CCIF program - request for funding proposals for 2020/21

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Received this afternoon from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)

We are delighted to have just opened bidding for a further round of Customer and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF^▸ (Customer and Communities Improvement Fund)).  This will be for projects that can be delivered between April 2020 and March 2021.
 
If all goes well, subject to Department for Transport (DFT^▸ (Department for Transport)) approvals, we should have over £750,000 to support schemes proposed by our customers and stakeholders.  The current GWR franchise finishes on 31 March 2020. In November 2017, the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) announced their intention to award a further franchise to GWR, and the 2021/21 CCIF programme is dependent on this being concluded.
 
Over the last four years we have awarded over £3m supporting 133 schemes and projects. We want to keep that record of achievement going, and to do that we need your bids. We have kept the application form very simple, and you can find it along with guidance on www.GWR.com/CCIF
 
We want to encourage a variety of bids for projects of all shapes and sizes. It would be great if the fund could help close the gap on projects where some existing funding has already been secured or where funding is available from other sources, but this is not an essential.
 
In the past, we have supported schemes that have included station and car park infrastructure, information including connections to other public transport, cycling and walking, railway history and heritage, play equipment, outreach and familiarisation, destination marketing, training for employment, school safety and career education, accessibility and diversity initiatives.   We are looking for the sort of schemes that would not be eligible for traditional railway funding.
 
Schemes must be delivered in the 2020/21 financial year, so you will need to be sure you can start and finish within that time frame.  So that schemes can start in April 2020, we are asking for proposals for this first round of bids by 17:00 8 September 2019.   This will give us time to review and seek all necessary approvals.
 
For more information and to discuss any ideas you have ahead of submission please contact us on our dedicated CCIF email on ccif@gwr.com We will be happy to talk about any suggestions and to clarify any part of the process.
 
In previous years we have had annual bids totalling over £8 million. We can’t therefore guarantee success, but the more bids we have the more we can develop our plans to meet your aspirations. So please don’t hold back, we have kept the form deliberately simple to help and we want to hear from you.  You can make more than one bid if you would like.
 
We are very proud of the improvements that CCIF has delivered so far and looking forward to seeing what this year’s bid might bring.

[ChrisB]

Presumably, bids from previous years not taken forward can be represented.....?

[grahame]

Presumably, bids from previous years not taken forward can be represented.....?

I very doubt there's a rule to say they cannot. However, with only 39 out of 150 having been funded this year - such was the oversubscription - I think that anyone re-bidding would be wise to look at why they didn't get chosen for the 19/20 year and update accordingly.   Mind, I have no knowledge as to whether or not "almost made it last year" will be a shoe-in for the next year, or whether bidding perseverance will not be high on the list of criteria.