Over £2.9m is available for community projects through Lewisham Council’s Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy ward fund, with each ward allocated a pot of funding to support projects in that area.
The funding comes from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which the Council charges on new developments in Lewisham. Neighbourhood CIL (NCIL) is used to invest in community projects in the local area, helping to address the impact of new developments on local residents.
Residents and community groups have until 21 November to submit their ideas and proposals for projects they want to see delivered in their neighbourhood.
Residents in each ward have already identified local priorities for their area and the types of projects they want to see delivered, following a consultation process involving over 13,000 people across the borough. Projects will need to match the chosen priorities for each area, or the additional priority of supporting COVID-19 recovery.
Once bids have been submitted and reviewed, residents will help decide which projects they want to see delivered at their local assembly meetings. A recommendation will be made to Mayor and Cabinet for approval, with projects expected to commence from 1 April 2022.
Cllr Kim Powell, Cabinet Member for Business and Community Wealth Building, said:
“By involving our local communities in decisions around NCIL funding, residents will get a real say on the investment they want to see in their local area and the community projects that will benefit them most.
“It is really important that local residents see the benefits of new developments for their communities and that’s exactly what this funding will help deliver.”
Find out more information about NCIL ward funding and submit your ideas.
£2.9m available for community projects in Lewisham - deadline for submissions 21st November
EDIT: PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE FOR ONLINE WORKSHOP
Forest Hill NCIL Ward Fund - £65,000 for local projects
Apply by 21 November
Forest Hill’s NCIL Ward Fund is now open for applications from Forest Hill residents and community groups. Over £65,000 is available for community projects that will benefit our local community. There are a variety of grants available for small, medium or large scale projects and you are invited to submit applications for projects that fit within our ward priorities – agreed at the Forest Hill Assembly in February 2020. These are:
- Transport and streets
- Open green spaces and nature
- Community Safety
- Community facilities
- Air Quality
- Covid Recovery
Information and help to apply
Forest Hill NCIL Information Workshop (online) – 6.00 pm Thurs 21 October
To register, email laura.luckhurst@lewisham.gov.uk
Read the fund Guidance, book onto a general information workshop or make an application, on the online funding portal.
For further questions after visiting the portal, please feel free to call
Laura Luckhurst, Community Development Officer, on 020 8341 3830 or 07392 860155
or email laura.luckhurst@lewisham.gov.uk – please use “Forest Hill NCIL” in your subject line for a faster response.
Fund closes at 11.59 pm on 21 November 2021.
The following pages from Lewisham Council detail the applications made for NCIL funding in the local wards:
While we wait for the minutes of the Council meetings that confirms the awards, here is a short summary of the projects and funding recommendations.
Forest Hill
8 out of 12 projects have been recommended.
Projects recommended for Ward NCIL
| Organisation | Title | Funding Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| V22 Foundation | Forest Hill Library Community Room Development | £2,075 |
| V22 Foundation | Children’s Library – Forest Hill | £2,900 |
| SEE3 | High Street Happenings | £2,100 |
| STFL | Restoring a fragment of Great North Wood/Horniman Triangle | £7,000 |
| Council - Greenscene | Baxter Field Park Improvements | £8,900 |
| Library Garden | Hands On - Library Garden | £9,451 |
| Friends of Devonshire Road Nature Reserve | Devonshire Road Nature Reserve Improvements | £15,500 |
| Forest Hill Society | Forest Hill Station Parklet | £18,000 |
Projects not recommended for Ward NCIL
| Organisation | Title | Funding Requested |
|---|---|---|
| Forest Hill Society | Monitoring Traffic Speed and Volume on residential streets | £7,550 |
| Sydenham Community Project - CIC | Sustainable Christmas Trees | £10,938 |
| Lewisham Homes | Drakes Court Community Ball Court | £41,040 |
| Rock-iorganisation | Rock-iorganisation Community Project | n/a |
Perry Vale
6 out of 18 projects have been recommended.
Projects recommended for Ward NCIL
| Organisation | Title | Funding Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Knoll and Watergate Co-operative Trust | Holiday clubs for children and young people with SEND | £5,000 |
| Oaks and Acorns In Harmony C.I.C | Youth Engagement Hub @ Rockbourne - Youth Club Provision | £10,000 |
| Council – Greenscene | Mayow Park Children’s Playground Improvements | £70,000 |
| Standstead Lodge Senior’s Club | Repair and renovation of conservatory – Stanstead Lodge | £20,000 |
| Sydenham Garden | Meeting Up | £16,200 |
| Kilmorie School | Early Years Outstanding Outdoor Spaces | £23,981 |
Projects not recommended for Ward NCIL
| Organisation | Title | Funding Requested |
|---|---|---|
| Council – Greenscene | Sustainable Christmas Tree for Perry Vale | £5,163 |
| Council | Westbourne Drive Park Play Equipment | £17,000 |
| Grow Mayow Community Garden | Open Green Gates | £4,750 |
| Council | Catford to Forest Hill/Sydenham Walking & Cycling Route | £93,000 |
| Sydenham Garden | Growing Lives | £29,770 |
| Council - Highways | Perry Vale Ward Crossing | £64,000 |
| Lewisham Homes | Dacres Road Green Space | £10,000 |
| Collab Training Academy | Your Journey through FIFA | £9,270 |
| Council - Greenscene | Mayow Park Children’s Playground (2) | £37,545 |
| Council - Highways | Bell Green Neighbourhood Forum Air Monitoring | £6,000 |
| Council - Greenscene | Mayow Park Children’s Playground (3) | £16,000 |
| Council - Highways | South Lewisham Secure Cycle Storage Project - Perry Vale | £9,900 |
Great to see some much needed improvements to Mayow Park playground which is really well used by children in the area but in need of a bit of TLC 
Can they just put all the money into making cycling and walking better in Forest hill. Finally sort out the station crossing and pointless car park.
Off the top of my head:
• Adding a crossing/island by Pantry/underpass
• Tokyo style crossing by the station
• improving crossings by the horniman and dulwich park/Sydenham woods
• cycling lanes between catford and dulwich
Out of interest does anyone actually use the Library these days? Or is it more of a community hub?
I rejoined the library last week as I wanted books on local history, not a huge selection but I requested a book on graphology, they will inform me when they locate one from another library.
Every computer was busy and users looked to be set in for long sessions.
I went in the children’s room, there was only one armchair and not in use so I managed to sit and read for a bit.
‘We raised over £10,000 with an online crowd-funder in the late Autumn 2016 in just over 8 weeks with an original target of just £6,000. There are many different types of model for running community libraries and local authorities have approached the community model in different ways, but we believe ours is one of the most successful in the country, a truly sustainable model that was able to maintain the footprint of the original library and keep a seven day opening throughout the year.’
I’d be interested to know what people are using those computers for. Are they there to study and don’t have access to a computer at home or even smartphone. Maybe libraries are actually being used as hot desking. Just curious as I’ve not used one in 20yrs myself.
The computers in the library are used for homework, job searching / applications, access to email, scanning and printing documents, some degree or research (e.g. genealogy), online courses, and sometimes just watching youtube. Some of these activities are difficult to do at home or with a smartphone and some of the users do not have smartphones.
I don’t think anybody is using the library computers as hot desking, although some people will bring in a laptop and make use of the free wifi to do some work at a free table - without the need to buy a coffee.
£18k for improving the entrance to the station and removing some of the parking
This was rejected at £64k before it got to the ward assembly.
No bids for these. But the crossings by Horniman have been updated fairly recently.
These crossings are on TfL roads, so it would be difficult to use funds for the ward assembly to fund these changes.
The bid for £93k was rejected before it got to the ward assembly.
Thanks for clarifying, if it costs 64k just to put an island/zebra crossing in… well I guess we can’t expect much from the car park improvements.
The station parklet project requested £30,500, but has only been recommended for a grant of £18,000 so it will be interesting to see how that may alter plans and what can be achieved.
I do however welcome any improvements to that area with open arms.
Makes you wonder how much Lewisham have spent on the new road layout around the Lewisham station development. Guess that must have used up the pot for the rest of the borough…
Crofton Park which covers some areas of SE23, including Stillness School, also had some recommendations:
Recommended projects
Recommended applications under Funding Band up to £10,000
Olive Leaf Circle - a green space for vulnerable groups / Fourth Reserve Foundation
- Priority(ies) addressed: Open/green spaces and nature
- Recommended funding amount: £6,470.00
The Brockley Green Collection a Living Museum / Crofton Park Community Link
- Priority(ies) addressed: Air quality, Open/green spaces and nature, Covid-19 recovery
- Recommended funding amount: £6,560.00
Stillness Junior School / Stillness Eco Garden
- Priority(ies) addressed: Children and youth services Open/green spaces and nature
- Recommended funding amount: £9,820.81
Enhancing Crofton Park Railway Garden for families and biodiversity / Friends of Crofton Park Railway Garden
- Priority(ies) addressed: Children and youth services Open/green spaces and nature
- Recommended funding amount: £9,840.00
Rock-Iorganisation Community Project
- Priority(ies) addressed: Covid-19 recovery
- Recommended funding amount: £10,000.00
@ForestHull I couldn’t find it in the format you did, did you want me to add it to the first post?
We’ve not used libraries since lockdown I think, but pre that we’d take the kids periodically and especially over some holidays when they would have reading challenges which I think were run in co-ordination with schools and libraries. Librarians were always fantastic with the kids and helped encourage a love of reading, and of course great way to swap books in and out.
When much younger I think there were kids groups activities in some libraries.
Of course many schools have tried to improve their libraries now, and on tours of secondary schools most of them made a big deal out of their libraries, so suspect older kids may use community ones less.
My second job as a 15 year old was cleaning and restacking books in a children’s library - it was always satisfying to stack them all and watch the kids pull them out with great enthusiasm!
Can someone please tell me. Do you have to be a committee group. Or can an individual apply to provide a community project?
It is a bit late to apply but most of it is aimed at organisations to make applications rather than individuals. But the more important aspect is which body would deliver the scheme. For example an individual isn’t going to make highway improvements by themselves.
There’s a link at the top of this thread. One of the advantages of working with groups such as Forest Hill or Sydenham Society is that they have bank accounts which they might let you use and are used to navigating Lewisham Council.
The projects get voted on at the ward assemblies. There was a thread on here about that. This year was an oddity as the FH Assembly was online only and there hasn’t been a real one for two years. Hopefully they’ll be meetings in person from now on.
A lot of people cannot afford a fixed broadband connection so use libraries for reliable internet access. Libraries are also invaluable places for children from over crowded houses to get some space and peace to study.
This is why library closures made me so angry - libraries as about so much more than lending books.
Yeah this is why I was asking really, they’re and should be more than just lending books. I don’t use/need the service but if council tax/local funding is going to be invested I would want them to be fit for purpose for the next generation. I’m pro libraries by the way and bookish 
, I’m just suspicions the gov throws a few coins their way to keep them open (or not) without any thought to the model.
We still used the library for traditional book borrowing too. Especially for my son who speeds through them. During lockdown, we reserved books online and picked them up no problems. The reservations extend to a consortium of London libraries, so even though there may be a small wait, the range was enormous.
Possibly relevant reading: Interview with Forest Hill Library manager Stephen Bruce
From that article, I found the following somewhat compelling (emphasis mine):
Ah nice thanks for the share, yeah mirroring my thoughts. Printing service is pretty handy, although why you should have to print these days is such an annoyance. Conveyancing really needs to modernise too.
No that’s true… Although my fiancé did single handily stop some highway traffic forcing its way through end of Devonshire when it was a closed road a few years ago now. As some drivers thought it didn’t apply to them. A high vis, verbal presence and mobile phone worked wonders when they were trying to move all the barriers & fencing to get through. Although he didn’t need funding to do that😂
My sector/expertise/vision is an educational one for primary age children, delivered by me. That’s why I asked if individuals, can apply.
However I didn’t see the date for applications had passed.
If I wanted to pursue this further to try and secure funding or a grant when they arise who would I need to speak to for help?
Other funding opportunities:
Holiday Activity and Food programme - apply for funding by 18 February
The next HAF programme takes place in Easter half term. We are looking for groups that can deliver a programme including fun and engaging activities such as art, dance, sport, drama or community settings, for children and young people eligible for free school meals. For an application form or for more details, please contact ruth.eytle@lewisham.gov.uk.
Funding for one-off community mental health projects – apply by 28 February 2022
Lewisham is seeking proposals from organisations that can prevent or improve poor mental health and wellbeing of local communities, who may be at risk from, or experience poor mental health, e.g. isolated older people, those from a minority ethnic background. Work on your project will be expected to start from late March.
Contact Genesis Adeleye at Genesis.Adeleye@lewisham.gov.uk to request the details of funding available and how to submit your expression of interest.
Apply for up to £20,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund, Bromley and Lewisham Covid-19 Grant Giving Scheme
Grants available for groups that deliver activities specifically aimed to support communities through the COVID-19 crisis to further realise equality, diversity and inclusion ambitions in Bromley and Lewisham. More details here: https://www.blueprintforall.org/bromley-lew-grant-giving-scheme/ .
Please thank your fiancé for me. That closure was the best ever two months for residents of Devonshire Road, Woodcombe Crescent, Ewelme Road and others. That closure was carried out for Thames Water, but perhaps we should have bid in this scheme to close it permanently.