WREN administers three funds, totalling about £100,000 each year, that have been generated by local solar and wind farms as a result of Section 106 commitments made by developers when planning consent was given.
Decisions on who should receive grants are made not by WREN, but by a committee or panel drawn from the relevant parishes and towns. Panel members may include local councillors, staff from WREN and people independent of both councils and WREN.
The Middle Treworder Community Fund
Worth £15,000 having been uprated annually for inflation. It is available to organisations in:
- Wadebridge town
- St Kew parish
- St Mabyn parish
- Egloshayle parish
The St. Breock Wind Farm Community Fund
Current annual value of £75,000, available to projects which benefit people in:
- St Breock,
- Withiel,
- St. Wenn,
- Wadebridge,
- Egloshayle,
- St. Issey and
- St. Columb.
Nanstallon Solar Farm Community Fund
£600 in 2024
Wadebridge Energy Company’s solar installation at Nanstallon, established by WREN, which supplies all its electricity to the neighbouring South West Water sewage treatment works, gives around £500 a year, dependent on profits, to:
- Lanivet parish - to support community and voluntary organisations whose projects will benefit the residents of Nanstallon.
WREN Community Benefit Fund from Clean Earth Energy Ltd.
A £9,000 pa community benefit fund to support environmental and sustainability projects, or projects that aim to inform and educate on environmental and sustainability issues.
WREN has detailed a wide scope for this fund, including energy, water, soil, river and ocean, biodiversity, pollution, transport, climate change, food, recycling, the natural environment, wildlife, and more. The money has been donated by Clean Earth Energy Ltd, a Wadebridge-based renewable energy company.
The fund is for not-for-profit organisations and groups operating in:
- The Padstow and Wadebridge Community Network area (see map here).
Summary of dates for future awards
These are the community funds currently open for application, and those recently closed. Click on the heading to see more information and, where appropriate, download an application form.
| Fund | Open | Closed | Decisions made by |
| WREN Community Benefit Fund | June 2024 | August 2024 | September 2024 |
Current funds
Closed funds and successful applicants
St Breock Wind Farm 2017
The £50,000 St Breock Wind Farm community fund closed for applications on 31st May 2017.
36 grants were allocated by the various panels as follows:
The original terms of the fund stated:
In its second year, over £50,000 is available for not-for-profit community projects that benefit people in St Breock, Withiel, St. Wenn, Wadebridge, Egloshayle, St. Issey and St. Columb.
Organisations that applied for the fund in 2016 are very welcome to apply again in 2017, regardless of whether or not they were successful then.
A total of £51,785 is available for projects in 2017 (the original £50,000 uplifted by inflation). This is broken down by area as follows:
- St. Breock £12946
- St Wenn £12946
- Withiel £7767
- Egloshayle £5178
- St Issey £2589
- St Columb Town £2589
- Wadebridge £7767
Middle Treworder Solar Farm 2016
The Middle Treworder Solar Farm community fund closed for applications on 12th September 2016.
The fund had £10,566 to distribute – this amount being the original £10,000 uplifted by inflation, plus the return of the grant made last year to Mother’s Milk Café.
It received 31 applications from local groups, requesting a total of £33,763.42, so after much discussion by the award committee, these seventeen awards were made:
- 1st Wadebridge Scouts (£802.20) - Safety Buoyancy aids for the riverboats (lifejackets and ski-vests)
- Camels Rugby Club (£2,194.60) - First aid kits and professional training equipment (tackle bags)
- Churches Together Holiday Club (£150.00) - Kids’ Holiday Club 2016 'Jungle Jamboree ' for the October half term holiday
- Dragons Swimming Club (£1,000.00) - to upgrade Coaching qualifications to Level 2 for their five volunteer coaches
- Growing Wild Cornwall (£500.00) - 7.5 whole class woodland days so that every child at St Breock School can enjoy the huge benefits of learning in nature
- St Kew preschool (£180.00) - protective outdoor clothing – waterproof and mudproof clothing for all year round activities
- St Kew Primary 'Growing for Gold' (£1,150.00) - additional polytunnel, an irrigation system, dry-wipe whiteboard and tools to enable use as an outdoor science room
- St Mabyn Home School Association (£690.00) - Polytunnel and growing equipment to support children’s outdoor education and learning
- St Mabyn Parish Council (£499.20) - New play and fitness equipment for the Playing Fields
- Time to Shine CIC (£300.00) - ‘El Dia de los Muertos’ Celebration (Day of the Dead) – a Mexican themed alternative to Halloween
- Wadebridge 1942 Squadron Cadets (£200.00) - Resources to help set up a newly formed Squadron in Wadebridge
- Wadebridge Carnival 2017 (£500.00) - to support the activities in the 2017 Carnival
- Wadebridge Community Theatre/Hopeful Monsters (£500.00) - towards the costs of their 2017 production of ‘Master and Margarita’ by Mikhail Bulgakov
- Wadebridge Creative Hub - 'Write Wadebridge' (£150.00) - a writing workshop ‘Write Wadebridge’ to bring together all sections of the local community to write about living and working in Wadebridge
- Wadebridge Festival of Music and Speech(£500.00) - venue hire and programme printing costs for the 2017 Festival
- Wadebridge Primary Academy (£850.00) - to purchase ‘balance bikes’ as an aid to learning to ride
- Wadebridge Tennis Club - 'mini tennis' (£400.00) - mini tennis - tennis lessons free of charge throughout the year to reception age children at both Wadebridge’s primary schools
The original terms of the fund stated:
£10,000 is now available for community projects to benefit people living in Wadebridge, and St Kew, St Mabyn and Egloshayle parishes.
The money comes from the Middle Treworder Solar Farm and is available as grants to charitable projects and purposes; with a focus on grass roots community and voluntary groups.
The fund committee’s priorities are for projects that will benefit children, young people and schools, or households in or at risk of fuel poverty, and also to low carbon initiatives and climate change mitigation or adaptation projects.