Southwark Energy Grants: £415k to 20, None in Dulwich

Twenty community energy projects across Southwark are recommended for a share of £414,944, and none of them is in Dulwich. Both Dulwich bids, from Dulwich Picture Gallery and Dulwich Village Church of England Infants’ School, are on the list of applications not selected, along with Herne Hill Velodrome Trust.

The recommendations are set out in an officer report dated 28 August 2026 on round three of the Southwark Community Energy Fund. The council’s own register still shows the decision as “for determination”, due in September, and the decision falls to Councillor Eloise Waldon-Day, the executive member for council coordination and climate.

The fund pays for community-led projects that cut energy use or generate it locally. Applicants have to be charities, schools, faith groups, tenants’ and residents’ associations, community energy groups or similar.

What the money is going to

Forty-eight applications came in during the eight-week window that closed on 24 April, asking for £1,070,149 between them. The assessment panel met on 20 July and picked 20.

The largest awards in our patch:

• Friends of St Giles Church, Camberwell, £60,000, for a greener and safer community heating system. This is one of two grants of £60,000, the round’s maximum for a capital project.
• Westminster House Youth Club on Nunhead Grove, £60,000, for a “carbon zero” project at the club, which has been running since 1888.
• 1st Place Charity, £59,315.50, for solar panels. The charity runs nurseries at Burgess Park and Elephant and Castle.
• Christ Church Peckham, £25,674, for a solar project at the church on the Old Kent Road.
• PECAN, £15,000, for a community energy feasibility programme. The charity runs Southwark Foodbank and the Peckham Pantry from 121A Peckham High Street.
• Delawyk Resident Management Organisation, in Herne Hill, £5,000, for a pre-feasibility study called Delawyk Net Zero.
• Sustainable Energy 24, the Herne Hill community benefit society better known as SE24, £5,000, to look at LED lighting in Southwark’s social housing.

The rest of the list runs across the north of the borough: Southwark Cathedral (£10,000, part-funded), the Brunel Museum (£15,000), Coin Street Community Builders (£15,000), the Unicorn Theatre (£30,000, part-funded), Haddon Hall Baptist Church (£26,875), Setchell Estate TRA and Falcon Point (£5,000 each), the Qing Liang Buddhist Association (£5,000), Boutcher C of E School (£2,800), The Complete Works school (£12,500), and three capacity-building grants to Flashy Wings Ministry (£18,270), Repowering (£19,983) and South East London Community Energy (£19,525).

Twice as much was asked for as there was to give

Twenty-nine applications were turned down, between them asking for £645,501. The report is careful to say the quality was “excellent” and that unsuccessful applicants will be given feedback and scores.

The bids that failed in and around Dulwich were:

• Dulwich Village Church of England Infants’ School, £60,000, to refurbish the windows of the Francis Building.
• Dulwich Picture Gallery, £27,350, to convert to green energy sources.
• Herne Hill Velodrome Trust, £15,000, for LED lighting and solar.
• All Saints Church, Peckham, £5,000, for a thermal performance study.
• Theatre Peckham, £30,500, for a reception and cafe renovation with carbon reduction.
• SE24, three separate capital bids: LED installations at The Park College (£14,741), the Ann Bernadt Children and Family Centre (£14,064) and Walworth Methodist Church (£10,677).

The panel that made the choices was made up of officers from Southwark’s climate change team, a Southwark Cleaner, Greener, Safer project manager, and officers from Lewisham and Hackney who run their own boroughs’ community energy funds.

One extra £15,000 found its way into the pot. A round two project, Kingswood Arts Energy Saving, became ineligible after it stopped being a community interest company, and its funding has been reallocated to round three.

What it means for you

Nothing is signed yet. The recommendations become awards when the executive member takes the decision, which the register puts in September, and successful applicants have to agree the council’s grant conditions before money moves.

If you are involved with a group that applied:

• Applicants are told the outcome in writing when the report is published, and unsuccessful bids get feedback on their scoring.
• Officers are asking for instruction to review rounds one, two and three and to explore options for rounds four and five, so there may be another window.
• Representations on the decision go to Tom Buttrick at the council on 020 7525 5604.

For context on scale: rounds one and two funded 46 projects, of which 20 are finished. Those have gone to 7 places of worship, 13 schools, 4 housing estates and 7 community centres. Six completed capital projects are saving about 63 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year between them, and the engagement projects have reached more than 3,000 people.

Related

• Southwark Pioneers Fund: last £18,842 to four food firms: the other council grant pot, and who got the last of it.
• Dulwich house prices: what the borough’s buildings are worth, area by area.
• Dulwich council tax bands: where the council’s money comes from.

Sources

• Southwark Council, Southwark Community Energy Fund, Round 3 grant allocations, officer report dated 28 August 2026, tables 3, 5 and 6 and paragraphs 16 to 46.
• The council’s issue record for the decision, which gives the decision status, the lead member and the contact for representations, read on 31 August 2026.
• Westminster House Youth Club, PECAN, 1st Place, SE24 and Christ Church Peckham for the addresses and what each organisation does.