Communities and Place Challenge Fund Guidance

This grant scheme is funded by the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund. This scheme has run for two years previously and will have, for this year, a budget of £150,000.

We are not sure if it will be possible to repeat this scheme next year as the future of the UKSPF programme has not been confirmed yet.

This fund is for capital costs only - a fixed asset such as buildings, vehicles, equipment pathways, land purchase, landscaping or improvements to buildings, but not repairs or replacements.

The funding outcomes required to be delivered by successful applications have been selected from the set outcomes from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and are considered the most appropriate for Clackmannanshire. 

The process of securing funding from the Communities and Place Challenge Fund is to contact Neil Ramsay at e: nramsay@clacks.gov.uk with your project idea who will then supply the application form.

Applications submitted before the deadline will be assessed by the UK Shared Prosperity Programme Board, which has representation from Clackmannanshire Council, the Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce, Forth Valley College and Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface. 

There is no appeal process but unsuccessful applicants will be given feedback on their application and can amend their projects and submit to a future year’s funding, if we are in a position to hold another one.

Eligibility criteria

The eligibility criteria for the fund is below.

Funding aims 2025-26

Projects must contribute towards at least one of the following interventions and all projects must be able to demonstrate progress towards delivering on the crosscutting intervention:

• Bringing communities together
• Development of the visitor economy
• High Street and town and village centre improvements

Crosscutting intervention

Demonstration of how the capital investment will lead to job creation potentially in the future.

Projects must be able to demonstrate at least one change in the following outputs and outcomes:​

• Outputs
  • Amount of commercial space completed or improved (m2)
  • Amount of green or blue space created or improved (m2) 
  • Amount of public realm created or improved (m2)
  • Amount of rehabilitated land (m2)
  • Number of amenities/facilities created or improved
  • Number of tourism, culture or heritage assets created or improved
  • Number of tournaments supported
  • Number of volunteering opportunities supported
  • Number of feasibility studies developed as a result of support​
• Outcomes
  • Increased users of facilities/amenities
  • Increased visitor numbers
  • Jobs created as a result of support
  • Jobs safeguarded as a result of support
  • Number of community-led arts, cultural, heritage and creative programmes as a result of support
  • Number of volunteering opportunities created as a result of support
  • Number of projects arising from funded feasibility studies

Applicants must be constituted or have another founding document such as a Memorandum and Articles and have access to their own bank account.

Sole traders or partnerships must show evidence of their Unique Tax Reference.

Potential applicants can be community groups, social enterprises, businesses or business groupings.

Projects must not require ongoing maintenance by the Council.

Projects must be able to be completed within the financial year 2025/26. Applicants must evidence, in the application, to what extent their project is ready to start and likely to complete on time.

Applicants must be able to evidence that they have control of the asset to be invested in for a minimum of 5 years from award date by either a lease or title deeds or other documentation. Leases for shorter timescales might be considered in exceptional circumstances.

Repairs or replacements are not eligible costs and all grants must be for improvements or new work.

Projects must evidence that Clackmannanshire communities will benefit from the project.

Successful applicants will be expected to sign a grant offer letter within 20 days of receiving the grant offer letter. Failing to meet this deadline may result in the funding going to another project.

Project costs can only be capital and not for revenue costs such as salaries or people's time.

We are looking for grant requests of between £5,000 and £25,000, which can be up to 100% of project costs. Grants of between £25,000 and £50,000 will be considered but must have a minimum of 25% match funding.

Volunteer time can be used as an eligible match fund. Volunteer time can be valued using the following system:

• Professional volunteer (eg accountancy or teaching) - £50 per hour
• Skilled volunteer (eg admin, carpentry or leading a guided walk) - £25 per hour
• Volunteer (eg site clearance) - £15 per hour

The deadline for submitting applications for funding is 5pm on Wednesday 17 September 2025.

Applications will be assessed by the Programme Board on the following criteria:

• Project benefit to one or more Clackmannanshire communities.
• Impact of the project against the fund interventions listed above.
• Evidence of need or demand for the project.
• How robustly the project has been planned and how likely it is to complete on time.

All applications will be scored against the criteria above with the highest scoring projects receiving the funding. Funding criteria will have an equal weight so each will constitute 25% of the score for the grant award.

It is expected that applicants will be informed of the outcome of the assessment in September.

All application documentation will be sent to Programme Board members in advance of a decision meeting. At the decision meeting, each application will be discussed with every member of the Programme Board submitting scores for each project. All scores will be averaged with the highest average scored projects receiving the funding until the money is exhausted.

In the event that a project scores highly enough to be awarded grant but there is only enough money to part fund the project then the Council team will contact the applicant to ascertain if the project can be partly delivered with what is left. If this is not possible then the Council team will undertake the same process with the next highest scoring project until all the money is allocated.