05 November 2007 10:15 Central Networks offers Midlands community groups a chance for cash this Christmas to build safer environments

Central Networks, the electricity distribution company for central England, is offering communities across the Midlands the opportunity to apply for funding this Christmas to build safer environments.

The company, which is part of E.ON UK, is offering groups a slice of its £70,000 Safer Environment Fund to support projects that make a lasting and positive effect on the local environment.  

Grants of up to £2,500 are available to groups across the region.  The application deadline for the Christmas fund is December 12th.

Customer Operations Manager Phil Wilson said: "It may seem a little early to start thinking about the festive season but we want to spread some seasonal cheer and we'd like offer our support to local groups with creative ideas about how to make an improvement to their communities.

"Applying for funds is easy - groups simply have to fill in an application form and tell us what improvements they'd make if they were successful in getting the cash."

Central Networks, which created the fund as part of its commitment to work with the communities it serves, has awarded over £100,000 to community groups since last year. Winning applications have included a sensory garden to help children learn more about the environment, a new path for a nature reserve, and the transformation of an area of wasteland into a community garden.

"Christmas is a time when families and communities come together and this Christmas we want local groups in the Midlands to give us their ideas about how they can turn this money into something that will make a real difference to the communities where they live and work," said Phil.

The fund is open to all local community groups and not for profit organisations with their own bank account located in the Central Networks distribution region, which covers central England.  For more information, and to download an application form, visit www.central-networks.co.uk/sef.

Ends

• Central Networks is the new name for Midlands Electricity and East Midlands Electricity. The company brings power to 4.9 million customers across central England through 133,000km of underground and overhead cables and via almost 97,000 substations;
• Central Networks covers an area from the Peak District in the north to parts of Bristol in the south, and from the Welsh Borders to the Lincolnshire Coast.

For further information contact:

Jamee Majid 02476 183679

Deanna Mooney 02476 183 678

A selection of E.ON UK images are available free of charge to the media by registering at www.newscast.co.uk and looking under the Distribution section