Flood Relief Fund. Programme Prospectus

Transcription

1 Flood Relief Fund Programme Prospectus Open 24th March 2014

2 Introduction Sport England announced a special 5 million Flood Relief Fund on 27 February 2014 to help recover playing fields and repair sports facilities damaged by the recent floods and storms. 5 million of National Lottery funding is available to sports clubs, local authorities and other community organisations to make good damaged facilities such as football, rugby and cricket pitches, water sports centres, pavilions, changing rooms and floodlights. The Emergency Fund provides grants up to 2,000 to help to restore sports facilities. Those needing funding to clean up and get up and running quickly can request up to 2,000 of emergency funding which could be awarded within three weeks. This would cover minor works such as:- skip hire to remove sediment and rubbish minor electrical works to restore power cleaning work to get showers and changing rooms back up and running. To find out if you can access funding, please register your interest at: The Flood Relief Open Fund (FRF) is for those facilities with more extensive damage which will take longer to repair and are invited to apply to the FRF open programme. The fund will remain open until the 14 October 2014 to ensure that those who are currently unable to assess the damage will not lose out. If you have had funding from the Emergency Fund, this does not preclude you from applying to the Flood Relief Open Fund. Typically grants of between 5,000 and 25,000 are available, however, Sport England reserves the right to award a higher amount in extreme cases such as removing toxic materials. Who can apply? Any organisation eligible to receive Lottery funding who has the appropriate security of tenure on the land on which the proposed project will sit can apply. This includes sports clubs, charities and other community and voluntary organisations, parish and town councils, local authorities, educational establishments and other statutory organisations. You can find further information about this in our frequently asked questions which can be found at We will not fund individuals, limited liability partnerships or any organisation that cannot demonstrate appropriate governance.

3 Evidence and Assessment Criteria To ensure investment is targeted at those most in need, we require all applicants to provide evidence of damage and that this is directly attributable to the recent flooding (post 1 st Dec 2013) and storms. The first stage of our assessment criteria will be to check your organisation s eligibility and that the project is something we can fund. We will then assess eligible applications against three criteria: Need Tell us about the flood & storm damage at your facility provide evidence in words supported by photos where available. What recovery action have you taken so far? What will the grant be used for? Please note - we will plot data and check facilities flooded against Environment Agency flood data and Met Offices data to confirm that that your facilities are within an area were flooding and or storm damage happened. Impact Tell us what impact the grant will have on your facility Tell us about the existing sports activity at your facility. How many days were you unable to access the facility/play sport? Training sessions lost, fixtures cancelled? How will it keep existing participants playing sport, volunteers involved in sport and potentially attract new people? Sustainability Tell us how you will generate sufficient revenue to keep the facility running and wellmaintained for years to come? Please complete the basic income and expenditure forecast to give us an understanding of your running costs. What measures will you take to help mitigate the impact of any flooding in the future? If you are successful you will be required to develop and implement a Flood Mitigation plan

4 What can we apply for? The open element of the FRF is designed to support capital works that remediate damage caused by floods and storms. Applications which address the following areas are eligible. Restoration works Restoration of playing fields Damage to sports buildings Damage to water sports access & egress Under exceptional circumstances Professional services/survey work to assess damage and remedial work required Intervention/Operation Removal of vegetation and post sockets, top soil importation, cultivation and grading, sand amelioration, applying fertilizer, seeding and reinstatement Not covered by the fund: new drainage works, equipment or annual grounds maintenance works Contractor costs for repair works, decontamination of buildings, grounds maintenance & sports equipment, access roads Contractor costs for repair works Repair to/replacement of slipways, jetties and pontoons. In river structures and fittings. Damaged hoist equipment for disabled users. If your project does not fall under one of the above three headings but you feel that you would like to discuss the exceptional circumstances that will preclude or severely curtail sports participation at your facility then please call our Funding Line to discuss the project Site visit and assessment by technical specialist to assess flood/storm damage and/or prescribe appropriate remedial action. This will not be covered by the fund if this work is carried out through loss adjustment survey by your insurer.

5 What is not covered? The following items are not eligible for funding: Routine maintenance (e.g. painting and decorating) and repairs (e.g. broken window) as this does not represent capital expenditure Personal sports equipment and clothing this is not a lasting asset, nor does it provide wide enough community benefit Purely social accommodation Retrospective funding (we will not reimburse costs incurred before the award letter is signed) Activity that remains the responsibility of Local Authorities or other bodies such as the Environment Agency or internal Drainage Boards. Recoverable VAT Insured items and or insurance excess payments. Projects intended primarily for private gain Loss of income and/or hire of alternative facilities Grants that contribute directly to a company's distributable profits Endowments Funds to build up a reserve or surplus Loan repayments Stadium repair, for example; spectator areas, dug outs, advertising, hoarding, turnstiles, etc. Project Costs For repair works to Grass Pitches we have pulled together typical costs for these works for football, cricket, rugby union and rugby league. We strongly recommend that you use these indicative costs to make your application. In order to help with the calculation of these costs we have produced a list of typical costs for building repairs required as a result of flood and/or storm damage used by insurance companies. Where items are not listed we will still accept your application but you will need to work out the costs yourself. We recommend you use an appropriately qualified person, such as a quantity or building surveyor to do this. Please supply a copy of the quote(s) with your application.

6 Supporting Information Insurance We will require evidence that the items you are seeking a grant for are not fully covered under an existing insurance policy. Please submit your insurance policy summary statement. If the compensation available from your insurer does not fully cover the cost of repair work, we will consider applications which seek funds to cover the difference. Security of tenure Evidence of a lease or freehold interest for the land on which, the facility is located. An income and expenditure forecast that shows the facility will cover its running costs and be financially stable once it s open. You can download and complete a template from Flood Relief Fund web pages Useful documents. If you are seeking funding to help mitigate the risk of flooding we will require you to have in place a Flood Plan and submit this with your application Partnership Funding Whilst we would prefer you to have some partnership funding your own cash rather than in kind, we know funding can be difficult for voluntary and community sports groups to raise especially when you may have already incurred costs getting back on site and clearing away debris; so we will consider your application if you do not have any. This also applies to town and parish councils. We would expect Local authorities, schools and educational establishments and other statutory bodies, to provide some partnership funding. We do not envisage there being any other funding other than your own and our grant. As much of this work has to be completed in a relatively short timescale or window - seeking funding from other sources such as National Governing Bodies or landfill agencies will only serve to extend timescales. In-kind funding Due to the nature of the playing field restoration works which may involve removing contaminated materials and hazardous work associated with the buildings structure or electrical wiring which may require formal consents such as planning permission and building regulations; we will require these works to be carried out by contractors with appropriate technical accreditations. It is therefore very unlikely that in-kind contributions will be appropriate.

7 When will I know the results? Once you have submitted your application and we are happy that it is complete it will be assessed and will be put forward to the next available decision panel; typically 4 weeks after you have submitted your application. You will be notified by telephone once the outcome has been made. What happens if I am unsuccessful? We expect to receive a lot of applications so a significant number will not be successful. If your application is unsuccessful we will write to you and explain why. What happens if I am successful? If your application is successful, you will be given a conditional award. If you are using a Sport England approved contractor we will arrange for them to visit your site to help us confirm the project costs. They will identify whether building regulations or planning permission are involved or if there is anything unusual about your site. The length of your funding agreement varies according to the size of your grant but for a 5,000-50,000 grant a 7 year grant period will be required. Finally, Sport England will also have step-in rights. This means that if your organisation finds itself in financial trouble, we can step-in and take over the project with a view to selling it to pay off your debts. What measurement and evaluation will we need to complete? You will need to record the number of times individuals take part in sport at your facility (also called throughput) and report these numbers to us every six months for five years. Sport England may commission an independent research company to evaluate the impact of this programme. This company may contact you to ask about your project. If they do contact you, your input would be very much appreciated. DON T FORGET we must have all your documentation before we consider your application to be complete and assess it. This includes: Evidence of security of tenure copy of freehold or leasehold. Last 3 months bank statements (not applicable for statutory bodies). Copy of your organisation s governing document e.g. constitution (not applicable for statutory bodies). A photocopy of most recent audited or accountant verified accounts (not applicable for statutory bodies) Income and expenditure forecast. Insurance policy summary document. Flood Plan, if you seeking funding to mitigate flood risks

8 Ideally, you should upload these documents when completing the application form. We do not recommend you submit any documents by post but if you do please make sure they are posted promptly after submitting your application on line and include your Unique Reference Number (URN) that you will be given when you start your application. Failure to do so could render your application ineligible. Is the Flood Relief Fund the right programme for my project? Open applications to the FRF can be received from 24 March The programme is likely to stay open for applications until 14 October 2014 with works to be completed by no later than 31 March This programme will recover pitches and repair sports facilities damaged by the recent floods and storms. If your facility does not meet this criteria then you may still be eligible to apply to one of Sport England s other lottery programmes. Please see details below Inspired Facilities OPEN: now Grants: Clubs and voluntary organisations: 20,000-75,000 Inspired Facilities funding is available for sports clubs, local authorities, schools and parish councils to help fix facilities that can be unattractive, expensive to run and difficult to maintain, putting these clubs right back at the heart of their local communities. There is also money available to convert existing buildings into venues that are suitable for grassroots sport. Statutory organisations: 20, ,000 Protecting Playing Fields (PPF) OPEN: Autumn 2014 Inspired Facilities fund is now an open programme which means projects can submit applications as soon as they are ready rather than having to rush to send it in by a specific date. To find out more, visit PPF funding improves and protects playing fields. Successful projects will be those where organisations can demonstrate future management, maintenance and sporting use at the site and ensure that the site is protected for 25 years or longer. Further details can be found at Small Grants Up to 10,000 can be applied for to cover the costs of new and additional equipment but the programme does not fund replacement of damaged items or capital works.