A FUND is available to help local councils in Ludlow and south Shropshire to create green spaces for people to enjoy.

Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow, is encouraging local town and parish councils to bid for funding from a new £1.35m government fund to revive rundown green spaces or create new pocket parks, part of a larger package of measures to rejuvenate green spaces in our towns.

Community groups can now bid for new parks or reimagined spaces that will be used for everything from children’s play areas, to vegetable patches and community events, benefitting the mental and physical health of people who use them.

Funded projects will be led by community groups, in partnership with local authorities, to refurbish parks and encourage community activities.

Those wanting to develop new parks can bid for up to £15,000, while up to £25,000 is available for plans to refurbish existing parks.

The spaces that can benefit from the fund range from sports fields where people can improve their fitness and also areas in which communities can get together and meet.

“I am pleased the government is putting money in to help revitalise green spaces and to create new pocket parks, to enhance the physical and mental wellbeing of communities, as well as potentially helping our environment,” said Mr Dunne.

“I have alerted local town councils in south Shropshire to the opportunity to bid into this fund, to help keep our local green spaces in the best condition for all to enjoy for years to come.”

In addition to the pocket parks programme, the government has awarded £9.7 million of new funding to local authorities giving them the resources they need to better maintain, protect and increase recreational spaces. It has also awarded over a million pounds to the National Trust and The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Future Parks Accelerator initiative to test new and innovative approaches to managing and funding parks.