Twelve village halls, clubs and parish councils share £84,477 from the council's climate fund. £115,523 is left, and the next deadline is 12 October.

Twelve community organisations across Stratford-on-Avon district will share £84,477.30 from the council’s Community Climate and Nature Fund, in awards signed off by the Leader of the Council on 5 August and published as a formal decision notice on 7 August. Two village halls, two rugby clubs, a scout group, a library, a church, two parish councils, a community action group, a wellbeing CIC and an arts organisation are on the list.

That is the first of four quarterly windows in round four of the fund, and it leaves £115,523 still available. The next application deadline is 5pm on Monday 12 October.

Who got what

The printed decision notice names every award and what it pays for:

  • £9,973 to Bickerscourt Wellbeing CIC, for owl and bat boxes, bug hotels, and restoring several pond areas across its site
  • £9,100 to Stratford RFC, to upgrade 21 floodlights to LED
  • £8,595 to Clopton Community Action Group, for 30 solar panels and 18.08kWh of battery storage at the Ken Kennett Centre
  • £8,273 to 1st Kineton Scout Group, for ceiling insulation and LED light panelling at Kineton Scout Hut
  • £8,000 to Harbury RFC, for 19 solar panels and a 10kWh battery
  • £7,507.10 to Harbury Parish Council, for a mains water connection to open a new three-quarter acre allotment at Hall Lane
  • £7,500 to Luddington Village Hall, for 27 solar panels and two 19kW batteries
  • £7,000 to Broom Village Hall, for a 9.5kW solar PV system and a 9.04kWh battery
  • £6,956 to Escape Arts, for a 12-month community climate adaptation programme of workshops and events with schools and residents, and creative climate walks
  • £4,576 to Bidford Parish Council, to bulk purchase and distribute 150kg of food a week from its community fridge for the next 12 months
  • £4,350 to the PCC of St Laurence’s Church, Lighthorne, to open a new community fridge and pantry
  • £2,647.20 to Harbury Village Library, for roof insulation over its kitchen and lobby
Bar chart of the twelve Community Climate and Nature Fund awards made in August 2026, ranging from 9,973 pounds to Bickerscourt Wellbeing CIC down to 2,647 pounds to Harbury Village Library
The twelve awards published on 7 August 2026, largest first.

Solar panels and batteries take the largest share, but the list is broader than energy. Three of the awards, at Bidford, Lighthorne and Harbury, pay for food and growing: a community fridge running at 150kg of food a week, a new fridge and pantry, and the water connection that makes a new allotment site usable.

How the fund works

The Community Climate and Nature Fund pays for projects in the district that cut carbon, help communities adapt to a changing climate, or improve local biodiversity. It is open to town and parish councils, formally constituted charities and community groups, and sports clubs, and the maximum is £10,000 per project, which is why the largest award here stops just short at £9,973.

The council’s fund page records that rounds one to three put £250,000 into 53 projects between them. Round four is £200,000 on its own, released across four quarterly funding windows rather than in one go. The awards above came out of the July appraisal, and £115,523 remains for the windows still to come.

The decision was taken by Councillor Susan Juned, Leader of the Council, under delegated powers on 5 August, approved by the Monitoring Officer on 6 August and effective from 7 August. It is not a key decision and was not subject to call-in.

What it means for you

If you run a village hall, a sports club, a church, a scout or guide group, a parish council or a constituted community group in the district, this is money that is still on the table, and the pot is bigger than the number of applicants has so far used. The next deadline is 5pm on Monday 12 October for the October appraisal meeting, and round four stays open until 5 April 2027, with a final deadline of that date.

Applications are not handled through an online portal. The council asks groups to email climate.emergency@stratford-dc.gov.uk, and an editable application form is sent out in reply. The lead officer named on the decision notice is Edward Harper.

The practical lesson from this round is what a winning bid looks like. Nearly every award funds one specific, costed, physical thing at a building the group already runs: panels on this roof, insulation over that kitchen, a water connection to that field, 21 floodlights swapped for LED. The two awards that are not capital works, the Bidford community fridge and the Escape Arts programme, both come with a defined 12-month scope.

For more local information, see our Stratford planning news page and our guide to things to do in Stratford-upon-Avon.