Over the years, funding for the playing field, as well as other facilities in the village, has been sourced (in part) through the landfill tax credits scheme. This scheme allows communities that are located within 10 miles of a land fill site to apply for money to support local projects - the scheme supports ca. 90% of the cost of a project, whilst we need 'match-fund' the remaining amount. Whilst the Viridor land fill site at Ardley has now closed, we have been able to apply for funding through an organisation called WREN as we are within 10 miles of the land fill facility at Calvert.
Success in these funding applications has always required support from the local community to demonstrate the wider need for the project. A huge thank you to everyone who completed the on-line survey and in particular to those that wrote letters of support for our application - especially those from the children of the village - these really boosted our application.
Our proposal is to replace items that are getting 'tired' and to rejuvenate and provide recreational facilities to the community over the next 15-20 years. Specifically we plan to:
· replace items in the playground area;
· improve the external pathway / bike track;
· install a six station trim trail around the perimeter of the field;
· provide a permanent table tennis table.
Our application for funding was successful - we were able to secure £60,000 from WREN which will go a long way to paying for the work that needs to be carried out.
In addition to this funding, we were also very pleased to receive and secure separate donations from a charitable trust (the Lennox Hanney foundation) totalling £15,000. This additional amount allows us to 'match-fund' the WREN grant and to cover the additional costs that we will need to spend to complete the whole project.
The works will now begin on 4 February 2019 and the playing field will be fully closed for approximately 3 weeks.