Affordable Housing - A Guide for Parish Councils

The Rural Housing Alliance is updating its practical guide, first produced in 2010.


Affordable Homes in Wyndham Place, Tisbury

The guide has proved a great way to allow Parish Councils to begin to understand how they can get much needed affordable homes built in the places they want. The current guide has proved incredibly popular and, with the changes of recent years, the Alliance is keen to ensure that a simple and practical guide is in place to help Parish Councils deliver new homes.

The updated Guide will be published in the autumn of 2014. Register to receive an electronic copy of the guide by emailing Andy Dean at mailto:deanaj@sky.com

War Memorials Grant Scheme (England)

English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation, in association with Friends of War Memorials, are providing grants for the repair and conservation of free-standing war memorials in England. These grants are intended to help those who are responsible for the upkeep of war memorials. The grants are designed to support the care and preservation of war memorials to a high standard, and to prevent the decay of this important part of our built heritage. Grants will normally be for up to a maximum of 75% of eligible costs, with a maximum grant of £30,000. The next closing date for applications is the 30th June 2014. Read more at: http://www.warmemorials.org/grantsforwarmemorials/

Support for Neighbourhood Planning (England)

The Department for Communities and Local Government has announced that the next funding round for the Neighbourhood Planning grants scheme will open on the 1st April 2014.

The Neighbourhood Planning scheme supports groups developing neighbourhood plans in two ways. These are direct support - advice and support, tailored to meet the needs of supported neighbourhoods; and grant payments of up to £7,000 per neighbourhood area, to contribute to costs incurred by the group preparing a neighbourhood plan or order.

Support is available to town and parish councils, neighbourhood forums and emerging neighbourhood forums preparing a Neighbourhood Development Plan. The Department is particularly keen to support groups that are under represented on the programme for example neighbourhood forums and areas that rank highly in the indicators of deprivation.

The first stage of the application process is to complete the eligibility checker to find out if your group is eligible for direct and/or grant support. Successful applicants will be invited to complete a full application form. Read more at: http://mycommunityrights.org.uk/neighbourhood-planning/