Growth Programme Launched

Despite a number of Calls for Applications already being opened (and subsequently closed), the 27^th July saw the Growth Programme officially opened.  The Growth Programme is funded from the English Rural Development budget and offers businesses grants of up to 40% for business development, food processing, small scale tourism infrastructure and tourism co-operation.

Local priorities have been established through Local Enterprise Partnerships.  Currently 9 LEP’s are offering grants in excess of £35,000 with the rest (there are 39 in total) expected to offer funds in a further two rounds in August and September.  There is a two-stage application process with an outline application reviewed by the RPA, which could take up to 40 days, and the highest-scoring asked to submit a full application.

As we have previously mentioned the grant details are not easy to find (use the Fund Finder – https://www.gov.uk/european-structural-investment-funds?keywords=)   Not all Calls for Applications are published at the same time and it is a case of checking regularly which have been published for each LEP area.  To further complicate matters a number of LEP areas overlap. Applications for a single project can be made to both LEPs (although funding can only be granted by one).  Multiple application can be made to the same LEP but these will need to be for different projects.  The available grant is relatively large and may not be suitable for many farm-scale projects.  The focus for these tends to be on job creation, business growth, value for money and how it fits with the LEP strategy, which can be found on the individual LEP websites.