Community Fund
As part of National Grid’s long-standing commitment to the communities hosting electricity transmission infrastructure, we are delivering a Community Fund of around £3.5 million. The fund is designed to provide lasting social, economic and environmental benefit and could support skills training, education opportunities and improvements to green spaces.
How the Community Fund is developed
Developed in line with Government guidance on community benefits for electricity transmission infrastructure, the NLR fund will be delivered through two Local Funds:
- £530,000 near Stocking Pelham
- £530,000 near Waltham Cross
The remaining £2.4 million will be delivered through a Strategic Fund, supporting wider priorities across the project route.
We have been working with residents, community groups, charities and elected representatives to understand local needs and help shape the fund around community priorities. This has included local workshops, a webinar and a survey to hear from a wider range of people and organisations. We will consider all the feedback we receive as we develop the fund, including funding priorities, eligible areas and how funding will be delivered.
Community Fund survey
In September-October 2026, we conducted a two-month survey for residents, businesses, community groups and local organisations to share their views.
The feedback we received will help us understand what matters most to local communities and how the funding could make a positive, lasting impact.
Community Fund workshops
We held Community Fund workshops in Waltham Cross on 30 April 2026 and Pelham on 6 May 2026 to discuss local needs, priorities and opportunities for funding.
The workshops helped us develop our initial proposals for the Community Fund and identified several emerging themes:
- Improving community spaces and helping them reduce energy costs
- Supporting physical health, mental wellbeing and social connection
- Protecting the environment and improving access to green spaces
- Creating opportunities for young people, education and skills
- Helping communities respond to cost-of-living pressures.
These themes are not final and will continue to be refined through feedback from our wider Community Fund survey and ongoing engagement.
You can view the presentation slides from each workshop below:
Community Fund webinar
On 10 September 2026, local authorities joined an online webinar to hear more about the Community Fund and how it is being developed. The session also provided an update on our earlier community workshops and outlined which areas around Pelham and Waltham Cross will be eligible for local funding, who may be eligible to apply, what potential grant sizes may be and how the fund could work.
You can view the webinar materials below:
Other community benefits we offer
In addition to the Community Fund, we are offering a range of wider community benefits as part of the NLR project. This includes delivering social value initiatives. These are the broader, longer-term benefits a project can bring to people, places and communities.
These include:
- Talks and workshops with local schools about science, engineering and future careers
- Promoting local job and skills opportunities
- Supporting charities and community projects through staff volunteering
- Environmental volunteering, including local clean-ups and work to improve wildlife habitats.
Read more about our social value work on our latest news page.
Frequently asked questions
Understanding Community Funds
Community Funds are dedicated funding delivered by National Grid to recognise the role communities play in hosting new electricity transmission infrastructure. They are designed to deliver positive, long-term benefits for those areas.
For North London Reinforcement, this includes a Local Fund, supporting communities closest to the new infrastructure, and a Strategic Fund, supporting wider area or regional priorities where this can deliver greater impact.
Community Funds are linked to major infrastructure projects and are calculated in line with government guidance. The level of funding available for each project is subject to approval by Ofgem.
As a regulated business, National Grid’s expenditure is independently scrutinised to ensure it is efficient and represents value for money. Community Funds are considered as part of the overall investment needed to deliver critical electricity infrastructure and, where approved by Ofgem, are funded through National Grid's regulatory framework and recovered from consumers through electricity bills.
Community Funds are separate from the planning process. They are not compensation and cannot be used to fund measures required to manage or mitigate the impacts of the project.
Measures to reduce or mitigate project impacts are addressed through the planning and consenting process, while any compensation is handled through separate established arrangements. The Community Fund is additional and is intended to provide positive, long-term social, economic and environmental benefits for eligible communities.
National Grid is responsible for setting up the Community Fund in line with Government guidance and regulatory requirements. Local Funds will be managed by third party grant administrators to ensure decisions are fair, transparent, and based on agreed criteria. Strategic Funds will be developed with input from an Independent Advisory Network, comprising expert regional and thematic stakeholders, and approved through agreed governance arrangements.
We will be clear about how Community Funds operate, including eligibility, decision-making processes and how funding is awarded. We will publish information on funded projects and the outcomes they deliver, so communities can see how decisions have been taken and how funding is being used.
The final governance arrangements will be explained when the fund launches.
We will publish clear and accessible information about Community Funds, including how much funding is available, how decisions are made, and which projects receive funding.
We will also report over time on what the funding has delivered. This helps communities, Government, and the regulator understand how funds are being used and the impact they are having.
Community Funds are not allocated based on which communities experience the most disruption during construction. Instead, they are intended to recognise the role communities play in hosting qualifying electricity transmission infrastructure. In line with government guidance, eligibility is focused on communities closest to that infrastructure, rather than on the level of construction impact experienced.
Measures to manage or mitigate construction impacts are dealt with separately through the project and its planning requirements. Further information on the distinction between these measures and the Community Fund is provided above.
About the North London Reinforcement Community Fund
We will deliver a Community Fund of around £3.5 million, which is expected to include two Local Funds and a Strategic Fund.
Our intention is for funding to be available throughout the construction period for the North London Reinforcement project. Government guidance allows funding to continue for longer where appropriate, potentially for up to 15 years.
The two Local Funds will make £530,000 available for communities near Stocking Pelham and £530,000 for communities near Waltham Cross. The value of each Local Fund reflects the scale of the qualifying substation extension, in line with Government guidance. The remaining £2.4 million will be delivered through a Strategic Fund, supporting wider regional priorities and projects that can deliver broader benefits across the project route.
The Community Grant Programme is a centrally run National Grid programme and is not funded by, or specific to, the North London Reinforcement project. It is available more widely to eligible community and voluntary organisations in areas affected by National Grid’s operations and infrastructure, with grants of up to £20,000 available subject to the programme’s eligibility criteria.
The North London Reinforcement Community Fund is different because it is a dedicated fund of around £3.5 million, that will be provided specifically as part of the project for communities hosting qualifying project infrastructure.
The North London Reinforcement Community Fund will have its own eligibility criteria, funding priorities and application process, shaped through engagement with local communities.
Eligibility is based on communities closest to qualifying infrastructure, in line with Government guidance. For the two local funds, we are currently proposing a five-kilometre area around Pelham Substation and a 3.5-kilometre area around Waltham Cross Substation. These proposed areas focus on the communities closest to the qualifying infrastructure, in line with government guidance.
The proposed areas reflect what we heard during our early engagement. In and around Pelham, residents told us they often travel further to reach schools, village halls and other community facilities, so a wider area has been proposed. In Waltham Cross, where communities are more densely populated and facilities are available nearby, a smaller area is proposed. We have also refined the boundaries to help keep neighbouring communities together.
We recognise that community connections do not always follow fixed boundaries. An organisation based outside the proposed area may still be eligible if it can demonstrate that its project will benefit people within the eligible area.
These areas are not yet final. We are seeking feedback from communities and stakeholders and will consider it alongside local factors before confirming the boundaries. This reflects our wider approach of shaping the Local Funds around local circumstances and community needs.
The grant amounts for North London Reinforcement have not yet been finalised.
As a starting point, we are considering an approach similar to existing National Grid Community Funds. These currently include grants:
up to £5,000 for activities such as feasibility studies
up to £10,000 for community projects
up to £20,000 for projects involving capital works.
We are seeking community feedback on whether this approach would be appropriate for NLR Community Fund before confirming the grant amounts.
If funds remain unallocated, we will keep this under regular review to ensure they are directed to priority needs in a timely way. We will aim to maximise the amount of funding awarded. This may include increasing communications and engagement activity to raise awareness of available funding and support a strong pipeline of applications.
Applications
Subject to the final eligibility criteria, eligible organisations are expected to include:
- registered charities
- registered non-profit companies limited by guarantee
- community benefit / mutual societies that do not operate for profit or habitual payment of dividends
- parish/town councils applying for support with non-statutory projects. Projects need to demonstrate community need and go beyond services and/or responsibilities the parish/town councils are required to provide by law
- parent teacher associations or “friends of” organisations associated with schools. Schools themselves are not expected to be eligible.
- other constituted non-profit organisations operating for wider community benefit.
Faith-based organisations may also be eligible where a project provides a wider community benefit. However, funding cannot be used for activities that are solely for religious or political purposes.
There is no proposed limit on the number of eligible organisations from the same village or parish that can apply. Each organisation and project will be considered against the funding criteria.
Full eligibility guidance will be published when applications open.
Our proposed approach is to allow each organisation to make one application per financial year. Organisations would be able to apply again in a following financial year.
Organisations that have previously received funding would need to complete their project and submit the required reporting before applying again.
We will confirm the detailed application rules when the fund launches.
Eligibility will focus on where the proposed project will benefit communities, rather than simply where the organisation applying is based. This means an organisation based outside the proposed area may still be eligible if it can clearly demonstrate that its project will deliver benefits for people within the eligible area.
The proposed areas and wider eligibility criteria are still being developed. We will confirm the final arrangements before applications open.
The priorities are still being developed with communities. Our engagement so far has identified several themes, including:
- improving community spaces and saving energy
- supporting physical health, mental wellbeing and social connection
- protecting the environment and increasing access to green spaces
- creating opportunities for young people, education and skills
- helping communities respond to cost-of-living pressures.
The purchase of land will not be eligible for funding.
These themes are not final or exhaustive. We will use community feedback to help shape the priorities and publish clear guidance on eligible projects when the fund opens for applications.
We recognise that delivering a community project can involve administration and other running costs, alongside the direct costs of the activity itself.
Some of these costs may be eligible for Community Fund support, where they are necessary to deliver the proposed project. However, restrictions may apply to core organisational costs and other types of expenditure.
We will provide clear guidance on eligible costs when the fund opens for applications.
We expect the Local Funds to open in early 2027, once we have completed the current period of community engagement. The survey closes on 31 October 2026, after which we will consider the responses alongside feedback from our workshops, webinar and wider engagement to help finalise the fund, including its priorities and eligibility criteria.
The Strategic Fund will follow later, as we will continue to refine it following what we hear through our community engagement. We will also establish an Independent Advisory Network, bringing together local, regional and subject matter expertise to provide further insight into priorities and opportunities for strategic investment. We expect to share more information about the Strategic Fund during 2027.
We will provide further information on both funds, including how funding will be accessed and relevant timescales, as plans develop.
Independent Advisory Networks are stakeholder groups made up of independent individuals with local and sector expertise.
They provide insight on needs and priorities and help ensure Strategic Funds are delivered fairly, consistently and in line with agreed policy. They do not replace community engagement or decision-making processes but help strengthen governance and ensure approaches reflect the wider, regional context.
Membership of the Independent Advisory Network has not yet been confirmed. We expect it to bring together a broad range of local and regional representatives, alongside relevant subject specialists. The membership will also be informed by the priorities identified through our community engagement.
We welcome suggestions for organisations or representatives that could bring valuable local or specialist insight to the network.
We want applying for funding to be as straightforward as possible. Most applications will be submitted online, but we recognise this may not work for everyone and will provide alternative arrangements where needed.
Applicants are likely to be asked to explain:
- what they want to do
- why the project is needed
- who will benefit
- what difference the project will make
- how much it will cost
- when it will be delivered.
For some projects, applicants may also need to provide supporting information such as quotes or relevant permissions.
Existing National Grid Community Funds operate through regular funding rounds, and we are considering a similar approach for this Fund.
Full guidance and support will be available when applications open.
We want organisations to feel supported throughout the application process. When the fund launches, we'll publish clear guidance explaining who can apply, what information is needed and how applications will be assessed.
We'll also hold information sessions where groups can find out more about the fund, ask questions and get advice before applying. An independent grant administrator will be available to provide support and help organisations put forward the strongest possible application.
Community engagement
Community engagement is at the heart of developing the Community Fund. We want to understand local needs and priorities, and where funding could make a lasting difference. We are using a range of engagement methods to hear from residents, community groups, charities and local representatives before finalising the fund.
We held community workshops in Waltham Cross and Pelham in April and May 2026. Council representatives and local community organisations were invited to take part in the workshops, which explored local needs, potential priorities for funding and other organisations and communities we should involve as the fund develops. From these discussions, we identified several emerging themes, which provided a starting point for our wider engagement.
Alongside this engagement, we held an online webinar for community representatives and conducted a survey to hear from a wider range of people and organisations. The survey was open to residents as well as community groups, charities, councils and other local stakeholders. It asked about the issues and priorities that matter locally and provided an opportunity to raise priorities that may not have emerged through earlier engagement.
We will clearly explain how community feedback has influenced our decisions and shaped our approach to delivering Community Funds. This may include updating proposals, refining funding priorities, or adjusting how benefits are delivered in response to what we hear. We will share feedback summaries, explain the reasons for decisions, and keep communities informed as plans develop.
We will use a range of channels to make communities aware when applications open. This will include updates on the project website, direct communications, media activity and targeted social media.
We will also contact residents, community groups, charities, elected representatives and other organisations that have taken part in our engagement or expressed an interest in the fund.
We recognise that local organisations and representatives have established networks within their communities. We will look to work with them so that they can share information through their own channels and reach groups that may not already be engaged with the project.
We are considering how best to share the findings from the current engagement before the fund launches. This could include publishing the findings on the project website and providing a further briefing on the approach before applications open.
We will provide further information once the next stage of engagement has been confirmed.
We will continue to publish information about the Community Fund on the NLR website as plans develop. You can also contact the NLR community relations team with questions or feedback by calling us on 0800 538 5398, emailing [email protected] or writing to FREEPOST NATIONAL GRID NLR (no stamp or further address required).