OREANDA-NEWS. June 16, 2015. Local communities across central southern England have received a windfall of nearly ?160,000 to protect their towns and villages from the effects of severe weather.

The electricity network operator Southern Electric Power Distribution (SEPD) is awarding the money as part of its ?1million Resilient Communities Fund, set up to help local groups improve the ability of their towns and villages to withstand extreme weather events.

Some of the projects awarded the money include programmes to: improve flood defences; enhance mobile communications for communities during emergencies; train volunteers in life-saving techniques; and install a back-up electricity generator in a community hall.

Stuart Hogarth, Director of Distribution at SEPD, said he was delighted with the quality of the applications. “We had a superb response to this new fund and I was really pleased with the range and quality of applications. Although we have only given ?160,000 in this round, we have deferred making a decision for some other applicants until we get more detailed information from them. I would urge any community group thinking of applying for the second round to contact us as soon as possible.”

With one million pounds in total available for communities across SEPD’s operating area of central southern England, there are four rounds of applications with ?250,000 available in each. This time 16 projects will each receive grants of up to ?20,000. Any money not awarded will be rolled-over to the second round of funding, deadline for which is 25th September 2015. 

The successful projects were chosen by a panel comprising representatives from the British Red Cross, National Energy Action, Age UK and Southern Electric Power Distribution.