LOCAL community groups across West Wiltshire are being urged to apply for a slice of £220,000 to boost flood resilience.

The invitation comes from Simon Crowther, managing director of Flood Protection Solutions Ltd in Nottingham, which is the sole distributor of the Water-Gate temporary flood barrier.

Anyone interested should apply for funds through local electricity distributor, Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks.

The deadline for applications is Wednesday, May 16. Local community groups can apply for grants from £1,000 to £20,000.

As many as 6 million residential and non-residential properties are now at risk of coastal, river or surface water flooding in the UK.

In order to help prevent future flooding and bolster the country's flood defences, SSEN has announced a £220,000 fund to help local community groups improve their resilience to flooding.

Mr Crowther is encouraging groups to contact his company for advice with their application forms to help communities gain vital funding.

"Flood Protection Solutions takes great pride in delivering high levels of customer service and this is just another way that we can help communities access essential equipment needed to help their communities become more resilient," he said.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for not-for-profit organisations to access vital funding to purchase equipment to assist with flood mitigation in their local communities."

Mr Crowther has first-hand experience of the devastating effects a natural disaster can have on homes and businesses: "Having been a 2007 flood victim, I'm passionate about working with communities to improve their flood resilience. Community resilience projects are very important in helping to reduce flood risk."

Far more effective than traditional sandbags, his company’s Water-Gate temporary flood barrier is also re-usable, mess-free, environmentally friendly, easy to store and can be housed at a community group location. They have also created Community Flood Kits specifically designed to aid resilience.

Who can apply:

• Community groups within the SSEN distribution area can apply for funding from £1,000 right up to a maximum of £20,000.

• You don't need to be a registered charity to apply, but the organisation must have a constitution (governing document or set of rules) and be set up on a not-for-profit basis. Those unsure if their group is eligible can contact Flood Protection Solutions for advice.

The fund will support projects that achieve one of the following criteria:

• Vulnerability: To protect the welfare of vulnerable community members through enhancing their resilience and improving community participation and effectiveness.

• Resilience for Emergency Events: To enhance community facilities, services and communication specifically to support the local response in the event of a significant emergency event.

Previous rounds of the fund were significantly oversubscribed and in this round priority will be given to:

• Projects which support communities who are particularly remote or isolated and have experienced emergency events due to poor weather in the past.

• Projects which demonstrate innovative approaches to improving the resilience of vulnerable community members.

• Projects which support areas in which events can be difficult for emergency services to respond to.

• Projects from communities which have not applied before and have been identified as having especially low resilience.

• Projects which improve resilience across the whole distribution area.