More than £1million in funding from Magnox’s socio-economic scheme has benefited communities around the company’s 12 sites over the past year.

Run in conjunction with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the scheme was established to help build sustainable communities around its former nuclear power station sites across the UK, and mitigate the impact decommissioning those sites has on the surrounding communities.

During 2019/20 it has supported 113 different organisations across the UK – including creating 10 new jobs, safeguarding 30 existing ones and helping to create two new businesses.

Funding has also resulted in 4,000 training opportunities and helped with everything from providing football kits through to organising careers fairs and helping new businesses flourish.

In addition, 532 schools across the UK got help from the scheme along with 60 different STEM (science technology, engineering and maths) activities.

The long list of organisations who successfully applied for funding in the last year include Menter Môn’s Arloesi Gwynedd Wledig in North Wales, to continue its rural community enterprise initiative for the next three years, and the Envision project in the South West of England who are supporting students from Brimsham Green School. In Scotland funding has been given to a small business grant scheme run by Dumfries and Galloway Council, and also to North Ayrshire College at Kilwinning.

The scheme has also helped support the creation of new training opportunities, including one run by Dorset Wildlife Trust, in association with Dorset Council, who are offering conservation training which will help three young people take their first steps into employment.

The Magnox scheme also provided grants to gymnastics clubs and town bands; football teams and family fun days; pantomime organisations and village halls – which are a vital part of people’s lives in our communities up and down the country.

The scheme, which is run by Magnox on behalf of the NDA, used the whole of its £1.01m budget last year – supplemented by an additional £910,000 funding made directly available from the NDA.