Orsted A/S : Ørsted’s East Coast Community Fund Awards Eighth Round of Grants

Since 2016 more than 130 local projects, community groups and charities have been awarded a share of over £1.75 million from the Ørsted East Coast Community Fund. This comes as twelve deserving local organisations are celebrating the news that they have been awarded grants from the eighth round of the Fund.

The East Coast Community Fund is part of the community engagement programme for Ørsted's Hornsea and Race Bank offshore wind farms. Each year, until 2037, approximately £390,000 will be available from the main fund to support a wide range of community and environmental projects.

An additional £75,000 per year is ring-fenced for askills fund, designed to support a range of educational and training initiatives.

The community groups will each receive a share of the windfall, which is available every six months through an open application process.

In June 2020, Ørsted amended its application criteria towards its community funds nationwide in order to make access easier to those who may have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The successful groups from the eighth round are:

• West Norfolk Carers, Linking Carers Together - £35,000
  
  
• Pandora Project, King's Lynn Recovery Programme - £44,040
  
  
• Marie Curie, Marie Curie Community Nurses - £13,893
  
  
• City Church (Great Grimsby & North East Lincolnshire), City Church Community Hall, Grimsby - Post Covid Bounce Back - £4,789
  
  
• The Hinge Centre, Inclusion Worker and Community Support Worker - £36,356
  
  
• The North End Trust, True's Yard Community Hub Project - £5,000
  
  
• Headway Lincolnshire, Boston District, South Holland & East Lindsey - £20,000
  
  
• Bells and Whistles Exercise Group, COVID Community Gardens Project - £1,000
  
  
• Agape Care Foodbank, Long Sutton Foodbank - £2,397
  
  
• Hornsea Indoor Bowls Club, Hornsea IBC Continuation - £5,000
  
  
• Lincolnshire YMCA, East Coast Youth Outreach Project - £29,777
  
  
• Social Issues in South Lincs, Social Issues in South Lincolnshire based Long Sutton - £1,020

On receiving the good news, Jane Evans, CEO of West Norfolk Carers said: 'We are very grateful to have been offered a grant from the East Coast Community Fund. The grant will make a huge difference as we seek to develop our support to carers who live in some of the more isolated coastal areas. We know that as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, many of the carers we support feel even more isolated then before, and this is having a negative impact on their mental health. The carers we want to reach out to are doubly isolated, first by their geography, and then secondly by the pandemic. Our project will now be able to move forward in a more timely manner, so we can support adult carers in our community and help tackle the barriers caused by the isolation of caring.'

Imran Nawaz, Stakeholder Advisor and Community Benefit Fund Managerat Ørsted, said: 'We are extremely pleased to be able to make a difference to local charities and community groups across the east coast, especially during such trying times.

'We are currently focussed on supporting communities to rebuild and reconnect whilst also maintaining the exceptional work being conducted by these groups before the pandemic began.'

In total, over the twenty years, up to £9.3 million will be made available for community and environmental projects in coastal areas of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk.

There are two application rounds each year for groups to apply to, and the next closing date is 3 February 2021.

The Fund is being administered by national charity GrantScape. For further details of how you can apply to the next round, please visit GrantScape's websitewww.grantscape.org.ukor call 01908 247634.