Warm Spaces Winter 2026 – 2027

Introduction

Over the past four years Tewkesbury Borough Council has been able to fund community venues to offer warm spaces during the winter months.

A Warm Space is a place where anyone can go to feel safe, warm, and welcome. It’s free to use and open to everyone. People can come in to rest, chat, enjoy activities, or in some spaces have a snack or meal.

These spaces help people who might feel lonely or who need help staying warm in the winter. They are friendly places where everyone is treated kindly. Warm spaces can also help people find support with making contact with others who can help them.

A Warm Space

A Warm Space is a free, warm, welcoming, and safe place, which all members of the community can access. You do not need to identify your venue as a Warm Space by name as we understand this can cause some stigma. Warm Spaces should be open to everyone in the community.

Feedback from the past four years is that warm, welcoming spaces are important in supporting residents both with the cost of living crisis and also in tackling loneliness.

Our Warm Spaces charter

Warm Spaces must:

• Be free
• Be heated
• Offer a warm welcome
• Treat people equally and with dignity and respect
• Provide a safe space
• Be non-judgemental
• Be a not-for-profit community venue
• Be able to signpost people in need of support to other organisations that can help them
• Abide by the required safeguarding policies and food hygiene requirements
• Not serve alcohol in the venue whilst it is operating as a Warm Space.

Funding for community venues

Tewkesbury Borough Council is able to support organisations running Warm Spaces through the winter with a grant of up to £1,000.

This can be used for the following expenses encountered in running a Warm Space:

• Additional cost of venue utilities to enable the community venue to open
• volunteer expenses
• activities
• refreshments
• increased cleaning costs
• advertising and publicity

What is the grant application assessed upon?

The Grant Panel will assess applications against the following criteria:

• Evidence of a need for a Warm Space in your community. If you have previously run a Warm Space, you are encouraged to include information about its impact, attendance and any feedback received
• A clear and realistic delivery plan supported by a detailed budget demonstrating how the Warm Space will operate throughout the colder months
• Applicants must show a commitment to opening regularly, at least once a fortnight with provisional or confirmed dates booked into your community venue calendar
• Proposed plans for activities, services and partnerships that will make your Warm Space a welcoming, inclusive, useful and valuable place for residents to attend
• Evidence that appropriate governance and compliance measures including: Public liability insurance, a food hygiene certificate where relevant, a safeguarding policy that meets Tewkesbury Borough Council’s expectations for Community Grant programmes and submission of your most recent annual accounts.

Timelines:

• Programme open to application: 22 July 2026
• First grant panel submission date: 3 September 2026
• Decision communicated to applicants to first panel: 10 September 2026
• Second grant panel submission date: 1 October 2026
• Decision communicated to applicants to second panel: 8 October 2026.

Programme closed to applications from 1 October 2026 onwards

How to apply for funding

Please download the application form and return to helen.wolfson@tewkesbury.gov.uk in line with the submission dates above. If you need early confirmation of funding, please ensure that you submit by 3 September 2026.