Content

In relation to the allocation of funds for
year 3 of the Rural England Prosperity Fund:
a)To approve the 11 successful applications, as set out in the
background information report to the value of £120,000 in the
Supporting Local Business theme;
b)To approve the nine successful applications, as set out in the
background information report to the value of £77,761 in the
Communities and Place theme.

Reasons for the decision

To set out projects which will have funds
allocated to them from year 3 of the Rural England Prosperity Fund
(REPF).
The REPF programme, established in 2022 by Central Government, is
part of a wider programme which has allocated funding nationwide to
Councils for locally led delivery. Funding has been delivered via
the Multiply, REPF, and Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) Programmes.
Via an updated funding formula, the Council has been allocated
£197,761.00 (made up of all capital funding) to be allocated
to grants/projects across two themes in 2025/26: Supporting Local
Business and Communities and Place.
On 23 May 2025 Cabinet approved acceptance of the REPF 2025/26 the
criteria for the assessment of grants for both Schemes under the
Rural England Prosperity Fund.
On 11 August 2025, two officers from the Economic Growth team
applied the scoring criteria to assess the funding bids. These
scores were discussed to identify the successful bids with the
highest score, and referenced against the funding available.
In line with the approved scoring criteria, after selecting
applications with the highest scores, and funding remained with
various applicants with the same score, they were evaluated on a
value for money basis. Lower scoring bids were not successful and
have been rejected. There will the opportunity for rejected bids to
request their scores.

Alternative options considered

To not launch a funding scheme and reducing
opportunities for local businesses and community groups to
thrive.
To give the funding to alternative projects, however we followed
the scoring criteria rigorously. The proposed applications have
been selected by the scoring panel by following approved
criteria.
To not spend the money, and return this to Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government.