Apply for CIL
Community Infrastructure Levy funding is now open to bids.
On this page, you'll find all the information your community organisation needs to apply for Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding. You can apply online via flexigrant using the button below.
If you need any help with your application, please contact us at cil@winchester.gov.uk or call us on 01962 814 906.
On this page
About the funding
The Community Infrastructure Levy is all about providing funding to community organisations to help them deliver community-led schemes in the district.
Through CIL, grants of between £10,000 and £200,000 are available, and the funding can either be used to cover the full cost of a project, or be combined with funding available from other sources.
The following types of infrastructure and facilities are eligible for CIL funding:
- Education facilities
- Healthcare facilities
- Energy and carbon reduction schemes / climate change mitigation
- Open space provision
- Built facilities, indoor / outdoor sports, recreational and informal leisure and social facilities
- Green and blue infrastructure
- Community and cultural facilities
- Active travel and movement infrastructure
How to apply
Applications for CIL funding can be made online via Flexigrant.
You can find an example application form to the right of this page under the Documents header.
Assessment criteria
To be eligible for CIL funding, your project should meet one or more of the following criteria:
-
Support the delivery of development/infrastructure in the Local Plan and other Council strategies.
-
Contribute to the delivery of key development sites in the district.
-
Contribute towards the delivery of infrastructure by a provider (including the County Council) that would not otherwise happen.
-
Leverage other funds that would not otherwise be available, e.g. needed to match or draw grant funding.
-
Offers wider, as well as local, benefits.
-
Address a specific impact of new development beyond that which has been secured through a s106 Obligation or s278 (Highways) Agreement.
Funding timetable
As agreed at a Cabinet on 12 March, there’ll now be two CIL bidding windows - one beginning in June and one in November. The first bidding window for 2026 opened on 1 June.
- All bids need to be submitted no later than the end of November each year.
-
In the following new year, requests received will be considered by a panel of city council officers and Cabinet members. Projects will be assessed against the criteria referred to above and recommendations made as to which projects could be supported.
-
City council officers will prepare a report recommending projects to be funded, including those which have been submitted as part of this scheme, and recommended for funding by the Panel.
- The decision to fund a proposed scheme will rest with Cabinet and approval will take place in March each year.