BUSINESSES across the South East Midlands have been invited to discover the details of a new funding scheme aimed at boosting employment and growth in rural areas.
The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) Growth Programme supports projects that invest in building businesses, creating new jobs and growing the economy in rural areas.
Locally, the calls have been developed in collaboration with the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) and will be open to support food processing, business development and tourism infrastructure projects across the private, public and voluntary sectors for an initial 12-month period.
More details of the funding programme, which will see £5m allocated locally, will be available at a workshop at Towcester Racecourse on March 3 – familiarising businesses with the calls and providing the opportunity to talk to members of the Rural Payments Agency team and representatives from SEMLEP.
Stephen Catchpole, chief executive of SEMLEP, said: “This new Growth Programme will give rural businesses in the South East Midlands the opportunity to apply for vital funding which will help them to create new jobs and invest in the technology and infrastructure they need to grow.”
The session, held in partnership with Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire, will feature presentations from Roger Allonby from the RDPE and Lisa King from the LEADER programme, alongside case studies from local businesses such as The Old Piggery B&B in Bedfordshire.
Workshops will be held to give more information about business development, food processing, tourism infrastructure and the LEADER programme while one-to-one surgeries will be available in the afternoon for projects that already have proposal ideas.
For more information on the event visit www.semlep.com/event/rural-funding-information-event-for-sou/ You can reserve your own one-to-one session by visiting www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rural-funding-information-event-for-the-south-east-midlands-lep-one-to-one-surgery-registration-tickets-31756436356#tickets