Applications open for Adur & Worthing Councils' new Connected Communities fund
Released: Tuesday, 15 September 2026
Voluntary, community and social enterprise groups are being invited to bid for funding of up to £5,000 from our newly streamlined grants process.
Designed to make applications simpler and less time-consuming for community groups, the Connected Communities grant fund is now open for applications.
The £121,000 fund is made up from four previous grants - the Adur Community Grant, Community Transport Grant, Worthing Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Neighbourhood Fund and income from textile recycling in Adur - and is intended to support small local project costs of between £1,000 and £5,000.
Groups can use the fund to support a wide range of projects that benefit communities across Adur and Worthing, and the councils are particularly interested in receiving applications that:
- support children and young people
- enhance climate resilience
- focus on local need
- show evidence of lasting impact on the community or environment
The aim is to not only fund individual projects, but to encourage collaboration between groups, strengthen local relationships and support activity that leaves something behind after the funding ends.
Funding from the pooled grants will be distributed across Adur and Worthing by area, keeping the current CIL Neighbourhood Fund areas for Worthing and splitting Adur into three areas - Lancing & Sompting, Shoreham, and Southwick & Fishersgate.
Pooling the grants will provide greater flexibility to support areas where there may be less access to funding in a particular year, as can be the case with the Worthing CIL Neighbourhood Fund, and ensure that local groups in both Adur and Worthing have fairer access to funding that is tailored to the needs of each neighbourhood.
As part of the changes there will now be a single application route and the introduction of local assessment panels made up of ward councillors, officers and community representatives for each area. The councils will also trial a new digital grants management platform.
To help groups find out more about the changes, we have begun hosting a series of in-person networking events across Adur and Worthing.
Councillor Adrienne Lowe, Adur's cabinet member for communities, wellbeing and leisure, said:
“The Connected Communities Grant Fund programme will help us continue supporting and celebrating the great work of the voluntary and community sector in Adur and I'm looking forward to receiving a wide range of applications from as many groups as possible.”
Councillor Dom Ford, Worthing's cabinet member for communities, culture and leisure, said:
“This first step in streamlining our grant funding process will help make applying for funding from us much simpler for groups, as well as save us time spent administrating multiple funds. Other funds may be added to the pooled grants pot from next year and we'll be looking at other ways to help groups reduce reliance on annual grant support.”
To find out more about the fund, networking events, or to apply by Sunday 25th October 2026, groups can visit:
(PR26-080)
Page last updated: 15 September 2026