More than £1.1 million will be set aside for county councillors to invest into grassroots projects across Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire County Council leaders have agreed at their Cabinet meeting last week to create the Grassroots Neighbourhood Fund.

This will provide each of the 55 county councillors with £20,000 to invest in their community.

This fund will be open to grassroots projects that improve health and wellbeing and tackle health inequalities within each member’s division.

Each councillor will have two years to spend their allocation with a minimum of £250 and a maximum of £5,000 available to any one project.

The fund will support locally-driven activity to promote health and well-being and community connections.

Cllr Paul Hodgkinson (Lib Dem, Bourton-on-the-Water and Northleach), who is responsible for public health communities and fire, said he was delighted to announce the proposal at the cabinet meeting.

He said: “What it means is boosting the health and wellbeing of people in your neighborhood, also making sure that those people who find themselves at the rough end of society,” he said.

“Let’s say those people who are in more deprived areas, those who feel more isolated, can actually have interventions in their community which boost their wellbeing and their health.

“So from October this year, next month until March 2027, we’ll be investing £1.1 million directly into local projects that make a difference.

“This can really help the smaller organisations who want to kickstart some amazing initiatives locally.

“It could be a cricket club who wants to embrace a wider set of young people. That cricket club could be in the Forest of Dean.

Community projects will be able to apply for the grant funding between October and March 2027 and will need to clearly demonstrate how they would use the funding to improve health and wellbeing.