Rural England Prosperity Fund

You will need to check that your project area is eligible using DEFRA's Magic Map. 

How to use the Magic Map

• open the link Magic Map
• click on ‘Get Started’
• click on ‘Administrative Geographies’ in the table of contents (on the left-hand side of the screen).

And then ‘other administrative boundaries’ and then select ‘Rural England Prosperity Fund’ as a layer.

• type in area within the search function or navigate the map to your area, and then select the 'identify' button, this is in the banner at the top of the map
• click on your area and a screen will come up which tells you if the area is eligible for REPF or not
• you can also search by postcode. Input your post code into the search function on the left-hand side of the screen. Please note that you will need to leave a space in the postcode, for example CB23 6EA.

It should be noted that some areas, in whole or part within South Cambridgeshire, are ineligible. These include South Girton, Milton, Orchard Park and Kings Hedges, Fulbourn, Stapleford and Great Shelford.

Please check your postcode for eligibility before applying.

Any organisation with legal status can apply for funding. The list below provides examples but is not exhaustive:

• micro, small and medium sized registered businesses
• social enterprises
• sole traders
• registered charities
• farmers, landowners, tenants with landlord permission
• rural community groups
• local Authorities
• Higher and Further Education institutions, arms-length bodies of government.

The fund will support Business Interventions such as: 

• funding for small scale micro and small enterprises for diversification
• start up or scale up
• growing the local social economy and supporting innovation.  

The fund will support Community Interventions such as: 

• digital infrastructure
• capacity buildings and infrastructure
• local rural green spaces
• cultural, historic and heritage institutions
• active travel enhancements
• rural circular economy projects
• volunteering and social action projects

The above lists are not exhaustive but demonstrate examples of some of the activities that the fund will support. These interventions are for capital projects only.  

Please see this list of interventions the fund will support for further information. These are important, please ensure that your project aligns to one or more of the inventions set out in the table. 

If you are unsure, please contact us at Sharedprosperityfund@scambs.gov.uk  

We have an allocation of £876,101 to spend between 2024 and 2025.

This will be split between business and community interventions.

Applicants can apply for between £10,000 to £100,000 of funding for capital projects.

There is a match funding requirement for projects over £25,000, the percentages required are as follows:

For community projects: 

• Less than £25,000 - no match funding required
• £25,001 to £50,000 - 10% 
• £50,0001 to £100,000 - 20%

For business projects: 

• Less than £25,000 - no match funding required
• £25,001 to £50,000 - 25% 
• £50,0001 to £100,000 - 50%

The first application window for the fund will be open throughout April 2024 and will run each quarter until all of the grant funds have been successfully allocated.

The programme will be delivered in the timeframes outlined in the table below:

Applications will need to demonstrate how projects will achieve some or all of the following indicative outputs and outcomes. 

Businesses examples:

• number of jobs created/safeguarded  
• number of businesses adopting new to the firm technologies or processes 
• number of businesses with improved productivity 
• number of businesses experiencing growth 

Community organisations examples:

• increased users of facilities or amenities 
• improved perception of facilities or amenities 
• volunteering numbers as a result of support 
• improved perception of events 

If successful, payments will be made in arrears and on receipt of invoice expenditure.