Investing in Neighbourhoods and Community Climate Action Funds

Requirements

We look for proposals that would directly result in fantastic outcomes for our neighbourhoods and would address demands that development projects such as new housing schemes place on them.

We look for bids that:

• have the support of the organisation that the bidder represents,
• have the approval of all parties with a legal interest in the land, asset or service that is the subject of the bid, and
• do not conflict with statutory, regulatory or policy requirements of the council or other relevant regulatory bodies.

We are unlikely to support bids that:

• only support projects, programmes, features or assets unaffected by development and which would have little or no benefit to development,
• would only support private interests,
• have little or no public benefit, or
• where the bidder has any legal or other disputes with the council.

If your project has previously received council funding, we will only consider your application where the bidder can: 

• demonstrate the value of the project;
• demonstrate that other funding streams have been pursued (see our match funding suggestions at the bottom of this page) 
• secure funding from non-council sources in addition to the contribution requested from the council – the amount of council funding required for relevant existing projects will need to decrease over time; and
• demonstrate a long-term funding plan for the project without council funding.

For new projects, we strongly recommend that you also look at match funding options.

You must get an email or letter of support (endorsement) from at least one Merton councillor. Where the project is specific to one or a small number of wards, councillors for those wards will need to endorse it. You can use our website to find your ward and councillors or view a list of all councillors. To avoid conflicts of interest, members of the Cabinet are unable to provide letters of support. You will need to send a copy of your bid documentation to the councillors that you are asking to endorse your bid before they can provide their endorsement.

For the Investing in Neighbourhoods Fund, members of the public interested in the council delivering a project they have in mind can submit a bid when we are open for bidding but are advised to first contact their Merton ward councillor who can get in contact with the delivery service to take their ideas forward, as appropriate. Councillors will be advised as to whether or not the project is supported in principle and if so whether the project can be delivered within the funding timeframes or whether it could be considered for a funding bid in future years.

To be eligible for the Community Climate Action Fund, bidders will need to have an identified delivery partner which cannot be the council; these could operate at any scale (local or national). Please note, if you select option b (Merton council deliver) under Question 14 of the bidding form, your proposal will only be considered for the Investing in Neighbourhoods Fund and will not be considered for the Community Climate Action Fund.

Assessment criteria

All bids to the Investing in Neighbourhoods Fund and the Community Climate Action Fund will be assessed against the following criteria.

1. Bids must clearly (in terms of demonstrable outcomes) address the demands that development (such as new homes, shops and offices) place on the borough and the public the council represents.
2. The proposal must comprise an appropriate use of the funds; be consistent with government rules and London Borough of Merton Council Plan 2023-26 – “Building a Better Merton Together” delivering the council’s main ambition of rebuilding pride in Merton, supported by three strategic objectives namely:
   • Nurturing civic pride
   • Building a sustainable future
   • Creating a borough of sport.
3. The proposal must be an appropriate use of the funds and should not have any unacceptable financial implications (either capital or ongoing revenue funding) on the council or any other body.
4. Estimated cost of the proposal should aim to be over £20,000.
5. The proposal should be deliverable and capable of being started within the year ahead.
6. Proposals should be endorsed by at least one Merton ward councillor who is not a member of the Cabinet.
7. Proposals will be assessed as to how they meet neighbourhood priorities. We will be looking for proposals that align with one or more of the priorities favoured by the neighbourhood where the proposal would be located (or neighbourhood that would benefit most from the proposal) as demonstrated by the results of the Neighbourhood CIL public consultation (Nov 2016-Jan 2017).

In order to be considered for the Community Climate Action Fund, bidders must also demonstrate that the proposal:

8. is grassroots-generated and community-led; the project will need to be delivered by residents, community groups, and/ or their delivery partners, and cannot be delivered by the council.
9. helps reduce carbon emissions or adapt and build resilience to the impacts of climate change as set out in the United Nations’ definition of Climate Adaptation..
10. aligns with one or more of the four themes of Merton’s Climate Strategy and Action Plan (Buildings and Energy, Green Economy, Transport, or Greening Merton).

Each bid will be assessed by considering how it performs against the above criteria overall, with the assessment recorded and used to inform the prioritisation process.

If there is high demand for the funding and not all proposals can be funded, officers will prioritise the following projects for both funds:  

• Projects which add most value to the Merton community
• Projects which demonstrate how the bidder has considered alternative funding sources and that the market is currently failing to provide a solution to this challenge.
• Projects that engage audiences which haven’t connected with the council before or hardly reached audiences.

In addition to the above general priorities, officers will prioritise the following for the Community Climate Action Fund:  

• Projects which have a higher carbon impact (i.e. save more carbon)
• Projects which help address climate vulnerability in areas of high climate risk as per the Greater London Authority’s Climate Risk Map.  

To complete the application form, you’ll need to have the following information to hand.

• About the project you would like us to fund:
  • Name of the project (up to 75 characters long)
  • Short description of the project (up to 500 characters)
  • Bid amount
  • Total cost of the project
  • An itemised list of the project costs, including how much of each item would be funded by us and how much would be funded from other sources. The total of the itemised costs must be no more than the total cost of the project.
  • Details of any potential and secured funding from other sources
  • Estimated project start and end dates
  • Estimated dates when funding will be required (this may be split into stages with different dates)
  • Ongoing maintenance costs or burdens
  • Details of any additional permissions, consents or approvals that would be needed to proceed (up to 500 characters). You can submit your application before getting these agreements, but we may withhold payments until these agreements have been secured.
  • Names of councillors that have endorsed the project by sending you an email or letter of support.
  • A list using short bullet points of what specifically the project will deliver and the outcomes for Merton neighbourhoods (up to 500 characters)
• If another organisation would be responsible for delivering the project:
  • Name of delivery organisation
  • Details of a contact person at the delivery organisation
  • Details of the director or trustee of the organisation that has authorised this bid
  • Your relationship to the organisation
  • The organisation’s company number or charity number
  • for Community Amateur Sports Clubs, up to date information provided to HM Revenue and Customs for the club’s registration including authorised officials and responsible persons.
  • If you are applying on behalf of an Organisation who would be delivering the proposal, details of your relationship to the organisation, your contact at the Organisation and the director/ trustee of the Organisation that has authorised the bid (e.g. if you are a resident or a community group that has developed a project proposal and you have identified a delivery partner who has authorised the bid).
• If the project has already received council funding:
  • evidence that other funding streams have been pursued
  • evidence of secured funding from non-council sources in addition to the contribution requested from the council – the amount of council funding required for relevant existing projects will need to decrease over time
  • a long-term funding plan for the project without council funding.
• For the Investing in Neighbourhoods Fund, if Merton Council would be responsible for delivering the project:
  • Name of the council officer and department that would be responsible for delivering the project
  • Level of authorisation secured by the council for the project. (Ask the council officer responsible for delivery of the project for this information, maximum 100 characters.)
  • Location of project
  • Your address
• Note: you can still apply if you don’t know which organisation would deliver the project as long as the delivery partner has been confirmed by the time the council is assessing the projects (see “What happens next” below).

If you have any questions, please email NeighbourhoodFund@merton.gov.uk.

You will email this to us after you have submitted your bid. This may include:

• authorisations, support letters, costs, funding and programming information
• a document – such as a project plan or business case – that explains how your project would address our assessment criteria on the Investing in Neighbourhoods & Community Climate Action Funds page
• emails or letters of support from Merton councillors
• maps, plans or other images to show what you propose to do and where
• copies of quotes, estimates or other material from suppliers and contractors (existing or potential) that will help us to establish whether approving your bid would help the council achieve best value for its investment
• any other information that you would have included on the form if you had more space

You may find it helpful to prepare a copy of your answers in a separate document, such as Microsoft Word, and save this for your records.

If you are applying on behalf of an organisation, you must ensure you have the authority to do so before submitting your application.

The application form will be available here when we are next open for bidding.

Please email your accompanying information, as detailed in step 4 above, to NeighbourhoodFund@merton.gov.uk.

Please:

• attach the PDF copy of the bid (if you applied online, a PDF was emailed to you after you submitted your application)
• in your message state the following about the application:
  • reference number
  • the date it was submitted
  • who submitted it (if not you then explain who you are and that you have the authority to submit bidding information on behalf of the bidder)