Rural England Prosperity Fund
If you’re based in South Oxfordshire, visit our South Oxfordshire District Council website.
The next round is now open for applications and will close at midday on Monday 1 July.
Scheme overview
South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils have secured funding through the government’s Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF). The fund supports capital projects for small businesses and community infrastructure that help to improve productivity and strengthen the rural economy and rural communities.
Funding is available to help achieve aims set out in our Corporate Plan, including action on the climate emergency, and improving community and economic wellbeing.
REPF offers up to £75,000 of capital funding for projects that help to improve productivity and strengthen the rural economy and rural communities. Funding categories are:
- Capital grants for small scale investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas
- Capital grants for growing the local social economy and supporting innovation
- Capital grants for investment in capacity building and infrastructure support for local civil society and community groups
Important information – please read
Please read our Grants Policy, Standard Conditions and Capital Expenditure documents for further information on the REPF grant scheme.
The application process for REPF is reasonably complex and will take time to complete. Support with the application process will be available from the Economic Development team throughout the six week application window and we invite queries to be sent to business.support@southandvale.gov.uk.
Projects must be located in an eligible area as defined through DEFRA’s Magic Maps. While most areas in South and Vale are included as eligible, there are notable exceptions in areas of Abingdon, Shippon and Culham. We advise applicants to contact us for assistance in checking area eligibility before considering an application.
The following organisations are able to apply for funding:
- Town and Parish Councils
- Public sector organisations
- Higher and further education institutions
- Private sector companies
- Registered charities
- Constituted community based organisations
- Social enterprises like CIC’s
- Arms-length bodies of government
Eligible projects
Examples of projects include:
- Net-zero and sustainability infrastructure, including solar panels, EV chargers, air-source heat pumps and more
- Bike racks
- Creation and expansion of rural leisure and tourism businesses
- Diversification of farm buildings outside of agriculture
- Purchase of equipment for food processing and promotion
- Nature-based solutions that protect local businesses and community areas from natural hazards (such as flooding)
Which documents will I need to apply?
While you wait for the application window to open, we thought it would be useful to let you know which documents you’ll need (alongside your project details) to apply for the scheme.
We’re asking applicants to submit a significant amount of evidence up front as this helps to speed up our assessment process, giving us all the information we require to accurately assess applications, recommend decisions and award eligible projects.
- Documentation in the organisation’s name, showing the postcode
- Charites will need to provide their constitution
- Businesses must provide evidence they are trading
- Evidence of property ownership or landlord’s permission for project
- Planning permission, if applicable
- A copy of your organisation’s bank statements (no more than 3 months old)
- A budget breakdown for the project
- Quotes for your project costs
- Evidence of secured match funding for the project (if applicable)
- Evidence of how any remaining project costs will be funded
Keep up-to-date
To keep updated with news on this grant scheme and future grant funding opportunities, please subscribe to the South and Vale Business Support newsletter.
Contact us - Economic Development
Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House
Abbey Close
Abingdon
OX14 3JE
