Rural England Prosperity Fund
The Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) provides complementary funding to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), targeted specifically at supporting rural businesses and communities in line with the Government’s overall goals of Levelling Up and approach to the UKSPF.
As a district containing substantial rural areas, the Lancaster district has been allocated £500,075.
Investment Plan
Lancaster City Council submitted its REPF Investment Plan addendum in November 2022. The plan was developed following consultation and engagement with local stakeholders to establish how funding could most effectively be allocated in our district. The Government approved the REPF Investment Plan in April 2023.
Below is a summarised version of the REPF Investment Plan and sets out how funds have been allocated across each of the 5 interventions:
| Intervention | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|
Supporting Rural Business - Small scale Investment Funding (capital grants) for small scale investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas. Including capital funding for net zero infrastructure for rural businesses, and diversification of farm businesses outside of agriculture to encourage start up, expansion or scale up of these businesses where this involved converting farm buildings into other commercial or business uses. |
£50,019 | £75,056 |
|
Supporting Rural Business - Visitor Economy Funding (capital grants) for the development and promotion (both trade and consumer) of the visitor economy. |
£50,000 | |
|
Supporting Rural Communities - Capacity building and infrastructure Funding (capital grants) for investment in capacity building and infrastructure support for local civil society and community groups. |
£75,000 | £100,000 |
|
Supporting Rural Communities - Green Spaces Funding (capital grants) for creation of and improvements to local rural green spaces. |
£50,000 | |
|
Supporting Rural Communities - Active travel Funding (capital grants) for active travel enhancements in the local area. |
£100,000 |
These allocations are indicative and subject to change during the life of the programme, to ensure a range of impactful projects can be delivered in a flexible way. The projects funded and delivered may not exactly match the interventions and funding allocations set out in the Investment Plan.
There are a number of opportunities to complement core UKSPF funding, and the Interventions have been selected with this in mind, in particular:
- Supporting wider net zero and decarbonisation goals across the district’s city, coast and countryside locales
- Promoting the district’s diverse visitor economy
- Building capacity for community groups to support their local places and mitigate cost of living challenges through resilient and sustainable solutions
- Strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems through a local partnership and network approach
Further information relating to REPF Interventions including example projects, outputs and outcomes can be found here.
Application Process
The application process for local rural communities and businesses launches on 15th January 2024.
An online briefing was held on Friday 19th January. The brief explained some overall information on the Rural England Prosperity Fund along with the application process. You can watch the briefing here.
The closing date for applications is 5pm on Monday 5th February 2024.
Following the application deadline all applications will go through our internal evaluation and democratic decision making process.
Applications will be considered based on the "five cases" model developed by the Treasury, and also their overall strategic fit with both the REPF goals and the council’s local priorities for our district.
We’d expect decision-making to take place during March 2024. We will of course keep applicants informed and we may be in contact during this time for any minor clarifications to the information submitted to assist our evaluation process.
Once decisions to award funding have been made, we’ll meet with all successful applicants to finalise their project details and of course launch their projects at the earliest possible opportunity.
We envisage that the earliest start date for projects will be April 2024
Application Form
The Rural England Prosperity Fund application can be downloaded from the link below:
Once the application form is complete, and you have collected any other supporting information, please email all documents to UKSPF@lancaster.gov.uk by 5pm, Monday 5th February 2023.
We will acknowledge all applications received.
Further Information
The funding is entirely designated as ‘capital' funding, which means it can only be spent on ‘lasting assets such as buildings or equipment’; although wider UKSPF revenue funding may also be used to complement REPF funding where appropriate.
The funding must be used to deliver business or community projects (i.e. not domestic) within rural areas, defined as:
- towns, villages and hamlets with populations below 10,000 and the wider countryside
- market or ‘hub towns’ with populations of up to 30,000 that serve their surrounding rural areas as centres of employment and in providing services
Lancaster District UKSPF Contact Details
The Lancaster UKSPF Project Team can be contacted by emailing UKSPF@lancaster.gov.uk
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