Don’t miss your chance to apply for grant funding – we currently have two grant schemes open but they won’t be available for much longer!
Rural England Prosperity Fund
Capital funding available to businesses in the old Eden and South Lakeland District Council areas for the purchase of equipment and small scale capital improvements to help grow, diversify, innovate and improve productivity.
Grants are available up to 40%, with a minimum grant of £1,000 and an anticipated average of £15,000.
We’re re-open to expressions of interest which close at 9am on 29th May. Submitted EOIs are then reviewed by a grant panel, following the panel decisions are then communicated.
So far we’ve approved projects including a milk silo tank, various equipment purchases, a horse box sauna, onsite laundry facilities, commercial vehicle purchase, racking systems, and the installation of a vending machine.
Click here to download the EOI form and guidance notes.
Short window to apply for carbon reduction grants
Grants through the Westmorland & Furness Green Enterprise Hub re-open for a short window from 13th May to 24th May.
With only 10 grants remaining and funds of just under £10,000, grant submissions received will be assessed on carbon reduction potential.
Grants are available to support the installation or implementation of carbon reduction practices, which include activities and/or the purchase of equipment and capital works that will support the decarbonisation of your organisation.
The scope can include the reduction in greenhouse gases from any source, including, but not limited to energy use, transport, resource consumption and the embodied carbon on goods and materials, and waste.
The following types of activities will be supported:
- Training and coaching (excluding that which is already subsidised through this programme)
- Accreditations
- Research and development
- Consultancy advice, audits and surveys
The following types of equipment and capital work will be supported:
- Improvements to the thermal fabric of buildings (for example, additional insulation and window thermal upgrades such as double, triple or secondary glazing)
- Transition from fossil-fuelled to electrical heating and fixed equipment
- Energy efficiency upgrades to lighting and electrical heating and fixed equipment
- Improvements to building energy controls
- Upgrades to electrical infrastructure and metering, including electricity grid upgrade and connection fees associated with installing low carbon technology (such as EV charge points)
- Equipment to support reduction in resource consumption
- Equipment to support waste reduction
Excluded:
- Internal staffing costs
- Electric vehicles charge points
- Electric vehicles
- Solar panels
The application form and guidance notes can be found here
£500 to work with a consultant
Land-based businesses in the old Eden and South Lakeland District Council areas can also still apply for £500 to work with a consultant of their choice in a range of areas.
Advice vouchers can be used for a whole range of consultancy support, for example:
- Accountancy – operating more cost effectively and/or adapting to the changes in agricultural funding
- Legal – Farm & property sales & purchase, partnership matters & disputes, Landlord & tenant law, Basic Payment Scheme & other grant schemes, agricultural wills & succession planning
- Insurance – reviews, risk assessments, valuations
- Planning – planning advice, preparing planning applications and helping farming businesses use Agricultural Permitted Development Rights to support farm growth and diversification
- Architectural planning and design service
- Marketing – plans, campaigns, website development, PR
- Agricultural consultancy – specialised advice, support and guidance
No match funding is needed but businesses can choose to add more. We can however only fund work that has yet to start. It’s a really simple application process with only one quote needed (two if applying for over £2,000) and the voucher is paid directly to the business.
Anyone interested in applying should call 0844 2478450 or email info@cumbriagrowthhub.co.uk