South Oxfordshire £100,000 Nature Grant Opens 28 September

South Oxfordshire District Council will open a £100,000 grant fund to community groups and parish councils on Monday 28 September. Grants run from £250 to £10,000 and the council will fund up to 100 per cent of a project’s cost, budget permitting.

The Nature and Climate Action Fund was announced on Friday morning. The council’s own application guidance, which is longer and more specific than the announcement, sets out how the money is split and what will not be paid for.

The rules that decide whether a project is worth applying for:

• The £100,000 is split roughly 50:50: £50,000 for climate mitigation and adaptation projects, and £50,000 for nature recovery and community access to nature.
• Grants are £250 to £10,000, and capital items and one-off revenue costs are both eligible.
• The project must be in South Oxfordshire, for the benefit of South Oxfordshire residents, and must complete within 12 months of the award decision.
• The scheme is open for eight weeks and runs once a financial year. The council has not published a closing date on the fund’s own page.
• A decision follows within about ten weeks of the closing date.
• Decisions are made by the relevant director of service in consultation with the cabinet member, and are final, with no appeal and no call-in.

Anything left over on 31 March goes back to reserves

This is the line that makes the timing matter. The guidance states that any Nature and Climate Action Fund budget not awarded by 31 March 2027 returns to the council’s general reserves, because carry forwards are not allowed.

With one round, an eight-week window and a ten-week decision period, there is no second chance inside this financial year.

Who can apply, and who cannot

Eligible:

• town and parish councils, and parish meetings
• local not for profit organisations whose primary purpose is to benefit South Oxfordshire residents, which can include a company limited by guarantee that does not distribute a surplus to its members

Parish councils can also apply on behalf of a local unconstituted group and collaborate with it, which is the route for a village group with no bank account of its own.

Not eligible:

• schools, colleges and universities, though eligible groups can involve them in a project
• parent teacher associations, and groups raising money for an organisation that is itself ineligible
• individuals, private businesses, political and lobbying groups
• other local authorities and public sector bodies, though town and parish councils are specifically exempted from that exclusion
• nationwide organisations, unless they have a local constitution or local bank account

Applicants need a bank statement in the organisation’s name, no more than two months old, with the application. The council says it will ask for governing documents and financial records from every fifth application, and from any organisation it has not funded in the last twelve months.

What it will and will not pay for

The council’s examples of fundable projects include installing an electric vehicle charging point for community use, running a repair café or a swap and loan scheme, undertaking an energy audit and acting on it, building a community wildflower garden, restoring a community woodland, restoring natural habitats such as floodplain meadows, planting trees to reduce the effects of drought and flooding, developing a community emergency or flood preparation plan, and putting cycle racks by local shops.

The refusals are more useful than the examples, because they are where applications get wasted:

• Litter picking is out.
• Recurring revenue costs are out, including salaries, rent, rates and maintenance. Salaries for a one-off project lasting no more than six months will be considered, as will room hire for the length of a project.
• Statutory work that the council or another public body is responsible for is out. That specifically includes public highways, public rights of way and road safety measures. Something a parish council has the power but not the duty to provide will be considered.
• Retrospective costs are out. A project that has already started can apply, but not for money already spent.
• Equipment that could be rented or borrowed is out, to avoid buying new.
• Energy efficiency work on buildings not used by community groups is out.
• Clothing such as uniforms is out, though safety kit like high-visibility clothing will be considered. Alcohol will not be funded, and refreshments are case by case.

Cllr Mike Giles, the cabinet member for policy and climate action, said groups do not need to be experts: “We’re delighted to be launching our brand-new Nature and Climate Action Fund, which gives community groups access to up to £10,000 to help bring their nature and climate supporting ideas to life.”

The fund sits under the council’s Nature and Climate Action Plan 2025-29, which sets a target for the council to reach net zero by 2030.

What it means for you

If you are on a parish council, a village hall committee, a friends-of-the-park group, a scout group with its own constitution or a community energy group anywhere between Henley, Wallingford, Thame and Didcot, this is money you can apply for from Monday week.

What to do now:

• Read the application guidance before writing anything. It is a 2026/27 document on the council’s own site and it carries the scoring criteria, which reward sharing what you learn with the community and working in partnership.
• Get a recent bank statement in the organisation’s name ready. It has to go in with the application.
• Applications go through the council’s online grants system, reached from its grants page, not by email.
• The council says groups can talk to its teams about an idea first, at grants@southandvale.gov.uk or climateaction@southandvale.gov.uk.

One practical note on scope. A project that reduces what your group throws away, such as a repair café or a loan scheme, is fundable; the household side of that is a different thing, and what goes in which bin here is on our Henley bin collection days page.

Sources

• South Oxfordshire Nature and Climate Action Fund application guidance 2026/27 (PDF), for the 50:50 split, the grant range, eligibility and exclusions, the eight-week window, the ten-week decision period, the every-fifth-application checks, the 12-month completion rule, the finality of decisions and the 31 March 2027 reserves line.
• New £100,000 grant to help communities tackle climate change and support nature recovery, South Oxfordshire District Council, 18 September 2026, for the 28 September opening date and Cllr Giles’s quote.
• South Nature and Climate Action Fund, South Oxfordshire District Council, for the fund page, the guidance download and the link to the Nature and Climate Action Plan 2025-29.