Neighbourhood planning funding
The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government has confirmed that following the spending review it is unable to commission new neighbourhood planning support services for 2025 onwards. This means that no new grant funding or technical support will be available to neighbourhood plan groups.
Technical support that has already been awarded will continue to be provided. However it must be completed before the end of March 2026.
We know that this will be disappointing if you are developing a neighbourhood plan or thinking about starting one. Our advice would be to continue if your plan is at an advanced stage. If you are at the earlier stages, we'd advise you consider whether it is possible to complete the plan without financial support from Government. You could also consider producing a Neighbourhood Priorities Statement (NPS) instead. We are currently running pilots with some local councils on NPS. Find out more about NPS on our NPS webpage.
We will publish more information about the decision, as it becomes available.
We are responsible for the costs of the independent examination and the public referendum. Other costs will need to be met by you.
Other opportunities for funding are:
- Apply for Heritage Lottery funding starting from £10,000
- Apply for Big Lottery funding up to £20,000 or more for longer term projects
- Apply for Arts Council funding
- Apply for one of the Sport England funds
- The Woodland Trust is offering free trees for schools and communities
- Apply for Government funding for trees, woodlands and forestry, to save community assets, green heat networks etc
- Apply for Music for All funding