The £2.1m Greatness pavilion is due to finish this month and a £250,000 playground follows, while £5,000 community grants close at noon on 6 October.

Two of the district’s biggest community projects reach a milestone this month, and two deadlines fall before the middle of October. This is where each of them stands as of 6 September 2026, with the money, the dates and the links to our fuller reporting.

The £2.1m Greatness pavilion is due to finish this month

The Greatness Football and Community Centre at Greatness Recreation Ground, off Mill Lane, is due to be finished in September, on schedule, according to the town clerk’s update to Sevenoaks Town Council on 21 August. The total raised to build it is £2,127,700. (Sevenoaks Town Council, Town Clerk’s Update, 21 August 2026 (PDF))

The building is a joint project between the town council and Sevenoaks Town FC, a club the council says fields teams for more than 1,200 players across youth, girls and ladies, powerchair and walking football, supported by nearly 200 volunteers. Inside are changing rooms, a kitchen, a small gym and a cafe intended for the wider public rather than only matchday crowds. An air source heat pump, a living green wall and rooftop solar are part of the design. (Sevenoaks Town Council, pavilion project page)

The largest single contribution is £787,500 of Community Infrastructure Levy, the charge the district council collects from developers and spends on local infrastructure, followed by £759,100 from the Football Foundation. Our full breakdown of who paid for what, including the top floor the project did not expect to be able to finish, is in Greatness pavilion: £2.1m build to finish.

A £250,000 playground and outdoor gym follow it

A separate scheme replaces the play area and outdoor gym at Greatness and moves both closer to the new pavilion. It costs £250,000, of which £100,000 is a Community Infrastructure Levy grant, and the designs were chosen by public vote.

Nine companies tendered for the playground and eight for the gym. Residents voted through online and paper surveys and at community events, and children from local primary schools gave their views on a site visit. Both winning designs came from the playground supplier KOMPAN, taking more than 25 per cent of the playground votes and 46 per cent of the gym votes. The playground has a zipline, a trampoline, a climbing net, swings, a roundabout and a sensory play area on an animal theme; the gym is wheelchair accessible and uses variable-resistance equipment. The gym it replaces is about fifteen years old. (Sevenoaks Town Council, 16 July 2026)

£5,000 community grants close at noon on 6 October

Sevenoaks District Council opened its Community Grants Scheme for 2027/28 on 2 September. Voluntary and charitable groups can apply for up to £5,000, and applications close at 12 noon on Tuesday 6 October 2026. (Sevenoaks District Council, 2 September 2026)

Two things catch groups out. The money is not quick: successful applicants are notified in March 2027 and paid in April 2027, for projects that must finish by 31 March 2028. And the online form cannot be saved part-way through, so everything has to be gathered first. There are separate forms for grants of £1,000 and under and grants above that. (Sevenoaks District Council, Community Grants 2027/28)

The eligibility rules, the template forms and the alternative funds for groups that need money sooner are all in our guide to the Sevenoaks community grants round.

The Stag: pledge forms due back by 1 October

Sevenoaks Town Council is asking residents, businesses and supporters to pledge towards a £100,000 target to help buy the freehold of the Stag Community Arts Centre, with pledge forms due back by Thursday 1 October. The money would go towards the £650,000 the district council is charging for the theatre, cinema and arts centre on London Road. (Sevenoaks Town Council, 2 September 2026)

This stage collects pledges, not payments. The background, including the town council’s decision on 24 August not to take the district council to court over the price, is in The Stag: £100,000 pledge appeal opens.

Twelve community heroes were named in June

The district’s Making it Happen Community and Voluntary Awards were decided at a ceremony at St Nicholas’ Church on 18 June, after more than 100 nominations. Jan Berry took the Lifetime Achievement Award for 20 years in the voluntary sector; DAVSS won Charity Project of the Year; and the Sevenoaks Area Dementia Friendly Community took two categories, Volunteer Group of the Year and, for its Forget-me-not cafes, the older persons’ award. (Sevenoaks District Council, Local heroes recognised!)

The full list of twelve winners, and what each group actually does, is in Sevenoaks names its 2026 community heroes.

Still open: the Age UK electric minibus

One thread from earlier in the year has not closed. In January the town council won a Kent County Council Community Transport Grant for a wheelchair-accessible electric minibus for Age UK Maidstone, Sevenoaks and Tonbridge, which supports around 500 beneficiaries living within Sevenoaks town. The council would own the vehicle and Age UK would run it on a not-for-profit basis, taking people to the Hollybush Day Centre and to GP and hospital appointments. The council said the service was due to launch later in 2026, and it has not published a launch date since. (Sevenoaks Town Council, 20 January 2026)

What it means for you

  • If you run or help run a local group, the grants window is the one hard deadline: noon on 6 October, online only, through the council’s community grants page. The Communities Team takes questions on 01732 227000 or at grants@sevenoaks.gov.uk.
  • If you use Greatness Recreation Ground, expect the ground to change shape over the next year: the pavilion first, then the play area and gym relocating next to it.
  • If you want the Stag in public hands, the pledge form has to be back by 1 October, and a pledge now is not a payment now.
  • If you want to give time rather than money, the awards list doubles as a directory of groups that take volunteers, from Chipstead Sailing Club to the Forget-me-not cafes.

Sources

Image: The Vine Cricket Club Ground by Marathon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph.