Rural Development

A £2 million fund to support farmers who suffered uninsurable damage to their property in the devastating floods in November has opened for applications. The Farming Recovery Fund is open for applications from farmers with affected land in parts of South Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and the Midlands. Farmers can apply for grants of between £5,000 and £25,000. The closing date for applications is the 31st July 2020.

The Government is making £3 million available to improve village halls and better connect rural communities across the country. Village hall committees are now able to apply for grants of up to £75,000 towards refurbishment and alteration of their buildings, from improvement works on existing facilities through to new meeting rooms. The new funding will cover 20% of the total costs of a project. The remaining funding comes from a combination...

A share of £5000 of funding is available for UK citizens over the age of 18 who are starting a new business in a rural area. To be eligible individuals must be able to demonstrate how the business will support rural communities, the countryside or rural sustainability. The Rural Start-up Fund has been made available by a partnership between Forest Holidays and The Prince’s Countryside Fund and the available funding will be awarded to one wi...

Charities working in rural areas to support the education of young people or relief of poverty can apply for grants of up to £50,000. The funding is available for mainly larger projects that would have a significant impact upon rural economies. Projects supported in the past have ranged from City farms, Federations of Young Farmers Clubs and farming Community Networks. The funding is being made available through the NFU Mutual Charitable Trus...

£3million of funding is now available to local authorities and National Park authorities to enable tourist sites in Scotland’s rural areas to cope with growing visitor numbers. Funding of up to £375,000 is available to help tourist attractions and their communities deal with the impact of increased visitor numbers on the local infrastructure by helping with improvements such as parking areas, visitor facilities and recycling points. The Ru...

Grants of between £10,000 and £1million are currently available to allow voluntary, community and public sector organisations in Scotland to take ownership of land and buildings to help urban and rural communities to become more resilient and sustainable. The Scottish Land Fund is funded by the Scottish Government and delivered in partnership with the National Lottery Community Fund and Highland and Islands Enterprise. Priority will be given...

IGas Energy Plc is one of the UK's leading onshore hydrocarbon producers has announced that its Community Energy Fund has opened for applications. The fund covers specific areas of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire where the company operates. IGas support projects that make a difference to life in the mainly rural communities where they operate. Organisations that are eligible to apply include community and voluntary...

The UK Government has announced that up to £20 million of grant funding is available to businesses to develop new and more efficient ways to produce the UK’s food. The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Transforming Food Production Challenge will invest in large scale and ambitious projects that help UK food production break out of a traditional land-based model and move towards a sustainable position of net-zero emissions. Areas of work co...

Funding of up to £25,000 is available for community projects that focus on tackling isolation and improving the health and wellbeing of people living in sparsely populated areas. This programme of support for up to 10 rural communities per year is now open to applications from organisations and groups that have a proven track record of community partnership working. Projects should aim to reinvigorate community networks by assisting with rebu...

Community Centres in deprived urban communities and Village Halls in remote and economically deprived rural areas can apply for grants of between £7,500 and £60,000 for new buildings; upgrading, renovating or extending buildings; improving or creating outside space. Applications can be submitted at any time and all applicants must have already secured 50% of the total funding needed to complete the project before they apply. The funding is b...

Businesses and residents in some of the hardest-to-reach places in the UK are eligible for additional funding towards the cost of installing new gigabit-capable broadband to their premises when part of a group project. Two or more businesses applying together can use vouchers worth up to £3,500 for each small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), and up to £1,500 per residential premise to support the cost of installing new gigabit-capable con...