Lancaster University’s wind turbine Community Benefit Fund recently celebrated its tenth anniversary – the fund allocates up to £20,000 to Lancaster District-based not-for-profit organisations, charities, trusts, community groups or voluntary organisations to support sustainable projects, large and small. The wind turbine produces around 15% of the overall energy demand on campus each year. The Community Benefits Fund uses some of that benefit to engage with the local community and promote sustainable projects. 

A total of £200,000 has been donated over the last ten years and shared between different community projects that have been funded over the last ten years, with the next round of applications recently launched for 2023. 

The most recent round of funding was granted in August 2022 and Jon Mills, Environment & Sustainability Manager stated; “Interest in the Community Benefit Fund was high, meaning we have had to be selective of the projects awarded grants. A wide range of high-quality projects were represented in the applications received, making selection challenging.” 

Some examples of the recent recipients of the grant funding have been:

• Greaves Park - a project to create a ‘tree trail’ in Greaves Park through identifying the native and unusual non-native trees with a series of signs & labels.
• Stodday Picnic Area - new picnic table, benches, resurfacing of ground surface & boundary & control of vegetation at Stodday Picnic area on Lune Cycle Path.
• St Peter’s Church, Quernmore - Project to create new internal spaces in the church to enable it to be used for a much more comprehensive range of community events and activities. 
• Fairfield Nature Reserve - Project to install benches along the new Pony Wood Path part of the Fauna and Flora Nature Reserve. 

Applications for the next round of funding are open now until Friday 30th June 2023. Any Lancaster District-based not-for-profit organisation, charity, trust, community group or voluntary organisation can apply to the fund and more details on how to apply are available on our website.

You can find out more about the wind turbine Community Benefit Fund, and about the projects that have been supported on our website.