East Suffolk Council

Rural England Prosperity Fund

On 3 September 2022, the Government  announced a new, £110m Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) which will help to improve productivity and strengthen the rural economy and rural communities.

The REPF is a top-up to and complementary to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and succeeds EU funding from LEADER and the Growth Programme which were part of the Rural Development Programme for England.

East Suffolk has been allocated £1.129m of REPF funding, to be delivered over the next two years (2023/24 and 2024/25).

The Rural England Prosperity Fund will provide capital grants to small businesses and community infrastructure in the district's rural area.

To drawdown the funding, an addendum to the UKSPF Investment Plan was submitted to Government on 30 November 2022. The submitted addendum has identified the challenges and opportunities for the East Suffolk's rural businesses and communities through data driven evidence and stakeholder consultation in order to shape our priorities for REPF funding. We anticipate to receive approval on our submitted Investment Plan Addendum in early 2023.

On 6 April 2023, approval was received from the Government department DEFRA on our addendum. There will be two distinct grant schemes, launching in 2023, for this programme (providing grants of between £15,000 - £30,000 per application):

Rural Business Investment Fund
Rural Business Investment Fund Grant guidance	Rural Business Investment Fund Grant application
Due to an unprecedented high number of applications received in early 2023/24, this fund is now closed and will reopen for applications on 1 April 2024. Please do not apply before this point however we encourage you to contact us to discuss other funding opportunities by emailing: economicdevelopment@eastsuffolk.gov.uk
Rural Business and Community Hub Fund
Rural Business and Community Hub Fund guidance	Rural Business and Community Hub Fund application
Round-2 re-opens for applications on 4 December 2023