COMMUNITY groups are benefitting from cash grants of £100,000 because of the Oswaldtwistle Moor windfarm.

Energy firm EnergieKontor, which built the controversial windfarm, has already funded more more than a dozen environmental projects in Hyndburn.

And the Prospects Foundation, which manages the ‘Windfall Fund’, is on the lookout for more worthy causes.

Alison Silver, Windfall Fund co-ordinator, said the fund had ‘no limits’.

She said: “In the first year we gave out about £100,000 and now we are into the second year. So far we have funded 28 projects.

“We have quite a lot coming forward but we are always on the lookout for more.

“The fund is ongoing and will last for the lifetime of the windfarm, so it will fund environmental projects for at least the next two decades.”

Grants of £2,000 are available to smaller projects while there is no upper limit on projects of a larger scale.

Projects that have benefited from funding so far include Sandy Lane Gardening Group, which installed a chicken coop at Pendle View in Huncoat and Community Solutions North West, which used cash to develop its community RePaint scheme across the borough.

Accrington-based Aawaz used money to raise environmental awareness among South Asian women while the Hyndburn District Explorer Scout Unit developed an allotment plot at Woodnook.

The fund, set up with the opening of the windfarm last year, is open to all community groups that have a proper constitution and a bank account.

But projects must be related to the environment.

The closing date for applications to the latest round of grants is noon on June 6.

To apply for a grant from the funs, call Alison Silver on 01254 230348, ext 206, or you can also email alison.silver@prospectsfoundation.org.uk