This week, Surrey Conservatives announced that a new funding stream, as part of Your Fund Surrey, will be launched, providing £50,000 to each Councillor. It will enable all councillors to support smaller capital projects within their area that make a real difference to their community.
Denise Turner Stewart, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Communities and Community Safety, highlighted that the new fund recognises that county councillors have local knowledge and insight and can therefore direct funding to where it is most needed to support their community.
Your Fund Surrey is a £100m community fund which is designed to help empower communities to deliver big, place-changing projects that local areas need and will improve opportunities and quality of life for residents. This is particularly important as communities recover from the impact of COVID-19 over the coming years.
This new fund builds on the learning of running YFS over the past year and the aim of the funding stream is to:
- Support smaller capital projects which might otherwise have not met the YFS criteria
- Make the process quicker and more easily accessible for smaller organisations
- Ensure every community across Surrey has an opportunity to receive YFS funding
It is anticipated that the new capital fund will be launched in early 2023 and run until March 2025.
Members have been encouraged to start talking with their communities about ideas so they are ready when the new fund is launched.