Second window open from Monday, July 31 until Friday, September 8.
The ECB County Grants Fund aims to support affiliated cricket clubs to create welcoming environments, provide enhanced facilities and playing opportunities for women, girls' & disability cricket, and to develop environmentally sustainable facilities.
Rising operating costs, based largely on the cost of energy and other utilities, has made it increasingly difficult for cricket clubs to keep afloat. Additionally in some cases where rurally located cricket clubs have had to operate without mains water and electricity there are now means of overcoming that hurdle.
So far in 2023, the Devon Cricket Board have supported 14 County Grant projects at a wide range of cricket clubs, the overwhelming eligibility theme being “Tackling Climate Change”, with 10 of those clubs implementing sustainability projects of some kind.
We intend to complete some case studies in the coming months for some of these excellent projects, all of which have resulted in reduced running costs for the club. Here are a few examples of these economical, green initiatives being implemented across the county.
At Budleigh Salterton CC a rainwater harvesting system has recently been installed at the same time as the major pavilion build project at their new two-pitch ground at East Budleigh. Rainwater will be collected from the roof and pumped to elevated storage tanks enabling ground irrigation to take place. Additionally, the same stored rainwater will be used for “grey water” usage within their new pavilion, to essentially flush toilets.
Teignmouth & Shaldon CC have struggled at their Hazledown Oval ground without mains water until a borehole was sunk in June, which now enables pitch irrigation to take place without having to import water from other remote sources.
Bridestowe CC have managed for years without mains electricity at their Millaton Ground facility with previous quotes for a grid connection being massively cost-prohibitive. Instead of having to rely on a petrol engine-driven, noisy generator, they now have an effective off-grid 5-kW solar PV installation complete with a 12-kW storage battery to cater for their general electrical needs, which has massively reduced their carbon footprint in the process.
Several other clubs have commissioned solar PV installations and are seeing the benefits of shortened pay-back periods thanks to their County Grant award.
The fund has three essential themes for investment:
- Creating Welcoming Environments
- Providing Enhanced Facilities and Playing Opportunities for Women’s and Girls’ Cricket and/or Disability Cricket
- Tackling Climate Change
Clubs can apply for between £1,000 and £10,000 to support their viable club projects. They will need to demonstrate partnership funding either directly from club funds or an alternative source.
The 2nd application window for County Grants will open on Monday, July 31 and will run until Friday, September 8. During this period clubs can complete their online application via the IMS portal.
As an early stage in the application process, clubs now have an opportunity to submit their 'Expression of Interest' (EoI). This will allow the DCB to evaluate the likely level of interest in applications for the remainder of this year and compare it against the remaining grant budget.
Clubs can also start progressing their application now, outside of the IMS Portal by inviting quotations and applying for any necessary planning consent.
Any proposed projects will need to be developed and completed before the end of January 2024. This important factor needs to be considered before submitting your EoI, as if project completion is unlikely in that timescale, it’s recommended to wait until next year's application window opens.
CONTACTS
For any County Grant Fund enquiries please contact:
Devon Cricket Funding and Facilities Manager –
Nick Goodliffe - nick.goodliffe@devoncricket.co.uk - 07801 178329
