Gloucestershire County Council has today launched a new £2million Build Back Better Fund to help communities recover and rebuild from the impacts of Covid-19.

The fund provides a total of £40,000 to each of the county's 53 electoral divisions to allow each county councillor to support bids in their area and ensure the benefits of the investment are shared right across Gloucestershire.

Recognising the diverse nature and needs of Gloucestershire's communities and neighbourhoods, councillors are able to support a range of projects and initiatives in areas including including community health and wellbeing, digital inclusion, nature and the environment, healthy lifestyles and safer neighbourhoods.

The fund is also open to a variety of groups and bodies including but not exclusively; community and voluntary organisations, charities, community interest companies, town and parish councils and sports groups.

Councillor Lynden Stowe, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and change said: "Creating this fund is important to us as we want to do all we can to support communities and neighbourhoods, not just to recover but to build back better and stronger from the impacts of Covid-19. The fund, allocated evenly across the county, will ensure every community, supported by their local county councillor, can bid for funding.

"I'm delighted that we've been able to get the scheme up and running so quickly and would urge those community groups who think this fund can help them make a real difference to their communities to make sure they apply."

For more information on the Build Back Better fund, as well as details of how to apply, click here.