Pie and Pint Workshop – Rural Development Growth Programme – 7/1/20

The next wave of the Rural Development Programme for England will open for applications on Monday 4th November. The Expressions of Interest window will close on 16th February 2020. As part of this a series of workshops will be held in Worcestershire to help businesses to learn how they can apply for this wave of funding. There is a range of funding opportunities available and the workshop is designed so that businesses can discuss their own company’s ideas and plans with experts. The experts will be on hand to offer details of available funding streams appropriate to attendees’ business model, as well as provide details of the support on offer to help them in their bids. Companies that have already benefited from similar funding will be available to share their experiences of the funding process and to outline how their companies have grown as a result of the funding and support. A minimum of £35m is being made available under this new round. The minimum grant has been reduced from £35k to £20k to allow more micro and small businesses to benefit from this support. Similar to before, there will be three themes – Business Development, Tourism Infrastructure and Food Processing. The maximum grant under the Business Development and Tourism themes will be limited to €200,000, whilst the maximum grant under the Food Processing theme will be limited to £750,000.