COMMUNITY businesses in the south west can apply for grants of up to £300,000 later his month.

The Community Business Fund, from the Power to Change trust, will be offering grants of between £50,000 and £300,000 to businesses trading for the benefit of and accountable to their local communities and has a £3m pot availabe. 

Previous community-focused businesses that have benefited are farms, libraries, cinemas and organisations across the UK, and to date £4m has gone to firms in the South West.

Alex Steeland, programme manager at Power to Change, said: “We’re very excited to make a further £3m available to community businesses. Community businesses are doing exceptional work at delivering more cohesive local communities and a stronger civil society.

"We look forward to receiving a broad range of applications from a wide variety of places and sectors, and we are particularly keen to hear from community businesses in the South West so we can distribute the fund more evenly across the country.”

After opening on April 24, community businesses will have until midday on Wednesday, May 22 to apply. Grant awards will be made to the successful organisations from August 2019.