TWO schools and a playgroup are bidding to receive a chunk of £12.5million raised by Tesco’s sale of plastic bags.

Greenfylde First School, Buckland St. Mary Primary School and Neroche Playgroup are all bidding to receive a grant from the supermarket chain.

The grants have been set up by Tesco and environmental charity Groundwork, and sums of £8,000, £10,000 and £12,000 are available to successful bidders.

Voting is set to take place from October 31 until November 13.

Claire Oaten, headteacher at Greenfylde, said: “As a school we know how popular forest school is with our families and we now want to extend this to allow family groups at the school to access this provision.

“We want our forest school classroom to be used by families and achieving this grant would allow us to develop access for all ages and physical abilities.

A spokesman for Neroche Playgroup said: “We would like to use the grant to promote a healthier lifestyles community project aimed at development of the outdoor learning environment and facilities at Broadway Village Hall.”

A spokesman for Buckland St Mary said: “This is going to make a massive difference to the children of Buckland St Mary and their families. It also removes the need to travel to other play parks, as it will provide an attractive play space locally and will have a positive impact on the environment.

“Please vote for us. If we were to achieve the grant of £12,000 it would enable us to deliver further enhancements such as attractive seating and specially designed play equipment for the under twos.”

Lindsey Crompton, head of community at Tesco, said: “The first round of the Bags of Help initiative was a fantastic success. In total 1,170 community groups were awarded £8,000, £10,000 or £12,000 – that’s a massive £11.7 million being invested into local projects.”

Groundwork’s national chief executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “Bags of Help is giving our communities the funding to create better, healthier and greener places for everyone to enjoy. A great number of projects have applied for funding, ranging from outdoor classrooms, sports facilities, community gardens and play areas. They’re all fantastic projects that make a real difference in our neighbourhoods.

“We’re looking forward to learning the results of the customer vote and then supporting these projects.”