Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF)

To find out more about the Rural England Prosperity Fund please refer to the Government REPF prospectus and the Bassetlaw District Council Guidance Document for the Full Application stages below.

Investment priority – Community and Business Investment Programme 2025-2026

Maximum grant award £20,000 per project

Match funding requirement of 10% for community and 30% for business

The key dates are as follows:

Full application open call opens: Weds 21 May 2025

Full application open call closes: Weds 25 June 2025 at 12 noon

Moderation of Applications: from 26 June 2025

Notification of outcome to applicants: w/c 14 July

Grant Funding available for the 2025-2026 programme

Year	Fund Allocation – Community	Fund Allocation – Business
2025 - 26	£107,115.00 Healthy, Safe and Inclusive Communities: Investment in capacity building and infrastructure support for local civil society and community groups	£107,115.00  Support for Business: Small scale investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas

Applicants will need to provide match funding. Businesses must directly contribute (or secure from another source of match funding) a minimum of 30% funding towards the total project costs. Community projects must directly contribute (or secure from another source of match funding), a minimum of 10% funding towards the total project costs. Evidenced in-kind contributions will be considered as part of the match allocation.

To request a copy of the REPF Full Application Form please email the UKSPF@bassetlaw.gov.uk

If you have any questions about the Bassetlaw REPF guidance document or the application form then please send your questions to the UKSPF@bassetlaw.gov.uk

What is the Rural Fund?

Rural areas often face specific challenges including:

• lower productivity rates
• poorer connectivity
• poorer access to key services

The REPF supports the aims of the government’s Missions and Farming and Countryside Programme. It funds capital projects for small businesses and community infrastructure in rural areas. This will help to improve productivity and strengthen the rural economy and rural communities. The UK government is committed to delivering 5 missions to secure long term prosperity for the country. The Rural Fund will support the government’s mission in rural areas to:

• kickstart economic growth
• break down barriers to opportunity
• build an NHS fit for the future

The UKSPF has mapped interventions into mission-led themes across priority areas. The REPF will support two of the three UKSPF investment priorities: communities and place and supporting local business.

REPF investment priorities and the Government’s missions

The Rural Fund provides capital funding to:

Support new and improved community infrastructure, providing essential community services and assets for local people and businesses to benefit the local economy.

• Support new and existing rural businesses to develop new products and facilities that will be of wider benefit to the local economy
• Support new and improved infrastructure
• Support projects in rural area

Who can apply?

• Micro and small businesses employing 49 employees or fewer (1 FTE equates to individual working 30 hours or more)
• Registered charities/community associations
• Parish Councils
• Higher and further education institutions
• Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIO)
• Community Interest Companies (CIC) limited by guarantee (and have charitable objectives)
• Community Benefit Societies (Bencom)
• Constituted Community Groups
• Faith Groups, where the activity is not promoting religion
• Small groups with no formal constitution (non-constituted groups will be considered on a case-by-case basis)

Projects we may fund

This guidance document covers the eligibility and application guidance for both the communities and business enterprise grants.

The funding must be used on capital projects. This means grants must be spent on lasting assets such as a building or equipment.

Grants must be for business or community purposes. Grants cannot be used to fund domestic property improvements or to buy private vehicles. Grants cannot be spent on revenue costs such as running costs or promotional activities.

Please note that, subject to available funding, there may be multiple calls for applications throughout the programme.

The District Council will consider historic investment in an area when making decisions if the volume of applications is high.

Project list

Business

This list is not exhaustive, but the fund could provide funding (capital grants) for:

• creating event venues or farm tourism facilities such as accommodation, wedding venues and leisure facilities
• provision of facilities for pet and equines such as kennels, livery and pet health venues
• improving or developing a local asset, amenity or facility
• Purchase of equipment for food processing for non-farmer-owned businesses. For example:
  • purchasing new process and packaging machinery such as brewing equipment and onsite vending machines
  • equipping development kitchens, or modernising existing kitchen equipment for increased energy efficiency or increased productivity through automation.

Community

This list is not exhaustive, but the fund could provide funding (capital grants) for the:

• improvement to blue or green space such as a local park.
• capital grants for kitchens in community hubs which are capable of supporting food and drink;
• capital spend which supports activities that enhance physical, cultural and social ties;
• funding for provision of maker spaces;
• funding for local art galleries, museums and libraries for altering premises or providing spaces for exhibitions to support displays for artists to showcase work;
• capital grants to enable cultural, heritage and creative events and provision of venues for locally-led music, theatre, tours, author events and film screenings.

Please ensure you have read the attached list of all REPF Interventions and their outputs and outcomes in the attached outcome and output list.

Wide Eligibility

Definition of rural area:

• The project needs to be located in the district of Bassetlaw and serving the district area
• Not all areas of Bassetlaw are eligible to receive rural funding as determined by DEFRA. Businesses must be located in a rural area which are defined as:
  • Towns, villages and hamlets with populations below 10,000 and the wider countryside
  • Market or ‘hub towns’ with populations of up to 30,000 that serve their surrounding rural areas as centres of employment and in providing services
• To determine whether your project is in a rural area, and therefore eligible for the REPF, open the link to the DEFRA’s Magic Map and follow the instructions below:
  • Magic map
  • Under ‘Tables of Contents’ expand ‘Administration Geographies’ > ‘Other Administration Boundaries > select ‘Rural England Prosperity Fund’
  • To search for a location either enter the postcode or manually zoom in on a location
  • You will find a tool of icons at the top of the application. Select the ‘Identify’ icon and click on the location of your project on the map. A pop-up box will appear notifying you if the area is considered rural or not for the purpose of REPF.
• Your project should demonstrate value for money and additionally, and align to one or more of the REPF Investment Priorities listed in Appendix A.

Projects that the REPF cannot support

• Projects that have received funding from other Defra Schemes. This includes:
  • The Farming in Protected Landscape Programme – funding for farmers and land managers to work in partnership with National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty bodies to deliver projects on climate, nature, people and place
  • The Farming Investment Fund – grants to improve productivity and bring environmental benefits, covering two funds – the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund and Farming Transformation Fund
  • The Platinum Jubilee Village Hall Improvement Grant Fund – grant funding over three years, to 2025, to support capital improvement projects for village halls, covering extending buildings and modernising facilities
• The purchase of equipment for food processing for farmer-owned businesses. Support for farmer-owned businesses is available under the Farming Investment Fund
• Projects that have already been successful in receiving funding from Rural England Prosperity Fund from Bassetlaw District Council and/or another Council.
• Projects or costs where there is a statutory duty to provide them cannot be supported
• Revenue projects, the REPF is a capital fund project
• No projects will be funded retrospectively.

What costs may be eligible?

• The maximum request for funding is limited to £20,000 per application for business and community applications. Outstanding projects or projects delivering an initiative/s across more than one rural area, forming a collaborative bid approach or support a number of interventions may be awarded more. This is at the discretion of the Council.
• Match funding/financial contributions may be from any funding source including grants (excluding those listed above). This funding must be secured rather than awaiting confirmation to be considered eligible and you must be able to demonstrate match funding before your project progresses to the full application stage.
• Grant funding must be spent by 31 March 2026.
• No projects will be funded retrospectively.
• The fund only supports capital projects. There is no revenue funding to support a capital project as part of the programme. Capital funds can be used to acquire, build or renovate physical assets, including:
  • plant machinery and equipment;
  • a one time purchase of a fixed asset, acquisition of land or buildings, building and construction constructions, professional fees associated with building and construction.

Ineligible Costs

• Paid for lobbying, entertaining, petitioning or challenging decisions, which means using the fund to lobby (via an external firm or in-house staff) in order to undertake activities intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, government or political activity including the receipt of UKSPF funding; or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action
• Payments for activities of a party political or exclusively religious nature
• VAT reclaimable from HMRC
• Gifts, or payments for gifts or donations
• Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties
• Payments for works or activities which the lead local authority, project deliverer, end beneficiary, or any member of their partnership has a statutory duty to undertake, or that are fully funded by other sources
• Contingencies and contingent liabilities
• Dividends
• Bad debts, costs resulting from the deferral of payments to creditors, or winding up a company
• Expenses in respect of litigation, unfair dismissal or other compensation
• Costs incurred by individuals in setting up and contributing towards private pension schemes.

Do I require planning permission?

Planning permission is required for works that involve a material change to the external appearance of a building.  Examples of this are alterations to the fascia, the windows or the doorway, changes to the type of material used or the installation of awnings, blinds or security shutters.

Advertisement consent is required for the display of certain types of signs.  You may also require planning permission for change of use to the property.

If you are unsure whether your works require planning permission, you should seek further guidance on planning implications. Please see the contact details below if you’d like to speak to the relevant team within the council for further advice:

Email: planning@bassetlaw.gov.uk

Telephone: 01909 533533

Website: Planning applications | Bassetlaw District Council or Pre-Application Advice | Bassetlaw District Council.

Grant Agreement Terms

Successful applicants will enter into a grant agreement with the Council.

This will include the following terms:

• The project delivers all outputs as outlined in the full application
• Evidence of expenditure is provided in line with the REPF reporting timelines and the agreed project end date
• The supported business or community asset must trade or be in use for a minimum of three years from the end of the funded term

Payment terms will be agreed with successful applicants at the full application stage.

Applicants must ensure that the project is compliant with the UK subsidy control regime and will be asked to demonstrate this in their application form and will form part of the application declaration. Applicants will be asked to declare whether they or their organisation has received EU funding or other public sources as part of the application process.

All projects must comply with UKSPF/REPF procurement procedures, this includes three quotes for the purchase of any goods or services between the value of £10,000 and £25,000. The quotes will be requested prior to entering into the funding agreement and one quote should be provided to support the Expression of Interest application. 

Funding will be awarded on the basis that all permissions, to deliver the project, are in place e.g. planning permission. The Council will ask for evidence before a grant agreement is issued, however it is the sole responsibility of the applicant to secure permissions and ensure that all necessary due-diligence checks relating to the project have been carried out.

Applicants must consider how their project may displace or negatively impact other businesses or community facilities/services and consider engagement with existing operations to avoid displacement. Any projects that may result in displacement will not be taken forward. 

How to apply

Full Application

• Quotes for equipment/works to be funded (see application form)
• Copies of financial standing (see application form)
• Confirmation of match funding
• Ownership of building or written approval from landlord (see application form)
• Evidence of granted planning permissions if required
• Letter of support from your Ward Councillor

How will applications be assessed?

Submitting a full application is no guarantee of grant funding. On receipt of the full application, the following gateway criteria will be checked:

Full Application Gateway Criteria

Gateway Questions	Yes	No
Application completed in full and on time with all supporting documents
Quotes provided and approved
All necessary permissions in place for the project to progress
Evidence of match funding provided
Evidence of financial standing provided
Ward Cllr Support
Timeline appropriate

The tables below provides an overview of how we will score and assess full applications. Each part of the application will be scored 0-5 based on the quality and content of the answers provided, and how well the applicant demonstrates the points below.

Assessment Criteria	Score
Unacceptable: either no answer is provided, or the answer fails to demonstrate that any of the key requirements in the area being measured will be delivered.	0
Poor: fails to demonstrate how the basic requirements in the area being measured will be addressed, giving rise to serious concerns that acceptable outcomes would be not delivered against the specification.	1
Weak: barely demonstrates how the basic requirements in the area being measured will be addressed, giving rise to concerns whether acceptable outcomes would be delivered against the specification.	2
Satisfactory: demonstrates how the basic requirements in the area being measured will be addressed to deliver acceptable outcomes against the specification.	3
Good: demonstrates how most of the requirements in the area being measured will be addressed to deliver good outcomes against the specification.	4
Excellent: demonstrates clearly how all of the requirements in the area being measured will be fully addressed to deliver excellent outcomes against the specification.	5

 

Who to contact

For further information or any queries relating to the REPF please email UKSPF@bassetlaw.gov.uk

To find out more about the fund please refer to the REPF prospectus - Rural England Prosperity Fund this should be read in conjunction with the UKSPF Prosperity Fund Prospectus - UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

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Last Updated on Friday, May 30, 2025