New rural grant scheme launched in Cornwall & Isles of Scilly closes on 12 February 2024

Last week saw the launch of the £1m Rural Business Grant Scheme. The window for submission of an expression of interest closes at 5pm on Monday, 12 February 2024. So, if you are interested you should act now.

Background of the Rural Business Grant Scheme

The Rural Business Grant Scheme is one of the grant schemes being administered through the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Growth Hub. See previous blog for more general background.

Rural Business Grant Scheme overview

Details of the grant scheme can be found here. Details include:

Business eligibility	Legal trading entity
Project eligibility – rural	Projects must be based in a rural location (see further below)
Type of businesses sought	Rural businesses including farms, tourism, leisure, and food and drink producers
Type of projects sought	Capital projects, located in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, with prioritisation of; nature recovery investments improvements to the quality of the existing tourism offer food and drink processing for non-farmer owned businesses projects that grow the local social economy
Ineligible projects, include	Projects that can be funded by other Defra funding streams.
Grant size	Minimum grant value of £2,500 and maximum of £200,000, with an the anticipated average grant value for this fund of £40,000
Grant intervention rate	Max 50%
Project end date	31 December 2024

A webinar you may find useful can be found here.

Rural?

Most of Cornwall appears to be classified as rural but not all.

In the guidance it links to the MagicMap which some of you may be familiar with. Guidance says for you to follow the link to the map before selecting the following from the table of contents:

Administrative Geographies
Other Administrative Boundaries
Rural England Prosperity Fund

Application process

Complete the online expression of interest form here. (You will need to provide details of your current business activity, explain what you propose to use the grant funding for and how this activity will lead to growth within your business or organisation.)

The expressions of interest will be reviewed and the strongest eligible projects will then be invited to submit a full application.

The deadline for submission of expressions of interest is 5pm on Monday 12 February 2024.

How can we help you?

Your usual point of contact at PKF Francis Clark will of course be able to talk to you about your project.

I suspect, if similar to other grant schemes administered through the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Growth Hub, they may be able to provide free support in the compilation of the grant application itself.

Given the close date for expressions of interest, this grant scheme is unlikely to feature too heavily in the Breakfast Briefing I have organised, with Kirsty from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Growth Hub, but other grants will. To register for the event, click here.