Groups, organisations and projects in a key area of Lowestoft can now apply for funding of up to £500.

As The Journal revealed in May, a 'people's forum' has been set up after Kirkley was unveiled as one of only three wards in Suffolk that will benefit from a £200,000 People's Health Trust grant to provide more community facilities and encourage residents to lead healthier lives.

And this week – with the aim of making Kirkley an even better place to live – local voluntary organisations and projects in Kirkley were being encouraged to apply for funding as part of a Local Conversations grant, which opened on Monday.

The Local Conversations programme is a neighbourhood-led initiative developed by People's Health Trust. The Trust, which works with HealthIntend society lottery to raise money through The Health Lottery, requires organisations to support residents locally to take control of the design, development and delivery of the initiatives.

Community Action Suffolk (CAS), a charity which has been working in Kirkley since 2013 to improve the area, is the lead agency supporting the Kirkley People's Forum to develop these funds and roll them out. Each application can ask for up to £500.

Andrew Wilesmith, senior development officer for localities at CAS, said: 'We are excited to launch this grant, the Kirkley People's Forum and the CAS Community Field Officers have worked hard to get to this point. These are grants with a difference.

'Successful organisations will have to demonstrate how the local community has been a part of the decision making process and that they really want these projects. CAS will help those organisations but this is really about local people power.'

Claire Taylor-Crisp, community field officer for Suffolk Coastal and Waveney at CAS, said: 'I am so proud of the Kirkley People's Forum who stepped forward to offer their time and dedication to be part of something new and very different in the field of funding. They have all come so far and are all very excited to be able to offer this funding for the benefit of local people.'

Applications for funding could be made from Monday this week (July 20) when the grant officially opened, and support will be available from Community Action Suffolk.

? For more information and to apply for a grant, visit www.communityactionsuffolk.org.uk/phtgrants