Cumbria Business Growth Hub will very soon be offering fully-funded business support in the Westmorland & Furness area thanks to funding through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, allocated by Westmorland and Furness Council.
Rural Advice and Grants
The project will provide support to rural micro and small businesses through advice and grants.
Capital grants will support purchase of new equipment and small scale capital improvements to help them to grow, diversify, innovate and improve productivity.
Advice will be delivered one-to-one and through workshops (depending on eligibility):
- Diagnostics, reviews, benchmarking and action planning
- 1-2-1 advice and workshops covering a range of relevant topics, including supporting agricultural businesses to navigate the new subsidy regimes
- Access to finance support
- For farming businesses only, vouchers to enable use of wider advisers, selected by the business
While the project will be open to all rural businesses (in the eligible areas) the focus will be in particular on agricultural and land-based businesses, followed by tourism and hospitality.
We, and our delivery partners, will be launching this scheme soon!
Business Decarbonisation
Cumbria Action for Sustainability and several industry partners are establishing a pioneering business decarbonisation hub. The initiative, set to exclusively support the Westmorland & Furness area, is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and aims to bolster the sustainability efforts of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), charities, community businesses, and social enterprises.
Up to 300 local organisations looking to reduce their carbon footprint and save costs will be able to benefit from a range of free and subsidised services through a comprehensive ‘one stop shop’ of carbon reduction support. Services will include expert advice, one-to-one support, training, events and auditing across a wide range of emission sources. Also available will be £215,000 of grants to support businesses to implement carbon reduction measures.
The programme boasts a diverse group of experienced industry partners, including Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, Future Fixers, Cumbria Tourism, Lancaster University, Art Gene, Green Small Business, Electricity Northwest, CBEN, Donna Munro, A Muir Surveying, Verday, and Simon Brace EV Consulting.
Cumbria Business Growth Hub (the business support arm of the Chamber) will be administering and delivering a grant scheme which includes capital and revenue funding of up to £10,000. Grants of up to £3,000 will require no match, grants of between £3,000 to £10,000 require a 30% match contribution with UK SPF funding covering 70%.
A dedicated part of the Growth Hub website will also house useful resources, links, templates, case studies, events, project support and signposting.
We’ll be able to share more in the coming weeks we’re just working through the final details.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, click here.