Process of how you bid - Travel Devon grants for businesses 2020-2021

When to apply

You can apply for a sustainable travel grant at any point until 1st of March 2021 or until there is no more funding available.

The grant funding needs to be spent (proof will need to be provided) and invoiced by Wednesday 31^st March 2021.

Please note that Devon County Council (DCC) reserve the right to cancel or close this grant schemes at any point.

How to apply

You can apply for the Travel Devon grants on our Travel Devon toolkit website, our one-stop shop for guidance and resources you and your staff to start your journey to smarter travel choices.

To apply for a Travel Devon Grant, just follow these easy steps:

1. Register yourself and your organisation on the Travel Devon toolkit
2. Before starting/submitting your application, please read:
   • Specification Travel Devon grants for businesses 2020-2021
   • Process of how you bid – Travel Devon grants for businesses 2020-2021
   • Our full terms and conditions
3. Log into the Travel Devon toolkit and click ‘Start Grant Application’
4. Fill out the application form and upload the required documents.
5. Submit your application.

Your application must include a description of how you think the proposed measure will support sustainable and active travel of employees at/ to and from your workplace. This needs to include an indication of how, and how many employees will be positively impacted. Applications that do not include this information will not be taken into consideration and will be declined.

As part of the application process you will be asked to provide at least two quotes/ written estimates for the work. Applications that do not include two quotes/ written estimates will not be taken into consideration and will be declined.

The percentage of funding you can apply for as part of the total costs, depends on the type of organisation:

• For profit organisations (50%)
• Social enterprise (including CICs, charities etc.) or other non-profit organisations (100%)

You will also be asked to provide a travel plan, specific to the site that you are applying for grant funding for, which should not be more than three years old.

The grant funding application form must be completed in full and signed by an authorised signatory of your organisation.

Grant evaluation process

Applications received will be evaluated by DCC on a first come, first serve basis until there is no more funding available. All applicants will be notified of evaluation outcome. Awards of funding are subject to audit by Devon County Council. Successful applications for grants will then be notified of award of grant. Once awarded the grant will be subject to DCC terms and conditions.

Time frame for responses and decisions

Within 5 working days you will receive a confirmation via email that we received your application. If you haven’t received an email within 5 working days, please check your spam inbox before emailing us at traveldevon@devon.gov.uk to let us know.

Within 15 working days after application, you will receive a notification via email about our decision. You can then log into your Travel Devon Toolkit account to find out whether your application has been successful, deferred or declined:

• In case your application has been approved:
  • We will provide instructions on next steps, the amount of grant funding approved and a confirmation of the payment arrangements.
  • If your organisation is willing to accept the grant offer, including the Terms and Conditions and Specifications Travel Devon grants for businesses 2020-2021 , you will need to accept them within 7 days after the grant decision was made. You can do this by emailing Travel Devon via traveldevon@devon.gov.uk. Please include the name of your organisation and site to which the grant funding applies to.
• In case your application has been deferred:
  • We will add additional questions for you to provide us with more information or to clarify certain aspects of your application.
• In case your application has been declined:
  • We will add information on what grounds your application wasn’t successful.

The evaluation process

All submissions will be treated equally and assessed with transparency throughout the evaluation process. The evaluation will be undertaken by relevant and experienced personnel.

There are 4 evaluation criteria with a total available score of 4 points. It is a requirement that all questions in the grant application form on the Travel Devon toolkit are answered and all requested documents are uploaded.

The bullet points below are for guidance only and your response should address these bullet point areas as a minimum.

Evaluation Criteria

The following criteria will be used to assess applications:

1. The business has a travel plan, specific to the site that it is applying to receive grant funding for, and should be no more than three years old. This travel plan should:
   • Introduce the site and general characteristics of the organisation such as location, staff numbers, shift patterns etc.
   • Set out all the current travel options to the site and how the design, location of the site, existing facilities and initiatives are encouraging a mix of travel modes. This should include a description of your car parking management policy.
   • Identify how your staff are currently traveling to work. If you have conducted travel surveys in the past, your travel plan should also provide historic data on how your staff have travelled to work.
   • Set targets for a shift towards more sustainable and active travel modes and dates for achievement.
   • Include an action plan that clearly states what measures (both “carrots” and “sticks”) will be implemented, including timescales (start, end, frequencies) and who is responsible for implementation.
   • Establish monitoring arrangements to track progress in delivery of the travel plan.

2. The business is able to evidence that the proposed measure is/ will be part of a wider ongoing commitment of the business to encouraging and supporting staff to travel sustainably and actively.
3. The business is able to evidence that the proposed measure will have a positive impact on active and sustainable travel of your employees to and from your site.
4. The business is able to evidence that the proposed measure will positively impact a significant number of employees.

A series of evaluation questions are contained within the grant application form which, together with the applicant’s proposal, the grant price submitted, and any subsequent post grant application clarifications, will provide the channel by which DCC will decide whether your application has been successful.

The decision to approve, defer or decline an application will be based on the scores achieved in the evaluation. As there is only a finite amount of money available, grant allocations will be made according to this evaluation, on a first come, first serve basis until there is no more funding available.

Questions

Have any questions? Please email traveldevon@devon.gov.uk and we will be in touch.