The Road Safety Trust will open its Small Grants Plus Programme to fund road safety projects in response to the impact COVID-19 has had on UK roads for charities, local authorities, and community groups.

Each project will be awarded between £20k and £50k, the Trust said

The Road Safety Trust will begin accepting grant applications from 15 September for five weeks (until 21 October), as part of its revised Small Grants Programme, which was suspended in March due to the UK-wide lockdown.

The refreshed grant programme has been modified to encourage applications that respond to the changing needs of road use and emerging road safety issues as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible projects are pilots or trials, an expansion of successful trials across a new area, and/or the evaluation of road safety interventions.

Each project will be awarded between £20k and £50k, the Trust said.

Sally Lines, chief executive of Road Safety Trust said: “We are pleased to be able to reintroduce our grant-giving this year and be responsive to current road safety issues with our Small Grants Plus Programme to help smaller local projects around the UK.  We are focusing this round of funding on the changing road use and emerging safety issues as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Projects should have the potential for being brought to scale, with the ultimate goal of reducing deaths and injuries both locally, and across the UK.

“We had to suspend our Main Theme funding round earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Small Grants Plus Programme is a welcome opportunity to work towards our vision of zero deaths and serious injuries on UK roads.”

Each application should have a UK lead organisation which must be local public sector, charity, not-for-profit social enterprise or community interest company. Universities can also apply but they must have a partner from one of these organisations as a lead. An element of partnership working is expected in all projects.

For more information visit: https://roadsafetytrust.org.uk/

The Road Safety Trust is the largest independent road safety grant giver in the UK and funds vital research and practical interventions committed to reducing the number of people killed or injured on UK roads. Since it was established in 2014, the Road Safety Trust has awarded grants worth £3.7m to 49 different projects.