The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is providing a £1 million fund to support the development of new pocket parks and to refurbish existing parks that have fallen into disrepair where their restoration could have a significant positive impact on the local community and address a specific local need. The Government is inviting applications from community groups interested establishing a new pocket park or refurbishing an existing park. 
The scheme provides grants to community-led bodies working in partnership with their local authority with the aim of creating new pocket parks or bringing existing green spaces up to a safe, usable standard and ensuring long-term support for those initiatives.
The objective of the programme is to deliver, across all areas of England, new pocket parks and support refurbishment of parks that have fallen into disrepair where their restoration will make a significant positive impact in the local community.
The Government have allocated £1 million to this programme in 2018-19. They expect to allocate grants of up to £15,000 for new pocket parks and £25,000 for refurbishment of existing parks split between capital and revenue. Grants will be paid to the appropriate principal local authority that is supporting the application (under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003) so that they can be released to the community as needed to deliver the project.
For the purposes of this scheme the Government defines a pocket park as a piece of land of up to 0.4 hectares (although many are around 0.02 hectares, the size of a tennis court) which may already be under grass, but which is unused, undeveloped or derelict.
This fund will support communities to develop new green spaces, or improve existing ones that are in poor condition, that provide people with better quality spaces; increasing opportunities for social mixing, healthy living, relaxation, play, food growing and contact with nature.
For further information and to apply, visit: www.gov.uk/government/publications/pocket-parks-plus-supporting-parks-and-public-spaces, or email: [email protected]
Deadline: Friday 25 January 2019, 17:00