Capital grants are available to local authorities in England to support their air quality responsibilities.

Defra’s air quality grant scheme provides funding to eligible local authorities to help make air quality improvements and to meet their statutory duties under the Environment Act 1995.

Since its launch in 1997, it has awarded more than £81 million in funding to a variety of projects.

The fund is split into two lots. Defra are looking for applications for:

• Lot 1 – projects designed to reduce air pollutant exceedances especially in those areas that are projected to remain in exceedance of the UK’s legal targets
• Lot 2 – projects that will improve knowledge and information about air quality and steps individuals can take to reduce their exposure to air pollution and/or projects that include measures that deal with Particulate Matter.

Local authorities in England, that have exceedences of EU limit values for nitrogen dioxide as determined by Defra’s national assessment for 2010 and/or air quality management areas for nitrogen dioxide, are eligible to apply.

There are no set funding amounts. A guide price for allocations is for projects between £10,000 and £60,000 in total but applications for amounts outside this range will be accepted for consideration.

The 2022/23 application deadline is 23 September 2022 (midday).

How To Apply

The 2022/23 application deadline is 23 September 2022 (midday).

For more information, visit the GOV UK website.