Fourteen community projects win awards from Camley Street Community Fund
The first awards from the Camley Street Community Fund have been announced. A total of £60,000 has been allocated to a variety of projects, from restoring local gardens and providing free community meals to helping young people develop creative skills.
The Camley Street Community Fund forms part of the Camley Street regeneration project, a partnership between Camden Council, Lateral and Ballymore. Together, the partners are working to create a new neighbourhood that delivers new homes, jobs, public spaces and opportunities for the local community.
The £1 million fund will run over ten years, supporting local organisations and activities that benefit people living within a mile of the site.
Local people helped decide which projects should receive funding through the Camley Street Steering Group, which reviewed and voted on a shortlist of 23 applications.
Among the first recipients are the Elm Village Open Garden Initiative, which will receive £3,000 to bring a disused community garden back into use, and Seeds for Growth, awarded £3,000 to revitalise St Paul’s Crescent Community Garden through practical improvements and resident gardening workshops.
FoodCycle Camden will receive £3,000 towards free weekly three-course community meals using surplus food, helping tackle food poverty, loneliness and food waste. A further £5,000 will support the Food For Homeless Project’s Safe Table, Safe Minds programme, providing community meals, practical assistance and wellbeing support.
Children and young people will benefit from free outdoor play sessions through Outdoor People’s Playbox Somers Town, creative holiday activities with Theatro Technis’ Crowndale Young Company, and cooking, growing and making workshops at Global Generation’s Story Garden.
Other awards will support digital skills, routes into employment, design education and outdoor learning, alongside the resident-led Camden New Town Community Festival.
I’m delighted to see this first pot of funding being given to a series of incredibly worthwhile local projects that will make a real impact on the communities that live around the Camley Street site. Placing the decision making in the hands of local people ensures that funding is directed to where it’s really needed, from a shared meal to a welcoming garden or the opportunity to learn something new.
The Community Fund is part of our commitment to ensuring the development brings benefits to the existing communities. Steering Group members brought their local knowledge to the discussions, helping direct this first round of funding towards activities and opportunities that matter to their neighbours.
The Steering Group brings together residents, youth representatives, community organisations, councillors and local businesses representatives. Established in 2020, it has played a role in shaping the development, whilst members have contributed to the fund’s priorities, drawing on their knowledge of the neighbourhood and the needs of people living nearby.
The fund supports three themes: community building; innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship; and employment and training. It is open to charities, community groups, schools and not-for-profit organisations. A second funding round is proposed for 2027, with Steering Group feedback helping shape future priorities.