Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), and members of the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN), have announced grant awards to 57 local community organisations, totalling £437,500 under this year’s COMMA fund.

COMMA, the Community Aggregates Fund, aims to compensate communities affected by quarrying, by supporting community-based projects in their area.

A record 287 applications were submitted this year. The 57 successful projects, all undertaken by local people themselves, received grants of between £3,000 and £20,000. They will provide a diverse range of local benefit to the relevant communities, including a local food initiative, installation of solar panels in a community building, playing fields improvements, elderly/disabled access and the construction of a composting toilet!  A full list of project awards is available on the ACRE website.

In Northamptonshire, two projects were successful in being awarded a COMMA grant this year:

• The Rockingham Forest Trust has been awarded £13,850 for their Green Links in East Northamptonshire project.  The project will create a high quality cycle path linking the towns of Irthlingborough and Higham Ferrers. It will link to an existing network of footpaths leading to local sites, including Stanwick Lakes, three nature reserves, two pocket parks, the River Nene, a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) and a potential Special Protection Area (pSPA). The County Council will maintain the network once it is complete whilst the project is being managed by the Rockingham Forest Trust, delivered in partnership with the Wildlife Trust, Environment Agency, Groundwork North Northamptonshire and East Northamptonshire Council.
• Bozeat Parish Council has been awarded £4,794 to start a Youth Club for 10 – 18 year olds within the village. It is planned that the Youth Club will meet twice a week at the Pavillion at Bozeat Playing Fields with a wide range of activities being on offer including sports and games, various arts and crafts and opportunities to become involved in local community projects. The COMMA funding will be used to provide equipment and resources for the Youth Club which will be affiliated to the Northamptonshire Association of Youth Clubs (NAYC).

Since 2007, ACRE has delivered this annual grants programme funded by Defra’s Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF).  COMMA has attracted over 900 applications and has awarded funding to a value of £1,788,050 to 190 projects which address a wide range of needs in communities affected by aggregates extraction or transportation. This is the final round of the current programme.

The money makes a real difference at local level. The fund has been valued by local community groups who have contributed their own financial resources, time and voluntary effort, alongside the grants, in order to make these projects a success.

Sylvia Brown, Chief Executive of ACRE, said: ‘ACRE is delighted to have been able to support such a diverse and exciting range of community initiatives through delivery of the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund.   It clearly demonstrates how relatively small amounts of investment can harness local effort and fundraising to produce genuine and lasting benefit for communities.  It also shows how, given an appropriate impetus, England’s rural communities can and do respond positively to the Big Society principles of self reliance and community action’.

For more information, please contact Ryan Adams, Public Affairs Officer for ACRE on 01285 653477

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