windfall available in the latest round of the Fund.
Since the Fund launched in 2016 over £1.5M has now been committed to community and environmental projects located in coastal communities of Cumbria and Lancashire near the wind farm.
The full list of organisations awarded grants from Round 6 of the Fund are as follows:
Barrow Citizens Advice Bureau - £16,544
Christ Church Thornton Community Centre - £21,348
Crake Valley Croquet Club - £17,500
Cumbria Youth Alliance, Millom Activate Project - £5,000
Every Life Matters, Suicide Safe Barrow - £13,254
Global Link (Lancaster) – £16,885
Hindpool Tigers ARLFC, Community Coaching - £1,000
Home-Start Morecambe and Lancaster - £29,671
Kirby-in-Furness Community Centre - £30,000
Levens Playing Field Committee - £26,000
Marsh Community Centre SHOUT - £7,804
Marvellous Holiday Club, Barrow - £4,500
Morecambe Bay Partnership, Saving the Bay’s Birds - £28,810
RAIS Lancaster - £8,200
Ulverston Inshore Rescue - £5,000
West Cumbria Rivers Trust, Bootle Village Flood Management - £22,084
Imran Nawaz, Ørsted Stakeholder Adviser, said:
“Once again, we have been overwhelmed by the incredible array of deserving projects and organisations. It’s always a pleasure to see the enthusiasm and passion for the local community which comes across in all the applications we receive, and we are delighted to support such worthwhile causes.”
Jenny Wain, Morecambe Bay Partnerships Development Officer, said:
“Morecambe Bay Partnership is thrilled to be awarded a grant from Walney Extension Community Fund. It will enable us to do more for the Bay's amazing birds. Morecambe Bay is in the UK's top 3 places for birds. Despite this, birds are seriously threatened, with numbers plummeting by 50% for many priority species. With this funding we will support communities to become Natural Ambassadors so they can protect oystercatchers, curlews, dunlin, knot and other birds at every day places around the Bay, making sure that their evocative calls continue be heard by all.”
Wading birds resting in the Bay. Credit: 2020 Vision
The Fund is made possible by Ørsted (formerly DONG Energy) which has constructed the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Walney Extension, off the Walney Island coast in Cumbria. Each year, approximately £600,000 will be made available for community projects for the expected 25-year lifetime of the wind farm.
The sixteen groups above join a list of 75 other community groups that have already benefitted from the Fund.
The seventh round of the Fund is now open to applications. The Fund is being administered by national grant-making charity GrantScape and more details can be found at GrantScape’s website www.grantscape.org.uk or by calling 01908 247634. The next closing date for applications is 10 July 2019.
Local groups interested in applying should be aware that the criteria for the Fund is changing. After the July 2019 application deadline, the maximum grant groups can apply for will be changing from £75,000 to £50,000.
ENDS
Media contacts
Liz Payne – GrantScape: 01908 247630 liz.payne@grantscape.org.uk
Mike Day – Ørsted: +44 (0)7767 008 893 miday@orsted.com
About Ørsted
The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs and operates offshore wind farms, bioenergy plants and innovative waste-to-energy solutions and provides smart energy products to its customers. Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs 5,600 people, including over 900 in the UK. For more information on Ørsted, visit orsted.co.uk or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
About GrantScape
GrantScape is a grant-making charity committed to enhancing the environment and strengthening local communities through its grant programmes. GrantScape’s experience stretches back to 1997 and it has awarded grants totalling over £80 million to deserving projects over this time.
GrantScape manages a range of community and environmental grant programmes on behalf of corporate and local authority clients. These are tailored to their individual requirements, which is the charity’s speciality. In addition, GrantScape offers a professional project management and grant process review service to groups requiring support with these activities.
For further information, please see www.grantscape.org.uk or follow us @GrantScape1 on Twitter.
About Walney Extension
The Walney Extension offshore wind farm is located next to the existing Walney Offshore Wind Farm, off the Walney Island coast in Cumbria. With a capacity of 659MW, Walney Extension is the world’s largest offshore wind farm and comprises of 87 turbines. For further information, please visit: www.walneyextension.co.uk
About Walney Extension Community Fund
The Fund supports community and environmental projects along the Cumbria and Lancashire coast, within a defined area. Approximately £600,000 is available each year (£100,000 of this is ring-fenced for a ‘Skills Fund’). The Fund is split equally between two annual funding rounds. There are two levels of grants available:
Applications to the Fund are made using an online application system via the GrantScape website www.grantscape.org.uk .