OxLEP Business are calling upon small, rural businesses in the north of Oxfordshire – who could be eligible to receive funding up to £20,000 – to ensure they submit an expression of interest in the coming days for a new grant scheme, as a key deadline looms next week.
The organisation is delivering Cherwell District Council’s Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) Business Grant Scheme, with funding made available through the district council’s Rural England Prosperity Fund allocation.
For businesses to potentially receive funding and be considered, they must complete a short Expression of Interest form – available via the OxLEP Business website – before next Monday (4 November) at 5pm.
Funding is set to back capital projects for rural-based, small businesses in the Cherwell area, covering several priority sectors.
These sectors include retail that serves the local community, farm diversification (non-agricultural), food and drink production, hospitality and leisure, and manufacturing.
Grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 are available to businesses (per application and based on eligibility) with successful applicants expected to deliver tangible outcomes aligned to several ‘delivery themes’, including business retention and growth, green economy, investment in rural communities, and strengthening the rural economy and rural communities.
Examples of the sort of businesses and projects that could be potentially eligible to access funding include:
- A village shop looking to add solar panels to the premises’ roof (retail, serving the local community).
- A retail premises purchasing new shelving and a display counter, plus new signage for the outside the shop (retail, serving the local community).
- A retail premises replacing open-fronted fridges with more energy efficient closed-fronted fridges, plus the upgrade of lighting to energy efficient LEDs (retail, serving the local community).
- A village shop installing secondary glazing and more efficient electric heaters, as well as upgrading lighting to energy-efficient LEDs (retail, serving the local community).
- A company purchasing new machinery to speed-up food production (food and drink production).
- A business installing solar PV on production sites, to reduce carbon footprints (food and drink production).
- A village pub fitting out its kitchen to enable them to serve food alongside drinks(hospitality and leisure).
- A rural bed and breakfast venue or hotel, installing EV chargers for visitors (hospitality and leisure).
- A business purchasing equipment to enable them to bring in-house a process they currently outsource (manufacturing).
- A business replacing old extractor fans, upgrading them to energy-efficient LED lighting (manufacturing).
- A small craft business investing in more tools or equipment to increase production (manufacturing).
- A business renovating an outbuilding to offer eco-friendly guest accommodation, including solar PV and battery storage (farm diversification (non-agricultural)).
- A business renovating a barn, installing heating as a rentable space for local community groups and private hire (farm diversification (non-agricultural)).
- A business installing solar PV on production sites to reduce carbon footprints (farm diversification (non-agricultural)).
Following the closure of the expression of interest window, the full window for grant applications will open on Thursday 14 November, with the deadline for final grant applications closing on Monday 25 November at 12 noon.
The grant scheme has eligibility criteria associated with it that businesses should review before applying.
Criteria includes organisations being micro or small rural businesses, who have been trading in the Cherwell district for at least 12 months at the point of expression of interest submission.
Rural areas are defined as towns, villages and hamlets with populations below 10,000 people and wider countryside market or ‘hub towns’ with populations of up to 30,000, serving surrounding rural areas as centres of employment and providing services to those communities (this includes Kidlington-based businesses).
Full guidance for eligibility can be found on the OxLEP Business website.
The introduction of the grant scheme follows OxLEP Business launching in late-August – also on behalf of Cherwell District Council – two business support programmes for Cherwell-based individuals and businesses, the Cherwell Business Accelerator and Cherwell Business Spark.
The Cherwell Business Accelerator has been introduced for existing small and medium-sized businesses, ready to scale up and expand their operations. Meanwhile – the Cherwell Spark Programme has been designed to work with those entrepreneurs based in the area with a new business idea or who have recently started trading.
A full programme of activity for both programmes will run through until March 2025.
Helen Brind, Growth Hub Manager at OxLEP – said: “Working with Cherwell District Council, we are delighted to have now launched a new grant scheme that can make a hugely positive impact on the area’s rural economy and – in turn – leverage several key sectors too.
“This is too good an opportunity for the district’s rural businesses to miss out on.”
The grant scheme was launched to the district’s business community on 21 October.
Watch the grant scheme launch webinar and find out more on fund eligibility
