Every ward councillor has £7,500 to give away, in grants from £250 up. Applications open on Monday 17 August and close at midday on 4 December, with decisions in March.

Community groups across South Oxfordshire can start applying for a share of £270,000 on Monday 17 August, when the district council reopens its Councillor Community Grant Scheme. The money is split by ward rather than held centrally: each of the council’s 36 district councillors has £7,500 to award in their own patch, and a group can ask any one councillor for anything from £250 to £7,500. (South Oxfordshire District Council, the councillors)

That structure is the thing worth understanding before you write anything. There is no central pot to bid into and no scoring panel to impress. The route runs through your ward member, so the first move is a conversation with the councillor who represents the village or the part of town where the project will happen, not an application form.

What the money can pay for, and what it will not

The scheme will fund up to 100% of a project’s cost, which is unusual and removes the match-funding problem that stops small groups applying elsewhere. Capital projects are capped at a total project cost of £15,000, so a hall roof or a play area costing more than that does not fit. Revenue projects, meaning running costs and activities rather than things you can point at, have no maximum project cost. (Councillor community grants, South Oxfordshire District Council)

Applicants must be non-profit community organisations whose primary purpose is to benefit residents of South Oxfordshire. Town and parish councils are eligible in their own right.

The exclusions are worth reading before you spend an evening on a bid. The council will not fund other local authorities or public sector bodies, individuals, profit-making businesses, political or lobbying groups, organisations that run their own grant schemes, or nationwide organisations unless they have a local constitution and a local bank account.

Past awards, on the council’s own account, have gone to mental health support groups for children, sporting equipment, memorial benches and solar panels on community buildings. Councillor Georgina Heritage, cabinet member for communities, said: “Out of all the grants we offer this one is personal for our council members. We’re able to directly support organisations.”

Ben Drabble, chief executive of the youth charity TRAIN, said of a summer programme the scheme paid for: “For a lot of our young people, summer can be a really isolating time. This programme meant they had something to look forward to.”

The timing is the catch

Timeline of the South Oxfordshire Councillor Community Grant Scheme 2026 to 2027: applications open 17 August 2026, close at midday on 4 December 2026, decisions notified from 1 March 2027, and funded projects can start from March 2027 or on receipt of an offer letter

Applications close at midday on Friday 4 December 2026. Decisions are not notified until 1 March 2027 onwards, and funded projects can only start from March 2027 or from the date an offer letter arrives.

The council states plainly that it “cannot award retrospective funding for work or projects that will complete before our decision is made”, although a project already under way can be supported.

Read together, that means a group needing money for something happening this autumn should not be applying to this scheme at all. It is a fund for spring and summer 2027: the Christmas lights switch-on, the September fete and the winter warm space are all outside it. Groups planning next year’s programme, on the other hand, have nearly four months to get a conversation with a councillor and a costed proposal together.

Three other council funds worth knowing about

The councillor scheme is not the only pot, and two others are open right now while this one is still closed. (Grants, South Oxfordshire District Council)

  • Nature Recovery Fund, £50,000, open now, for increasing biodiversity and public access to green spaces.
  • Performing Arts Grant Fund, £60,000 for 2026/27, open now, for accessible performing arts that support community wellbeing.
  • South Nature and Climate Action Fund, opening 28 September 2026, for projects tackling climate change or restoring nature.

The Community Infrastructure Levy grant fund, which is the one that handles larger capital sums, closed on 30 March 2026 and the council says a new round opens in February 2027. That is the realistic route for a building project above the £15,000 ceiling on the councillor scheme.

What it means for you

Find your ward councillor first. The council’s member index lets you search by postcode or by town and village at democratic.southoxon.gov.uk. A ward often has more than one member, and the council sets the £250 to £7,500 range “per councillor”, so a larger project does not have to rest on one allocation.

Then work out which pot you are in. Anything above £15,000 of capital spend is not a councillor grant. Anything that has to be paid for before March 2027 is not a councillor grant either.

The grants team will talk it through before you apply. They are on 01235 422405 and at grants@southandvale.gov.uk.

If the project is an event rather than a piece of kit, it is worth checking what the town already runs before you cost it: our things to do in Henley page lists the venues and attractions in and around the town.