As part of the Your Voice, Your Town initiative, we’re launching a new £40,000 community grants fund to support community-led projects that help make Hanwell safer and stronger for everyone who lives, works or visits here.
This fund is open to local organisations, grassroots groups and individuals with creative, practical ideas that promote safety, inclusion, connection and wellbeing across our diverse community.
Your Voice, Your Town is about reclaiming local spaces, investing in community solutions, and strengthening what already works in Hanwell. Safety is about more than policing—it’s about belonging, opportunity and trust. This fund is one small step in helping Hanwell thrive from the ground up.
Before you make an application to the Feeling Safe in Hanwell – Community Grants Fund, please take the time to read the information available in this FAQ, it’s designed to help you prepare a strong application and ensure your project idea aligns with our aims for a more vibrant, inclusive and connected Hanwell.
Your project must align with our key priority of feeling safe for all in Hanwell
We’re looking for are projects that
There is a total of £40,000 which will be split into two tiers:
Small Sparks: Up to £1,000 for individuals or small grassroots groups to test or pilot ideas.
Community Projects: Up to £5,000 for more established or collaborative projects with wider community reach.
We expect to award around:
Larger projects from £1,000 may be requested to come and meet the Town Team after submission so we can discuss how your project would work.
You don’t have to be a registered charity to apply. If you have a good idea and a plan to deliver it, we want to hear from you if you are
*Any community group based in the local area can apply. This includes residents’ associations, youth groups, sports clubs, arts groups, places of worship and other not-for-profit organisations. Your group does not need to be a registered charity, but it should have a clear community focus, a constitution and a group bank account.
If you require a hard copy of the application form, please request one from your local library or community centre, or contact Evelyn Gloyn by writing to the Community Engagement Team, Ealing Council, Perceval House, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, Ealing W5 2HL and providing your full name and postal address.
You’ll need to tell us:
If you need help to apply we can offer support.
We want to encourage a wide of range of proposals but funding cannot be provided for
projects which fall into the following categories:
There are some rules and restrictions which applicants must adhere to:
The funds cannot be transferred to another person.
No, we welcome applications from individuals and groups
Individuals
We encourage individuals to apply and would recommend that you work with people in the community to evidence the need for your project. If you apply as an individual and are successful, you will receive the funding on providing references from two people from the community, which attest to your reliability and dedication to the proposed project.
Suitable referees may include local teachers, faith leaders, pharmacists, community workers or other respected individuals who are familiar with your work and standing in the community. Referees must not be family members.
Constituted and Groups
If you apply as a constituted group and are awarded a fund you will be asked to provide a copy of your constitution and details of your bank account.
Unconstituted Groups
If you apply as an unconstituted group, any award will be made on the basis that your grant is held and managed on your behalf by an eligible constituted organisation (“a Grant Managing Organisation”). The Council will arrange this with you after decisions are made. No payments are made directly to unconstituted groups.
Yes. We encourage applications from schools, but the activity funded must benefit the wider community, beyond the children, staff, parents and carers connected to the school.
For all successful applicants we require the project to commence within three months of the funding provision, and for it to be completed within two months.
If your project involves working with children, young adults and/or vulnerable adults, you will need to have some basic safeguarding measures in place.
Safeguarding measures are steps that help protect children, young people, and vulnerable adults from harm when they take part in community projects. For a community group, this usually means having a safeguarding policy in place, which is a simple document that explains how you will keep people safe. You should also make sure that anyone working directly with these groups has passed the necessary background checks (such as a Disclosure Barring Service check), and that there is a named person responsible for safeguarding who people can talk to if they have any concerns. Training for volunteers and staff on how to spot and report concerns is also helpful. These steps make sure that everyone involved is protected and knows what to do if something doesn’t seem right.
If you are a constituted group, you may already have a safeguarding policy in place, a named safeguarding lead person and DBS checked staff/volunteers, information you can provide on request if your application is successful.
If you intend to collect personal data on users of your service, this information will require a clear process on how you will handle, share, store and retain that data,
If you don’t have the above and need support with this, if your application is successful, we can help you put the right steps in place.
If your project involves using land or property that does not belong to you, you may need to get permission from the owner or Ealing Council before starting. If you are running activities where someone could get hurt or something could get damaged, you should have public liability insurance.
If your project involves making or selling food, you might need food hygiene certificates to show you can handle and prepare food safely.
It is important to check what is needed for your project and make sure you have everything in place before you begin. If you need help understanding permissions and documents you may need, you can contact Ealing and Hounslow CVS: Anoushka Bonwick – anoushka@ehcvs.org.uk.
If you are awarded a grant, depending on whether you are a constituted group, an unconstituted group or an individual, we will require documents that help with due diligence and support the audit of our payment process, including:
The deadline for applications is 23:59 Tuesday 6 January 2026.
Your full application, which includes personal information such as you or your group’s name, contact details, and project info etc. will be shared with a small number of people from the community known as the Town Team, to help make funding decisions to Ealing Council. To know more about who the Hanwell Town Team is, please go to Hanwell’s Town Team
Hanwell Town Team will only use this information to assess your application and may contact you to request additional information. For more details on how the information you share with us will be stored, used, retained and restricted please read the Data Sharing Privacy Notice
The Hanwell Town Team will review your application and may get in touch for more information. The decisions will be made by a Town Team panel made up of:
Any Town Team members who work for Ealing Council have opted to not sit on the panel as there may be conflicts of interest.
Panel members will reflect the diversity of Hanwell and will be trained in inclusive grant-making.
The panel will score bids based on:
Successful applicants will be notified by 13 February 2026, with projects expected to start from April 2026 and be completed by end September 2026.
Yes, the Town Team will ask you for a short report or feedback at the end, including how the money was spent and what difference it made. In some instances we may wish to visit your project and will arrange a date and time with you. Take photos if possible to help with your report.
If you need help with your application and want to speak to someone in person, there is a list of locations, dates and times when the Town Team will be available to answer questions. Check for more information Hanwell’s meetings and activities