Community Facilities Programme in Wales receives extra funding

The Welsh Government has recently allocated a total sum of £3.7M for their Community Facilities Programme which provides grants that allow organisations to buy and upgrade well-used community buildings for their own purposes.

Specifically, the Community Facilities Programme is divided into two brackets which organisations can file applications under, the lower bracket covers grants up to a value of £25,000 whereas the higher bracket covers grants up to a value of £250,000.

One organisation to benefit from this programme is the Lisvane Old School in North Cardiff which was awarded a sum of £100,000 out of the higher tier of the Community Facilities Programme for the expansion and refurbishment of their old school building which was first built in 1913.

The Chairman of the Trustees for the Old School, David Jones stated: “Without this grant from the Welsh Government, our 11 years of planning to transform Lisvane Old School would have been put on hold for even longer. We are now able to confidently commit to this long-awaited development starting in 2020.

“Lisvane Old School will become a modern, flexible and up-to-date centre, a hub for the community and particularly important as the local population is set to vastly expand in the coming years.”

Since the programme’s commencement in 2015, 157 projects have received approximately £28.2M in additional funding with this recent boost in investment providing much needed assistance to 18 different projects across Wales, all of which have a combined value of around £9M.

The Welsh Deputy Minister and Chief Whip, Jane Hutt added: “Our Community Facilities Programme is a fantastic opportunity which supports local projects to evolve and grow for their area and its needs.

“Offering grants likes these to community-led projects helps to improve regularly accessed and much needed facilities. These include anything from community centres and religious venues to spaces for art and sports.”

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