Environmental Improvement Programme

Our Environmental Improvement Programme funds and delivers small-scale projects that make a lasting and noticeable improvement to the city.

Recent successful projects have improved a number of war memorials and recreation grounds, as well as landscaped areas and roadside verges. We have also added and improved fencing, gates, benches, litter bins, and notice boards.

We allocate a capital budget to each of our four area committees – each committee’s budget is proportionate to the size of its population. The committees determine which projects in their area they will fund, usually up to a value of £5,000.

Any resident, local group or councillor can request a project. Requests must meet the eligibility criteria [PDF, 18KB] for funding. The amount of funding available is limited – it's usually not possible to fund all proposed projects in any given year.

The programme has been running for several years. We reviewed it in 2015 to put more emphasis on smaller, community supported applications that can be developed and delivered more quickly.

Local highway improvement projects

Community groups can apply for Local Highway Improvement funding – the county council will provide up to £10,000 towards successful applications.

Applicants must contribute a minimum of 10% of the project cost. We can provide this for projects in Cambridge, for projects that meet an agreed priority.

Successful projects will be those that benefit the local community, for example by improving signs, road markings and crossings, or parking controls.

Applications for these projects will not be considered under the Environmental Improvement Programme – we’ll send them to the county council for consideration for Local Highway Improvement funding.

Find out more about privately funded highway improvements on the county council website.

Suggest a project

We are now inviting applications for new Environmental Improvement Programme projects to be delivered by 2021.

Your project must meet the eligibility criteria [PDF, 18KB]. It’s fine to submit an application for a project that has previously been denied funding.

Feel free to contact us to discuss your idea before submitting the suggestion form.

We’ll assess each application against the eligibility criteria, and present the feasible suggestions for consideration by the area committees in autumn 2019.

Other funding schemes are available for different types of projects. If your project isn't eligible for Environmental Improvement Programme funding, you could investigate S106 funding or other grants and funding.