Rural England Prosperity Fund
Grants for diversification projects are now available to rural businesses.
The funding programme succeeds EU funding from LEADER and the Growth Programme, which were part of the Rural Development Programme for England. The guidance note states that this new rural fund will provide capital funding to:
- support new and existing rural businesses to develop new products and facilities that will be of wider benefit to the local economy. This includes farm businesses looking to diversify income streams
- support new and improved community infrastructure, providing essential community services and assets for local people and businesses to benefit the local economy
Example projects include:
- food processing equipment to scale up from domestic to commercial (non-farming businesses only)
- converting farm buildings to other business uses
- rural tourism such as investments in visitor accommodation and farm diversification for event venues
The funding is administered by Local Authorities. Frustratingly, not all Local Authorities secured funding from Central Government. For Kent and East Sussex, the funding allocations are as follows:
| Authority | Allocation |
| Lewes | £0 |
| Wealden | £838,120 |
| Rother | £603,963 |
| Eastbourne | £0 |
| Hastings | £0 |
| Authority | Allocation |
| Dartford | £0 |
| Gravesham | £0 |
| Medway | £400,000 |
| Sevenoaks | £501,308 |
| Tonbridge and Malling | £447,450 |
| Swale | £502,995 |
| Maidstone | £539,728 |
| Tunbridge Wells | £443,604 |
| Ashford | £593,508 |
| Canterbury | £0 |
| Thanet | £0 |
| Dover | £400,000 |
| Folkestone and Hythe | £571,471 |
For more information, please speak to a member of the Rural Professional team.
