Community Resilience Grant 2026

Surrey’s Community Resilience Programme 2026 offers funding and expert support to help groups develop and deliver local resilience action plans.

Across Surrey, communities are experiencing increasing risks from extreme heat, flooding, and wildfire. These risk bring significant negative impacts to our residents’ health, our young people’s learning, our critical infrastructure including roads and rail networks, and our local economy.

Much of Surrey’s infrastructure is dated, or was not built to withstand some of the conditions we are now experiencing, and these risks are projected to increase in frequency and severity as the atmosphere continues to warm due to climate change. These two factors combine to put our communities at risk across the county.

The Community Resilience Programme 2026 is open to Parish and Town Councils, as well as other groups in the community to develop locally focused action plans that strengthen resilience to climate impacts.

The are 2 key parts to this programme:

1. Community Resilience Toolkit: created by Surrey County Council, Surrey Fire & Rescue, and Surrey Prepared, supports you in creating a local resilience plan focused on your specific risks
2. Community Resilience Grant: Once you have a completed resilience plan, you can apply for grant funding to delivery projects identified in your plan, to help protect people and places in your community from future risks

The programme takes a collaborative approach, recognising that building resilience is most effective when communities work together. Grants will therefore be awarded to applicants that involve multiple local partners to ensure plans reflect the needs and priorities of the whole community.

You may wish to work with:

GUIDANCE / RESOURCES:

Please read through this page carefully for more information on the expert support and drop in sessions provided to help you, who is eligible to apply, how to apply and what funding is available.

If you think you’ll be eligible to apply, then you can find the Community Resilience Toolkit and Guidance Pack for applying here.

Please note we will continue to add resources to this folder as they become available. If you require anything specific or have questions, please contact greenerfutures@surreycc.gov.uk

Support Available: Expert Advice

To help you develop an effective action plan, specialist support is available, including expertise in:
– Flooding and sustainable drainage
– Wildfire risk and prevention
– Climate adaptation and resilience

Links and contact details for expert support can be found throughout the action plan workbook.

The Surrey Wildlife Trust is also a fantastic resource for community groups to gain advice, training and updates.

Support Available: Grant Funding Opportunities

The Community Resilience Programme offers two stages of funding to support both planning and delivery.

1. £1,000 Planning Grant

Developing a community action plan can be challenging and time-consuming. The £1,000 planning grant is available to help you prioritise and resource this work.

To receive the grant, groups must:
– Complete an action plan using the template provided in Appendix 1 of the workbook.
– Submit the completed plan to: greenerfutures@surreycc.gov.uk before 16th September 2026

There are 15 grants available, which will be issued on a first comes first served basis. All sections and themes (e.g. energy, buildings, waste) outlined in the Action Plan must be completed to be eligible.

We also encourage groups to begin (or update) a Community Emergency & Resilience Plan, which helps strengthen wider preparedness and response.

If you were previously a part of the Parish pilot project and developed a Climate and Nature Action plan, please contact us to discuss further as you will be able to use that completed plan and be eligible to apply for the stage 2 £15,000 project grant.

2. Up to £15,000 Project Delivery Grant

Once your action plan is complete, you can apply for funding to deliver key projects.
– Up to £15,000 is available to deliver 1-2 projects
– Your Action Plan must demonstrate that these are the most impactful projects for your area
– Open to Parish and Town Councils and collaborating community groups before 30th September 2026

This funding is designed to support tangible improvements that build resilience locally, helping communities take meaningful action.

Who Can Apply?
This grant is open to Parish and Town councils, community, voluntary and faith groups across Surrey. If you’re not sure whether you’re eligible, please email us.

If you previously applied for funding under the Place Delivery Programme or related grants, you remain eligible to apply.

How Much Funding Is Available?

The maximum amount of funding available per group is £1,000 for the creation of an action plan, and then £15,000 towards project creation, including any VAT costs that cannot be claimed back.

You must complete the budget breakdown as accurately as possible and provide quotes or evidence of costs up front (as instructed in the Application Guidance) to be considered for funding.

Application Deadline

The application deadline is split into two. For the action plan completion, the deadline to complete and apply for the £1000 grant is 16th of September 2026. You then have until 30th of September 2026 to apply for the project grant to go towards any high impact projects identified during the action plan completion.

How to Apply
1. Complete your Community Action Plan using the provided template in the workbook.
2. Submit your plan to: greenerfutures@surreycc.gov.uk
3. Once approved, you will be sent a link to apply for delivery funding to implement your projects

Receipt of Payment

We will aim to transfer funds within 2 weeks of you being notified of a successful application.

If you have an existing SCC Vendor Number then please include it in your application to ensure payment is made quickly. Note that if you are not an existing SCC Vendor, you will need to be set up via the Vendor Registration process to enable the transfer of funds, which may delay the payment process slightly.

Completion of Works

All work must be completed by 15th March 2027. If there is a risk of work not being completed before this deadline, you must make SCC aware as early as possible.

Reporting Requirements

Groups awarded funding will be required to submit an impact report. You will receive a link to a feedback form to complete.

Final reporting must be submitted no later than Friday 5th March 2027.

If for any reason the works are not completed or you will not have been able to finalise your reporting by the reporting deadline, you must notify SCC as far in advance as possible.

Documentation Required
If you are awarded grant funding, you will need to provide the following documents before the funds can be paid:

– Bank details on signed letter head for new vendors
– Written acknowledgement of landlord permissions if required
– Return of a signed copy of SCC’s Grant Funding Agreement (this will be emailed to you on notification of a successful application)

Interested and want to find out more? Attend one of our drop-in sessions to ask questions about the grant and application process. Sign up here

GUIDANCE / RESOURCES: Folder containing the toolkit and guidance documents can be found here

Please note we will continue to add resources to this folder as they become available. If you require anything specific or have questions, please contact greenerfutures@surreycc.gov.uk