Members of council told how they will spend £3m UK Government funding

Lewis Smith, Local Democracy Reporter 

Members of local council have been updated on plans for how they will spend £3 million worth of UK Government funding in the coming years.

Bridgend County Council was allocated the cash for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years as part of UK Government’s Pride in Place Impact Fund in September of 2025.

The aim of the fund is to address issues that “matter locally” and could be used on local projects that help revive high streets or improve an area’s potential.

The report said the funds would now be split between two programmes that focus on “investment in both town centres and across our wider communities”.

This includes strategic investment in town centres which will enable the authority to invest in property, assets, and high street regeneration.

Additionally it could be used for enhancements to green spaces and the environment, as well as commercial capital grants for larger projects.

The second programme, the community infrastructure fund, will be split in to two strands for community projects worth between £25,000 and £300,000, with a small grant programme of £100,000 set aside for community organisations for projects worth up to £25,000 each.

Officers also noted that there would be some difficulties with the funding as there was such a tight deadline of around 18 months for it to be spent.

The report added that if any of it was unspent by March of 2027 it would have to be returned to the UK Government.

It said: “Due to the funding and timing constraints, it will be essential to target priority areas where the most immediate, visible and far-reaching improvements can be achieved within the funding timescales.”

The discussions were held at a council cabinet meeting on February 3, 2026 where the plan was approved unanimously to be taken forward.

It comes just weeks after the neighbouring county of Neath Port Talbot, who were awarded £20m to be spend over ten years on a single community, described the funding criteria as being confused and a shambles.