The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has announced that local authorities who received funding under the Levelling Up Parks Fund can submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to receive an additional £2,500 of funding for the purchase and installation of 1 chess table and accompanying seats or benches in their local parks and/or green spaces.
The provision of new chess tables in parks and public spaces is part of a cross-government strategy to deliver on three key objectives:
1. Increase participation in chess among primary school-age children.
2. Support elite level chess competition, and
3. Increase the visibility and public presence of chess.
The deadline for submitting an Expression of Interest is Monday 25th September 2023.
Further information is available on the GOV.UK website.
Councils that are eligible for funding are:
Barking and Dagenham
Barnsley
Barrow-in-Furness
Basildon
Bassetlaw
Bexley
Birmingham
Blackburn with Darwen
Blackpool
Bolton
Bradford
Brent
Calderdale
Camden
Carlisle
Castle Point
County Durham
Croydon
Derby
Doncaster
Dudley
East Lindsey
East Staffordshire
Eastbourne
Enfield
Fenland
Gateshead
Great Yarmouth
Greenwich
Hackney
Halton
Hammersmith and Fulham
Haringey
Hartlepool
Hastings
Havant
Hyndburn
Ipswich
Islington
Kensington and Chelsea
Kingston upon Hull, City of
Knowsley
Lambeth
Leeds
Leicester
Lincoln
Liverpool
Luton
Manchester
Medway
Middlesbrough
North East Lincolnshire
Northumberland
Norwich
Nottingham
Oldham
Pendle
Peterborough
Portsmouth
Preston
Reading
Redcar and Cleveland
Redditch
Rochdale
Rother
Salford
Sandwell
Sefton
Sheffield
South Tyneside
Southampton
Southend-on-Sea
Stockton-on-Tees
Sunderland
Swale
Tameside
Tendring
Tower Hamlets
Walsall
Waltham Forest
West Lindsey
Westminster
Wigan
Wirral, and
Wolverhampton
