Neighbourhood Fund: Application Process Guidance

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a levy imposed on developers whenever new homes or retail space is built in in Mole Valley. These funds to help to pay for the infrastructure needed to respond to the impacts of new development.

75-85% of CIL funds are available to contribute to strategic infrastructure to support development in the district and enable growth. See the Strategic CIL webpage.

15% of the funds is for local infrastructure that is required in the communities (25% where an area has a Neighbourhood Plan).

The remaining 5% of CIL funds collected is retained by us for administration purposes.

In parished areas, the Neighbourhood CIL portion of fund is passed directly to the Parish Council. If the project is located in the following parished locations: Abinger; Betchworth; Brockham; Buckland; Capel; Charlwood; Headley; Holmwood (south); Leigh, Mickleham; Newdigate; Ockley; and Wotton; funding requests should be directed to the appropriate parish council clerk.

The Neighbourhood Fund is for provision in the locations outside parish council areas. It funds local infrastructure improvements in the following “Neighbourhood CIL Zones”: Ashtead; Bookham; Fetcham; and Leatherhead in the north, and Dorking; Box Hill; Pixham/Westhumble; and Westcott in the south.

Applicants should consult the Community Infrastructure Levy Dashboard to see what funds are available in their Neighbourhood CIL Zone.

Councillors prefer applications to be funded from the monies available in the Neighbourhood CIL Zone in which the project is located. However, if it can be demonstrated that the proposal would bring about significant benefits for other zones within the wider working group area, Councillors may agree to the allocate some money from the funding pots of those zones.

We expect applications to come from not-for-profit organisations.

Applicants may include:

• statutory infrastructure providers
• state schools
• community groups
• registered charities

The Community Infrastructure Regulations 2010 state that Neighbourhood CIL can be used to support the development of the area, or any part of that area, by funding—

1. the provision, improvement, replacement, operation or maintenance of infrastructure; or
2. anything else that is concerned with addressing the demands that development places on an area.

Projects could provide new infrastructure or repair existing infrastructure. The definition of infrastructure as per the regulations is broad and encompasses areas like transport, flood defences, schools and other educational facilities, medical facilities, sporting and recreational facilities and open spaces.

Projects must be deliverable and represent value for money, not to mention they also need to be supported by the local community. CIL is public funding, so any new or improved facilities should be accessible to a range of people within the community.

Previous successful projects have included:

• the renovation of community buildings

• creating a new playground in a park
• new sports equipment for clubs
• refurbishing public toilets in Ashtead and Bookham
• the resurfacing of footpaths
• installing Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) display screens at bus stops
• installing traffic calming measures
• putting in a pedestrian crossing

For examples of recently funded and completed projects, see the latest Infrastructure Funding Statement.

If your project involves works to the public highway, please contact to Surrey County Council before submitting the application. You best first point of call would be relevant Community Partnership Officer.

If your project is for infrastructure in a park or recreation ground, please contact the Mole Valley Parks Team before submitting the application.

If your project involves works to a Mole Valley District Council owned asset, please contact the Mole Valley Property Team before submitting the application.

• Projects that have commenced or completed prior to a funding decision being made by the Neighbourhood CIL Working Group
• Projects that will not commence within a year of the award of funding
• Ongoing revenue costs for the running of a project, for example staffing costs
• Projects that are not for physical capital works, such as courses or classes
• Annual maintenance or repair
• Projects for capital items with limited longevity.
• Projects promoting a political party
• Projects that conflict with existing council policies
• VAT that you can recover

Please note funding should be for the delivery stage of a project rather than for project development or feasibility work, which should generally take place in advance of bids being made.

It may be determined that some projects are better funded through other funding sources.

There is no strict limit on how much funding can be bid per project, although the amount will need to be appropriate for the type of infrastructure sought. To give an idea, to date, the maximum that has been granted for an individual funding application is £100,000.

Applications can be made for full or part funding of a project.

We want to ensure that infrastructure provided by CIL meets the needs of communities.

When funding applications are considered, the assessment approach takes into account four key factors:

• Neighbourhood Development Plan adopted – The assessment looks at whether there is a Neighbourhood Development Plan covering the site of the project and whether the Plan identifies the type of infrastructure as being important for that local area.
• Benefits to residents / Community support – In 2022, a public consultation was carried out to help identify the most important infrastructure categories (things like health facilities, education facilities or outdoor equipment in parks) for the north and south unparished areas of the district. Projects in the most highly ranked infrastructure categories score more highly in the assessment.

It is important that applicants seek to engage with the community prior to making their bids. This particularly important in areas without a Neighbourhood Plan to support their case. Applicants should engage with local elected Councillors, Residents’ Associations and relevant local community and interest groups before submitting an application.

• Financial support needed – applications that have successful secured significant proportions of the project cost from other funding avenues will be assessed more favourably.
• Deliverability – Applicants need to demonstrate that the project is ready to be implemented. This means they have produced a project plan identifying the key tasks and project milestones, they have considered potential risks to delivery and have thought about mitigation mechanisms, they can demonstrate best value through the cost comparison and quotation benchmarking, and they have identified the consents that need to be obtained to carry out the proposal.

You can review the full scoring assessment criteria (link to be created in due course)

When there is not sufficient money available, some good funding proposals may miss out on funding awards in favour of more strongly performing applications. However, they can always be resubmitted for a later round when there is sufficient funds available.

There are three rounds of funding every year (spring, summer and winter).

The next deadlines for submitting applications are:

• Winter: 1 October 2025
• Spring: 2 February 2026
• Summer: 1 June 2026

Applications received after these dates will be held over to the next available funding round.

After the application is submitted, if necessary, we may ask for further information. If we don’t receive the requested details in time, it may not be possible to consider the application at the upcoming working group.

The working groups, made up of local councillors, have been set up to review applications and make recommendations to Cabinet as to whether monies should be awarded.

There are two working groups:

• The North Working Group covers the wards of Bookham West; Bookham East & Eastwick Park; Fetcham; Leatherhead North; Leatherhead South; Ashtead Lanes & Common; and Ashtead Park.
• The South Working Group covers the wards of Dorking North, Dorking South, and the unparished areas of Brockham, Betchworth, Buckland, Box Hill & Headley (Box Hill);  Mickleham, Westcott & Okewood (Westcott and Westhumble); and Holmwoods and Beare Green (North Holmwood and Mid Holmwood).

If enough information has been supplied, the application will be taken forward to the Working Group, together with a council officer report and recommendation.

The applicant will be invited to the Working Group and will have the opportunity to present the application and answer any questions the Working Group members may have. If the funding application is within an area covered by a Residents’ Association, we will also invite them to the meeting to give their perspective.

The Working Group will make a recommendation on the proposal, which will be confidential until a final decision is made by the Cabinet at a later meeting.

There is no right of appeal against the recommendation of the Working Group. The Cabinet decision can be challenged in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

Full terms and conditions will be sent along with an award letter to successful applicants after the Cabinet meeting.

Where relevant, the NCIL funding will be conditional upon the applicant obtaining any necessary consents or permissions as may be required, or additional funding.

This page provides an outline of the parameters of Neighbourhood CIL and the application process.

There is specific guidance (link to be created in due course) available for the completion of the application form. This should be read before completing the form.

In order to be able to save you application as you go along prior to submission, you need to register an MVDC account first.

Then you can then begin completing the online application form:

Neighbourhood Fund Application Form ›