The Rural Payments Agency has launched its final grants funding opportunity for rural businesses. Worth around £35m this national call offers rural businesses the opportunity to apply for grants between £20,000 - £175,000 in the following 3 areas:
- Food processing
- Business support
- Tourism Infrastructure
Two events are being held in Leicestershire to provide potential applicants with more details.
Event 1
Event : European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) Final Funding Call
Date: 04 December 2019
Time: 09:30-11:30
Venue: Coplow Centre, Uppingham Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE7 9FL
Registration Link: EAFRD -Final Funding Call 09:30-11:30
Event 2
Event : European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) Final Funding Call
Date: 04 December 2019
Time: 14:00 -16:00
Venue: Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, Sutton Cheney, Nuneaton, CV13 0AD
The Rural Payments Agency and DEFRA have announced that grant funding for projects in England which create jobs and growth in the rural economy is now available.
Leicestershire businesses/organisations interested in Business Development, Food Processing or Rural Tourism Infrastructure are encouraged to view the RDPE Growth Programme guidance page at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rdpe-growth-programme
Depending on the type of grant, funds are available between £20,000 and £750,000.
Expressions of Interest are open until midnight Sunday 16th February 2020. If the RPA considers the project to be eligible, the applicant will then be invited to submit a full application.
The grants are funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), which is part of the European Structural Investment Funds (ESIF).
Survey - Diversified Farming Enterprises, Leicestershire - 2019/2020
Together with Leicestershire County Council, the NFU are a key partner in the Leicestershire Rural Partnership (LRP) which acts as the rural arm of the LLEP, and are keen to see as many responses as possible from Farmers to this survey.
By completing this survey and providing information on your financial position, performance and future plans, you will help us to support local farming businesses by identifying gaps in provision and helping us to inform policy making and prioritising the destination of local funding.
This is particularly important as current funding sources for businesses for
which you are eligible as farmers to apply, come via the EAFRD and LEADER programmes, both of which are ending, as this funding comes from Europe.
New funding may be devolved via the Local Enterprise Partnerships, in the case of Leicestershire, the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP). Under the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the LLEP may well set local priorities for that funding. This survey will help identify local needs and priorities, and provide good evidence to the NFU as they lobby for such funding streams to be established.
https://surveys.leics.gov.uk/snapwebhost/s.asp?k=156266748237
Your completion of the survey will be much appreciated and you are encouraged to share the link to your relevant networks.
As part of Leicester Business Festival, The Future of Farming: Diversifying Enterprises event aimed at the agricultural and farming community is taking place on 7th November, 5.30pm – 8.30pm at Brooksby Hall, Brooksby.
This is your opportunity to help influence and prioritise the destination of future local funding, and to better understand the potential post-Brexit agricultural industry.
Attendees will hear from a number of key speakers, including representatives from the NFU, Andrew Grainger, Josiah Hincks and Leicestershire Trading Standards.
A hot buffet and drinks will also be served.
For more information and to book your place, please visit: https://lbf2019.ticketleap.com/the-future-of-farming-diversifying-enterprises/
As part of the event, we will discuss gaps in provision to help to inform policy making and prioritise the destination of local funding. The NFU are a key partner in the Leicestershire Rural Partnership (LRP) which acts as the rural arm of the LLEP, and will be keen to see as many responses as possible. A link to the survey can be found here: https://surveys.leics.gov.uk/snapwebhost/s.asp?k=156266748237
In partnership with the Woodland Trust, Leicestershire County Council have a range of tree and hedgerow initiatives available to farmers and landowners across Leicestershire.
- Targeting Trees Disease packs - for creating a small woodland to regenerate the countryside (field corners for example)
- MOREhedges – for planting a minimum of 100m of new native hedgerow with hedgerow trees-
- MOREwoods – for planting a native woodland (0.5 ha or more)
- Free Tree Replacement scheme - Individual landscape trees supplied as larger trees for visual impact and ideal as hedgerow trees in existing hedges
Targeting Tree Disease packs
Working with the Woodland Trust, the county council are offering all landowners and farmers free tree packs, which have been specifically designed to help regenerate countryside that is under threat from tree diseases such as Ash Dieback.
These packs are available to applicants from across the county. Each pack includes 45 native trees and applicants can chose form two different species mixes:
- Mix 1 – birch, hornbeam and oak
- Mix 2 – birch, oak and wild cherry
The trees will be provided as small saplings and all the trees come with 1.2m tree tubes and stakes.
Planting
Applicants are responsible for planting the trees, either themselves or using a contractor. Advice can be given by the Woodland Trust.
Collection
Tree packs will be given out at the start of National Tree Week, applicants or a representative, must be able to collect their tree packs from Beaumanor Hall, Woodhouse Eaves on Wednesday 27th November.
To register for your free pack of trees
Please email plant@woodlandtrust.org.uk with your name and contact details, or call on 0330 333 5303 making sure you quote 'Leicestershire County Council trees'.
The deadline for applications for these packs is 31 October 2019.
For all the other schemes please go to the county council website via the link below. The deadline is end January 2020 for these other schemes.
Please note that Parish councils and community groups can apply for free packs from the Woodland Trust direct.
Please share this information with your contacts and help spread the word. You could even consider sharing our web link on your website!
Date: Tuesday 15th October 2019
Time: 9am and 10:30am,
Location: Melton Borough Council, Parkside, Burton Street, Melton Mowbray, LE13 1GH
Melton Borough Council has partnered with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Leicester and Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) to host a free 'Ready for Brexit' event aimed at businesses within the food and drink sector.
This event is open to all businesses in the East Midlands area and will provide them with information on, and signposting to, the support and advice available to help businesses with preparing for Brexit.
Breakfast and refreshments will be provided.
Registration for the event is through the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ready-for-brexit-tickets-73568558539
As part of the government's £67 million investment commitment to make a "full fibre Britain", Leicestershire businesses and homes have the opportunity to apply for two broadband vouchers that cover the cost of upgrading to a ultra-fast broadband network.
The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme is open to communities with residential properties and business who, together, can apply for vouchers worth up to £3000 per small or medium sized business and £500 per residents, to support the capital costs of upgrading their broadband and gigabit capable connections.
The Rural Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme is aimed at business and residents in some of the hardest-to-reach places in the UK. Rural premises, experiencing speeds below 30 Megabits per second (Mbps), will be eligible for between £500 and £3,500 per small and medium-sized businesses (SME) and between £500 and £1,500 per resident to support the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections.
The UK now has 95% coverage for superfast broadband with speeds of 24 megabits per second or higher. However, most superfast connections still depend on copper telephone wires, which are limited in the speeds they can support. For the fastest and most reliable broadband, capable of delivering gigabit speeds, a full fibre connection is required.
One gigabit is the same as 1,000 megabits – so it's a big leap forward in connection speeds that could benefit you and your business into the future. Full fibre also supports symmetrical connections – meaning your upload and download speeds can be the same.
These schemes are part of a wider government plan to get more homes and businesses connected to full fibre broadband and forms part of the Government's commitment to make superfast broadband available to at least 10 million homes and businesses by 2022.
Full fibre connections are faster, more reliable and cheaper to operate than traditional copper lines, and are capable of supporting not only gigabit, but terabit and even petabit speeds, which will serve the UK far into the future. Currently only around 3% of UK premises have access to a full fibre connection.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said:
"We're backing Britain's small businesses by investing £67 million to bring full-fibre broadband to more businesses up and down the country. This means faster, more reliable broadband access as we build the digital infrastructure we need to make our economy fit for the future".
For full details about whether you are eligible for a voucher go to:
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Leicester and Leicestershire can take advantage of a £1.62m skills training fund to upskill their workforce.
The training is delivered as part of a programme called Skills Support for the Workforce (SSW), which Serco's Employment, Skills & Enterprise business is managing across Leicester and Leicestershire. Under the 28-month programme which launched in April, Serco will work in partnership with Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) to provide skills development that focuses on upskilling employees in key priority
sectors as identified in the LLEP's strategic economic plan;
- Engineering & advanced manufacturing
- Food & drink manufacturing
- Textiles manufacturing
- Logistics & distribution
- Tourism & hospitality
- Creative industries
- Low carbon
- Professional & financial services
- Health & social care
- Sports & physical activity
Through SSW, eligible businesses can benefit from funded training, tailored to their specific needs. Training is flexible and businesses can select full qualifications or mix and match individual units that are directly relevant to their work. Previous SSW programme participants have benefited from increased employee confidence, motivation and productivity and improved employee loyalty and retention.
Businesses can contact Serco on skillssupport@serco.com or visit www.serco-ssw.com for more details and to find out if they are eligible for funded training through Skills Support for the Workforce.
> More details for businesses in Leicester and Leicestershire.
Farmers and rural businesses are being given the opportunity to build bespoke wi-fi networks for better mobile phone and broadband connectivity.
Ofcom, the UK's telecom regulator, has announced that start-up and small businesses are now able to apply for shared-access airwaves – or "spectrums" – which were previously restricted to major mobile operators.
Under the new rules, villages, small business groups and other communities can apply to access airwaves that are licensed to the major mobile companies, but not currently used by them locally.
See - https://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/technology/ofcom-opens-up-airwaves-to-improve-rural-connectivity
Please see attached for Rural Community Council's quarterly e-magazine, 'Impact', providing an overview of their latest activities across rural Leicestershire and Rutland.
