Summerfield Charitable Trust have created a £1million investment for nature and climate, with a grant to set up a new fund to give communities access to funding and expert support when opportunities arise to bring land into community ownership or secure it for nature.

See Summerfield Trust's announcement: https://summerfield.org.uk/1-million-summerfield-trust-investment-to-help-gloucestershire-communities-protect-green-spaces-for-future-generations/ Many thanks indeed to Summerfield Charitable Trust for making this possible.

Gloucestershire Local Nature Partnership co-ordinated the development of this idea, with the help of many organisations around the partnership - many thanks to you all. Gloucestershire Nature + Climate Fund, already set up with aims to give grants for nature recovery and climate adaptation projects in Gloucestershire, will run this new fund.

The new initiative will provide several ways of helping communities act quickly. These will include repayable ‘patient’ grants which give groups time to fundraise before returning the money to the fund, allowing it to be used again. Emergency grants will be available in some cases, particularly where communities in more disadvantaged areas need additional help.

Capacity grants will help groups establish themselves and access professional support, while ecological, organisational and legal advice will be available through experts within Gloucestershire Local Nature Partnership and beyond.

Gloucestershire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy, published in February 2026, identifies where protecting, improving and connecting habitats can have the greatest impact. This will be one of the main criteria used when deciding which projects the new fund should support.

The initiative will also address unequal access to nature. Groups in more disadvantaged communities may receive additional funding and practical help where they need more support to establish an organisation, fundraise or obtain specialist advice.

See BBC Gloucestershire news report: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9y7zmg53nrzo