Finance

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership is determined to build on the county’s strengths to increase Cumbria’s Gross Value Added (GVA) by working together to exploit local talents, building on entrepreneurial culture, implementing new approaches and ensuring that investment and agreed interventions are targeted at the key issues and opportunities.

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership has an allocation of approximately £72m of European Funding for the period 2014-2020. This offers significant opportunities to support business growth, to create jobs and improve skills levels. European funding calls currently open:

European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development:

Rural Tourism Infrastructure - A £1.2m investment is available to support the development of tourism infrastructure throughout rural Cumbria. The aim is to support projects that will encourage more tourists to visit Cumbria, stay longer and spend more money in rural areas – particularly to encourage international tourists to visit.

Rural Business Development - Funding of £1.5m is to assist rural business development with grants to enable farm diversification or business innovation and growth. Grant funding can help pay for constructing or improving buildings and/or buying new equipment and machinery or to increase building productivity. Minimum grant is £35,000 up to maximum £170,000 (dependent on deminimis levels); and

Food Processing - £1.4m – capital grants available to help food processing businesses to develop and extend supply chains, enabling them to export their goods as well as achieving business growth, investment in new techniques and processes. It is aimed at food and drink businesses which process agricultural and horticultural products.

The LEADER approach uses local knowledge to promote integrated 'bottom-up', community led delivery of Rural Development Programme funding. Its aim is to support farming, forestry, rural communities and enterprises to grow and strengthen, encouraging innovation and co-operation in order to tackle local development objectives. This fund excludes the Carlisle City area however is open to the rural parts of Carlisle District.

Solway Border & Eden LEADER have six calls for projects to fund that are currently open, relating to:

1. Support to Increase Farm Productivity;
2. Support for Small & Micro Enterprises & Farm Diversification;
3. Support for Tourism Activity;
4. Provision of Rural Services;
5. Support for Cultural and Heritage Activity
6. Support for Increasing Forestry Productivity

Minimum grant value is £2500 with a maximum of £35,000. Visit www.sbeleader.org.uk for more information.