Grants and funding

The Town, Parish and Community (TAP) Fund (formerly known as the Town and Parish Fund) can be used by towns, parishes and community groups working together to respond to community issues of shared interest and/or concern.  

The TAP Fund is a useful way of supporting a wide range of local projects across the district, such as:

• highway improvements (for example grit bins, signs, safety improvements, bridges, traffic regulation orders, rights of way, weeds)
• community events and celebrations (for example seasonal celebrations, trips, visits, commemorations, memorial events)
• community facilities (for example village hall/community facility improvements)
• sport, leisure, arts, heritage, culture (for example youth clubs, libraries, allotments, theatres, plays, music)
• local economy, employment and welfare (for example community shops, food banks, homelessness) 

Projects/activities can be as big or small as the issue you wish to solve.

Town and parish councils, constituted community and voluntary groups (including ‘Friends of’ groups), registered charities, faith groups and social enterprises may apply for funding. Please see the TAP Fund Criteria for more information.

2016/17 TAP Fund

This year, there are two funding rounds:

• Round one (deadline to apply by 30 September 2016)
• Round two (deadline to apply by 28 February 2017)

Following the deadlines, the TAP Fund Funding Panel will meet to vote on the applications and award TAP money.  Applications will be scored against set criteria with innovative community-focussed projects receiving strongest weighting.

If your project commences before 30 September 2016, there is some underspend money from 2015/16 available that you can apply for.  This will be available on a first come, first served basis.  Please contact the Communities and Governance Officer for more information.

2016/17 TAP Budget

TAP money is clustered by County Ward (instead of previously being clustered by parish).  The money will be based on the number of registered electors (from the February 2016 Electoral Register) in each County Ward.  The budget is calculated based on £1.10 per registered elector (whereby £1.00 is awarded from Devon County Council (DCC) and £0.10 from Mid Devon District Council per elector).

The TAP Fund 2016/17 budget will be split into two halves; half available to allocate for each round of funding.  Any unallocated TAP money left over from round one would be carried forward to round two.

The TAP Fund Budget for 2016/17 (by County Ward) is:

Application Process

All applications to come direct to the Communities and Governance Officer, who will then email the County Member and Parish Clerk to inform them that an application has been received.  Applications should provide two letters/emails of support from parishes.  Alternatively, they should evidence that they have tried to obtain this support (if a parish council is applying, they will only need a letter of support from one other parish).

Applicants should try and fund 10% of the total project costs from other sources (not including other DCC funding pots).

Please download the Application Form and send it (preferably via email) to: Zoë Lentell, Communities and Governance Officer, zlentell@middevon.gov.uk.

For further information, or to discuss your project idea, contact Zoë Lentell, Communities and Governance Officer on 01884 234298 or zlentell@middevon.gov.uk.

Previous Funded Projects

Information will be available soon about projects that received TAP funding in 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16.