Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) Business Grant Scheme
The Expression of Interest (EOI) window for this grant has now closed. If you pass the EOI phase, you will receive a link to the online application form by 5pm on the 14 November 2024 which must be completed by 12pm on the 25 November 2024.
For Cherwell District-based, rural businesses.
OxLEP Business are delivering Cherwell District Council’s Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) Business Grant Scheme – a new fund that aims to back capital projects for rural-based small businesses in the Cherwell area.
Funding for this particular grant scheme has been made available through Cherwell District Council’s Rural England Prosperity Fund allocation.
Top-line details on scheme criteria and timeline:
This grant scheme has eligibility criteria which includes organisations being micro or small, rural businesses which have been trading in the Cherwell District for at least 12 months at the point of submission of Expression of Interest.
Rural areas are defined as:
- Towns, villages and hamlets with populations below 10,000 people.
- The wider countryside market or ‘hub towns’ with populations of up to 30,000, serving surrounding rural areas as centres of employment and in providing services to those communities (this includes Kidlington businesses).
Key details of this scheme:
This new scheme has been developed to boost businesses operating within the Cherwell District’s rural economy, with eventual successful grant applicants expected to deliver tangible outcomes as a result of securing funding.
This includes in areas such as:
- Business retention and growth
- Green economy
- Investment in rural communities
- Strengthening the rural economy and rural communities
The grant scheme will specifically be looking to engage certain key sectors, supporting capital investments in the following priority areas:
- Retail, serving the local community
- Farm diversification (non-agricultural)
- Food and drink production
- Hospitality and leisure
- Manufacturing
Key dates for the scheme:
- 21 October (10am to 12noon) – launch webinar to be hosted by OxLEP Business
- 23 October (9am) – grant Expressions of Interest (EOI) opens
- 11 November (10am) – grant Expressions of Interest (EOI) closes
- 14 November – full application window opens
- 25 November (12 noon) – submission deadline for final grant applications
Please read the guidance document to check your eligibility for this scheme, along with the accompanying FAQs, which may help with any questions.
Please read the easy guide to Magic Map to check whether your postcode qualifies as rural.
Applicants must have attended or watched the recording of the grant launch webinar in order to apply. The webinar is to support those with an interest in applying for a grant to find out more, plus gain guidance on how to apply as well as how decisions around the allocation of grants will be made.
The recording can be accessed via the link below, which will ask you to enter your name and email followed by the passcode: 7+P9gZ@*
The Expression of Interest (EOI) window for this grant closed at 10am on Monday 11 November.
You must have completed the OxLEP Business Support Tool before submitting your EOI. Applicants must have also attended or watched the recording of the grant launch webinar in order to apply.
If you are awarded a grant, we expect you to attend a minimum six hours of support delivered through the Cherwell Business Spark or Cherwell Business Accelerator programmes. The amount of support you are expected to attend will vary depending on your individual business.
Not eligible to access this grant scheme?
Given the specific rural aspect of this fund, both OxLEP Business and Cherwell District Council are keen to make sure that Cherwell-based businesses can still access other top-class support.
This includes support available through OxLEP Business’ Cherwell Business Spark and Cherwell Business Accelerator programmes – help that can also have a major and real, positive impact.
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.
Based outside of the Cherwell District?
Businesses outside of the Cherwell District can continue to access a range of business support programmes and activity by completing our Business Support Tool.
