Forest of Dean District Council Invests Over £80,000 in Local Community Assets
Six facilities across the district are set to benefit from the Council’s Community Asset Grant for 2025/26. The funding, totalling more than £80,000, will support vital improvements and help secure the long-term future of these valued community spaces.
Cabinet Member for Property and Projects, Cllr Sid Phelps said:
“The Community Asset Grants provide a great opportunity to support well used community owned buildings, reduce energy bills and transform cherished local venues for future generations.
“I am delighted to see that the recipients of this year's grant are from a diverse range of local facilities. We want to ensure these important community assets can operate long into the future and the funding from the Community Assets Grant will help significantly with this.
“I look forward to seeing the funding used to safeguard and improve these facilities and for residents to enjoy them for years to come.”
The Community Asset Grants support work to create new sustainable community infrastructure, safeguard existing facilities, and to conserve and enhance local heritage assets to serve the local community into the future.
The funding was aimed at village halls, community buildings, sport facilities and local heritage buildings and performance spaces. Forest of Dean District Council were particularly keen to support projects that promote decarbonisation, improve energy efficiency, renewable energy installations, improving digital connectivity and conserve and enhance buildings of local and national heritage value.
Recipients of the Community Asset Grants for 2025 and details for the use of the grant funding can be found below:
| The Rising Sun Public House - £6,073 | A project to purchase and install solar panels on the south facing roof of the community owned, Rising Sun in Woodcroft. |
| Wylderne Limited - £6,646 | Energy efficiency project at the Wilderness Centre, Plump Hill to purchase a de-stratification fan to blow rising warm centrally heated air back down into the room. They will also work to replace all windows with double glazed sympathetically designed alternatives, and to replace the fire doors. |
| Scarr Bandstand - £8,000 | The funding supported a roof replacement that had match funding previously secured. The Council grant will fund the groundworks, soakaway, plus minor remedial works caused by the build e.g. replacement of a section of fencing, minor repairs to the existing concrete structure, and landscaping. The largest total project value of the 6 approved grants at £100,995. |
| Dean Heritage Centre - £20,000 | A project to install solar panels onto the roof of the library/coffee shop building at DHC, to reduce energy bills by up to 30%. |
| Soudley Village Hall Trust - £20,000 | The grant will support the installation of solar panels onto the roof at Soudley Village Hall to reduce energy bills and help safeguard the building for future use. |
| Forest of Dean Gymnastics Centre - £20,000 | A project to supply and install a roof-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) system along with an external battery storage unit to store excess generated power. |
In total, Forest of Dean District Council has allocated £80,719 Rural England Prosperity Fund capital grant on the basis that all projects will be financially complete before March 2026. Scarr Bandstand has completed works funded by Forest of Dean District Council and further news on each project will be updated in due course.
Further information on the grant funding can be found on the Forest of Dean District Council website: https://www.fdean.gov.uk/business-and-licensing/invest-in-the-forest-of-dean/rural-england-prosperity-fund/
Contact Information
Forest of Dean Communications Team
Notes to editors
Further information on the Community Asset Grant and the Rural England Prosperity Fund can be found here: https://www.fdean.gov.uk/repf/