Hundreds of thousands of pounds from a community infrastructure fund will help benefit a host of organisations.

Grant funding from Hertsmere Borough Council’s Community Infrastructure Fund (CIF) is set to benefit more than 35 local organisations that have bid for money to help improve community buildings, outdoor spaces and sports facilities.

Up to £500,000 of funding was available from a levy on developers of new homes and other properties.

A wide range of groups submitted bids including schools, children’s centres, sports clubs and GPs. All the applicants had to fulfil CIF criteria that bids had to be for a minimum of £5,000 and used to fund projects which could be delivered over the next 12 months.

A final decision on which projects to award funding to will be taken following a meeting of the council’s CIL Investment Panel on 4 October.

Councillor Dr Harvey Cohen, responsible for planning and localism, said: “Funding from the CIF has the potential to make a real difference to communities by improving local facilities and services, so I am very pleased so many organisations have submitted bids.

“We now begin the difficult tasks of deciding which projects to award money to, as unfortunately the fund is not sufficient to support all the proposals received. However, there will be opportunities to bid for further CIF funding next year.

“The CIF fund provides real opportunities to help make improvements to your local area and I would encourage people thinking of applying to do so when the next round of applications is publicised.”

The CIF fund is different to the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) fund.